The Nailers managed to go 3-for-3 over the weekend, with a win in Cincinnati followed by two more at home over Iowa. What did Wheeling do to sweep the weekend?
Well, the best way to turn it around after having a prolonged winning streak broken is to just start winning again, which the Nailers managed to do last weekend.
While I fully expected the victory against the Cyclones, Iowa has been a pretty good team this season, and I had a feeling there could’ve been a split of those two games. Of course, it ended up working out better than that for the Nailers, as they managed to get all six points available over the weekend.
Friday’s game in Cincy started off slowly for the Nailers, as they only registered four shots on goal in the period. Luckily, one of those from Matty De St. Phalle on the power play found the net late in the period, and Wheeling went into the locker room with the 1-0 lead. Then, just under two minutes into the second, Matthew Quercia managed to tickle the twine to extend the lead to 2-0 which held until the Cyclones got one past Sergei Murashov with less than seven minutes remaining in the frame to make it a one-goal game heading into the third. Wheeling was able to extend the lead to two again with just over eight minutes left off the stick of Jack Beck, but Cincy got it back just a minute and a half later. Despite their push to try to get to overtime, Wheeling held strong and left town with two points.
Saturday’s game against Iowa had fireworks early on, with the two teams combining for three goals and a fight within the first nine minutes of game action. Iowa scored first on Taylor Gauthier before Shane Bull knotted the game, but the Heartlanders managed to get another on the power play after Matt Quercia was given the extra penalty after his fight for instigating.
Wheeling got a power play of their own shortly after and cashed in thanks to Kyle Jackson and the game was tied again before Ryan Lieth got his first as a Nailer and got the lead for Wheeling after a high flying first. The Nailers were able to take over in the second, scoring three goals in the period with Jackson getting his second of the game followed by Matt Koopman and Atley Calvert, and Wheeling had a 4-goal advantage heading to the third.
Despite Iowa getting 12 shots on goal in the period, they couldn’t get any in the net, and Wheeling came away with the big 6-2 victory.
After playing games each of the previous two days, Sunday had the chance of starting off slow for the Nailers and it did as Iowa earned the 1-0 lead in the first on a power play. The second period was even worse, as Wheeling only managed to put three shots on net in the frame, but Sergei Murashov stood tall for the Nailers, making 11 saves in the period to keep the score where it was going into the third. The final period was much different for the home team, despite still being outshot in the period 11-9, goals by Jack Beck, Atley Calvert, and Logan Pietila allowed Wheeling to come out victorious in every game over the weekend.
The Nailers closed out calendar year 2024 with a big 7-3 victory over Reading at home. How did Wheeling earn such a big win?
With how the game ended up, you would think it was fireworks from the opening faceoff, but that wasn’t really the case. The first period was rather slow developing, aside from a few hard hits laid out, until the Nailers finally broke through with just over two minutes remaining in the period thanks to Matt Koopman. As the fans were still settling down from that goal, Matt Quercia snapped a backhander into the net just 27 seconds after the first goal, and Wheeling suddenly had a 2-0 lead heading to the locker room.
Reading managed to get one of their own on the board just 22 seconds into the second, but Matty De St. Phalle got Wheeling back on the board 16 seconds after that, and the lead was back to two at 3-1, and Chris Ortiz had three assists already to that point. The Nailers continued to pour it on, getting two more goals in the period from Jack Beck and Kyle Jackson on the power play, both assisted by Chris Ortiz to give him a five-point night (all assists), and Wheeling had the 5-1 lead heading to the third.
The third period started off well for Wheeling also, with David Jankowski getting a goal just over five minutes into the frame, but Reading wasn’t ready to roll over and give up just yet. The Royals managed to score two themselves just two minutes apart to make it 6-3 for the home team. Just a minute after that goal, Reading was assessed a penalty, and Bennett MacArthur made them pay with Wheeling’s second power play goal of the night, and the 7-3 score held until the final horn.
