The Nailers split the two-game series in Maine last weekend, losing 7-3 Saturday before coming back and earning a 5-4 win in overtime on Sunday. What did you see from Wheeling in these games?
Boy, if you’re a fan of offensively charged hockey and high scoring, a la the 1970s and 80s, these two games were for you. Having two teams combine for 19 goals in just a two-game series is pretty intense, and the fact that the Nailers got outscored on the weekend 11-8 and still earned the split is nice. It isn’t great that we gave the Mariners the extra point on Sunday after gaining a lead in the third, and hopefully that additional point doesn’t come to mean something in the standings at the end of the season.
Saturday’s game got going quickly, with Maine getting the lead less than four minutes into the contest. Wheeling managed to respond with under eight minutes left in the period off the stick of Aidan Sutter, followed by a power play tally by captain Matthew Quercia (but more on that later) to take a 2-1 lead.
Unfortunately, Maine managed to take over from there, scoring once more before the end of the period to knot things up after the first period, then proceeded to rattle off five goals in a row from there, including a natural hat trick by Jacob Hudson before Nolan Renwick ended the bleeding late in the third with another power play goal to make the score 7-3, where things remained until the final horn.
Sunday’s game started off well for the Mariners as well, where, despite being outshot 11-6 in the first period, the only goal of the frame went their way, which they followed up with a power play tally less than a minute into the second period to earn a 2-0 lead. The Nailers finally scored a power play goal of their own less than two minutes later from Tommy Budnick to cut the lead in half. Wheeling completed the comeback with just over six minutes left in the second period with Max Graham scoring, and the game was tied going into the third.
The Nailers saw what Maine did to start the second and decided to one-up it with a goal just 23 seconds in thanks to a great individual effort by Nolan Renwick to give Wheeling their first lead of the game, followed by another Nailers tally by Zach Gallant to make it a two-goal advantage less than three minutes into the third. The Mariners came alive after that, scoring two more of their own in the second half of the frame to tie things up and push the game to overtime, where the two teams combined for nine shots on goal, but the most important one came off the stick of Logan Pietila to give the Nailers the victory.
The Nailers now come home to play their first two at Wesbanco Arena this weekend against the visiting Norfolk Admirals. What does Wheeling need to do to come away with four points?
Norfolk had itself a very good year last year, earning the third seed in the North Division and eliminating the Nailers in the first round of the Kelly Cup playoffs in five games before being knocked out by the eventual champion Trois-Rivières Lions in six games. The Admirals are off to a good start again this year, currently sitting tied with Maine in second place in the division, albeit through just four games. This will be the first matchup between these teams since the end of Wheeling’s playoff run last season.
There have been a number of changes on both sides since that day in late April, including behind the bench for Wheeling. But for those guys who are still here and remember how their season ended, this is their chance to exact some revenge early. The Nailers need to come out fast and push the pace of play how they want it.
Norfolk has been a very stingy team thus far this season, only giving up nine goals through their first four games, but they’ve only managed to score 11 themselves. Wheeling needs to force the Admirals to play a full 200-foot game, stuck in their defensive zone as much as possible, and work hard to trap in the neutral zone when they try to skate it out. Puck possession will most likely be the name of the game in these two contests, and if the Nailers can maintain that they have a good chance to win these games.
The Nailers announced Matthew Quercia will be given the captaincy of the team for the 2025-26 season, with Zach Gallant and David Breazeale being named the alternates. What does this mean for the team, for Q, and for the fans?
It’s always nice to see a player like Quercia get rewarded for all of the things he does for his team. “Q” is the definition of a heart and soul guy, someone who is willing to do whatever is necessary for his team to be successful, whether that’s getting physical and defending a teammate by engaging in fisticuffs, or scoring an important goal to give his team a lead (his 20 goals last season was a personal best in his professional career). Players like that, who teammates look up to and follow their guidance, should be the ones given the “C” on their sweater, and I think this is a very popular and smart move for Coach Papaioannou to make for the Nailers.
Aside from him, having Gallant and Breazeale be part of the player leadership group is also a good move. Both players have a history of being named captains of their previous teams, with Gallant the captain of the Peterborough Petes in the OHL and Breazeale serving as captain at the University of Maine. Having players in leadership roles who know what it takes to lead and support their captain is helpful, and I’m sure Quercia is happy to work with those guys to lead this team into the future and hopefully towards the first Kelly Cup in Nailers’ history.
The Nailers are only three games into the new season, but are there any statistics that you’ve noticed that will need to be corrected as the season goes along?
It’s hard to draw too many conclusions about how the stats this early in the season will affect how things go for Wheeling as they enter the first full month of the 2025-26 season. That being said, looking at the trends and where improvements can be made would help the coaching staff direct things in practice and prepare the players to be better where they might be lacking a bit right now.
The Nailers enter this weekend with a -1-goal differential (13 goals for, 14 goals against). That makes Wheeling the only team with a winning record currently with a negative goal differential (there are five teams currently at a zero differential with winning records, so it’s not like they’re that far off, but still). Most successful teams end up having a positive goal differential, so being stronger in the defensive end and pushing play more in the offensive zone would be beneficial to the Nailers moving forward.
Speaking of in the defensive end, we here in Wheeling have been spoiled in recent years with the play of the guys between the pipes. Sergei Murashov (who is having an outstanding year so far at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) and Taylor Gauthier have given Wheeling fans a certain feeling of calm when under fire. Unfortunately, the guys in net haven’t quite given us that level of certainty thus far through the first three games, earning a team goals against average of 4.52 and save percentage of 0.849. Those numbers just won’t cut it over a full 72-game season. There will be times they need to be counted on to help out the guys in front of them. If their numbers don’t improve, it’ll be difficult to keep the winning record in the long run.
The Nailers’ first home game on Saturday is being called the Opening Night Circus, with performances by Grace Good. How excited are you to see what she can do?
Home openers are always an exciting time. The first time to see what your team is able to do in front of your eyes combined with all of the pomp and circumstance is always something fun to be a part of. Combine that with what the Nailers have planned for off the ice as well as during intermissions, and this year’s game should be a really nice event.
It all starts with the team handing out magnetic schedules to everyone coming through the gates, which I always appreciate having on my fridge at home so I can keep track of where the team is (home or away, game days, etc.). They will also have some circus acts performing in the concourse before the game, including balloon animals for the little ones.
Then, during both intermissions, Grace Good will be performing her act for the fans in attendance. She is a fire dancer and aerial performer who has performed at the NBA Finals as well as was a semifinalist on season 18 of America’s Got Talent. She is a previous world record holder for the most fire hoops spun at the same time with eight, as well as the most hoops spun while balancing on a giant ball with 28. It should be a good chance to see something exciting during the break in the (hockey) action, and I’m looking forward to seeing it myself. I hope to see you at the rink this weekend.