The Nailers open 2025 with two games this weekend in Norfolk against the Admirals. What does Wheeling need to do to come away with two more wins?
Well, there’s nothing quite like opening the new calendar year with two games against the team you’re battling for first place in the division in your first games against them this season.
While that spot currently belongs to Wheeling, Norfolk finds themselves just four points behind (despite playing two more games thus far than the Nailers have), so two wins by the Admirals would put them in a tie with Wheeling at the top of the North Division. However, two wins by the Nailers (combined with at least two points earned by Trois-Rivières) would drop Norfolk to third place in the division, so even though it’s still a little early to worry about it just yet, it could come back to haunt them once we get to that point.
While Wheeling has been led by their goaltending tandem, Norfolk has a rookie goaltender of their own, Domenic DiVincentiis, who is having a good season of his own.
In 13 games played, he is 11-2 with a 2.51 goals-against average and 0.908 save percentage. When looking at the overall team statistics for Norfolk, the thing that really stands out to me is Norfolk has the fourth highest average penalty minutes against per game this season at 16.10, while Wheeling remains towards the bottom of that list at 9.82 minutes per game.
With how many penalties they take, the Admiral penalty kill gets a lot of practice, but they’re not doing very well this season, sitting 17th overall in the ECHL at 80.4% success rate, although they fall to 20th in the league at home with a 78.7% success rate.
Wheeling’s power play is the second best overall in the league with a 25.3% success rate, but on the road, they sit fourth at a 26.2% success rate. If the man advantage group is able to capitalize on the opportunities they are almost certain to get with the rate at which Norfolk gets penalties, they could manage to come home with two victories.
The ECHL announced on Tuesday that Jack Beck was Player of the Week for the week prior. How did he earn that award, and do you see him continuing to vie for it moving forward?
Beck, in his first season as a professional following four seasons in the OHL for the Ottawa 67’s and Soo Greyhounds, has shown what he is capable of. His 29 points in 28 games played leads the team, and his 23 assists is only second to Chris Ortiz, who has 25 thanks to his five-assist night against Reading on Tuesday. During the week of December 23-29, Beck managed to earn seven points (two goals and five assists) in three games to earn the award, and he is the third Nailer to earn an award this season after Sergei Murashov was November’s Rookie of the Month and Mats Lindgren was November’s Plus Performer of the Month.
With how well he has managed to perform thus far in his age-21 season, the sky is truly the limit for Beck. After receiving that award, he managed to go out and earn a goal and two assists in the game against Reading on New Years Eve, and I expect him to have a good showing this weekend down in Reading as well. Beck is able to play to his strengths very well, making plays for teammates and using his speed to put the opponents defense into tough situations. If he plays that way the rest of the way, we can only hope that he stays here in Wheeling, as he is currently under contract to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The Nailers welcomed over 4,000 fans in the building for the New Years Eve game against Reading. How important do you think it is for this team to see that kind of attendance?
I have to say, sitting in the arena on Tuesday, you could just feel the electricity from the crowd. Everyone was invested and wanted to see the Nailers do well.
The din in the arena was palpable and the sound made every time the team went on the attack and threatened to break through was met with an audible groan when it didn’t find the net. When they finally did cash in for the first time, between the horn and the crowd, the sound inside the building was borderline deafening. I wasn’t able to hear my wife sitting next to me trying to ask me a question. When it happened again so quickly after that the Nailer faithful couldn’t get to their chant towards the opposing goalie, that one was met with an even louder roar.
Some of the Wheeling players were asked about the crowd after the game, and they all said, to a man, that they were able to feed off that energy to take the game to the Royals instead of the other way around. I absolutely loved seeing a crowd like that in the arena to cheer on the Nailers, and I would highly recommend that anyone who is interested in going to a game look at the schedule ahead and find your tickets now.
I feel like, between how well the team is doing and the fun promotions coming up soon, they may be harder to find as we get closer to those games. I hope to see you all there at a future game cheering on the boys in black and gold.
