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ECHL Wheeling Nailers

Nailers Ground the Wings 7-3

March 17, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Wheeling Nailers News Release


Kalamazoo, MI - The Wheeling Nailers poured on 5 unanswered goals in the 2nd and 3rd periods overcoming a 3-2 deficit to win running away from the Kalamazoo Wings by a 7-3 final. Blair Yaworski and Aaron Clarke both scored a pair of goals on the green ice at Wings Stadium and 19 year old Kale Kerbashian made his professional debut a memorable one by scoring his first goal. Clarke now has 22 goals on the season and also picked up 2 assists on the night to lead all Nailers scorers with 4 points.

It was the most goals the Nailers had scored in a game since defeating Kalamazoo 10-1 on February 6th. It was the 4th time this season that Wheeling has scored 7 or more goals in a game.

The Nailers improve to 30-29-6 with 66 points to move into a tie for 8th place in the American Conference. The top 8 qualify for Kelly Cup Playoffs in April. But the spot in the standings is somewhat deceiving as the Royals have 3 games in hand on the Nailers and several other teams are still battling in the 7th-through-11th log-jam as well. Wheeling has 7 games remaining on the regular season while Reading still has 10 left to play.

The Nailers avenged last Sunday's loss 4-1 loss to Kalamazoo in which Ryan Nie turned aside 40 Wheeling shots and came within about a minute o his 4th shutout of the season. This time around, the Nailers would burn Nie for 7 goals on just 24 shots.

Kalamazoo raced out to a 2-0 lead on a power play goal by Jon Landry and a shorthanded goal by Rick Cleaver. But the Nailers continued on that same power play and got one back just 1:30 later when T.J. Fox was able to sharply angle one upstairs over the shoulder of Ryan Nie and into the cage for his 23rd of the year to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Another 1:30 after that it would be Jordan Fox lighting the lamp for his 17th of the season on a give from the right-wing goal-line by T.J. Fox. The score was tied 2-2 at 16:36 into the 1st. But Kalamazoo would close the period with a goal by Andrew Fournier with just 39 seconds remaining to give the hosts a 3-2 advantage at the first intermission.

The Nailers came out firing in the 2nd period with an Aaron Clarke goal just 16 seconds in. Jon D'Aversa blasted a drive from the right point that Clarke redirected en route to tie the game at 3-3.

Blair Yaworski scored just two minutes later giving the Nailers their first lead of the game. After receiving a long stretch pass from Dan Henningson, Yaworski was able to fight his way through a defenseman, cut along the goal-line and backhand one across Nie.

Midway through the 2nd period, T.J. Fox kept control of the puck through a defender and then centered it for Kale Kerbashian who chipped one forward. Another Wings defenseman partly deflected the drive but it still had enough to go top shelf over the shoulder of Nie to give the Nailers a 5-3 lead.

Kerbashian joins the Nailers from Sarnia of the Ontario Hockey League where he led his Major Juniors club with 26 goals and 56 points.

D'Aversa teed up another one-timer early in the 3rd to start a scramble around the crease. Chris Davis dug away the rebound and shoved it through Nie who was still scrambling to find the puck. Yaworski crashed the net and was able to tip it in from the crease for his 2nd goal of the game and 13th of the year to extend Wheeling's advantage to 6-3.

Aaron Clarke closed the scoring with 1:32 remaining on a nice drop from T.J. Fox picking up the rebound of a Jordan Fox shot from the right-wing wall that bounced off the chest of a Wing. Clarke hustled into the slot to blast home the one-timer for his 2nd goal of the night and 22nd of the year for the 7-3 final.

The Nailers and Wings continue their series Friday night with a game at 7:30 in Kalamazoo.

Wheeling returns home Saturday night and Sunday afternoon entertaining Kalamazoo and Toledo back to back. The Nailers will wear their Baby Blue jerseys in Saturday night's game. Sunday at 3:05 is Pups and Pucks Day in which Nailers fans can bring their dog to the game. Every Sunday also features an open-skate with the Nailers players after the game.

Nailers Notes:

Jordan Morrison and Billy Ryan were both scratched from the lineup with injuries.

Dan Henningson returned to the lineup for the first since he was placed on the I.R. February 5. Henningson played forward for the first time this season and looked especially solid considering he had been a defenseman all season and his first game in 6 weeks.

Michael-Lee Teslak was recalled by Adirondack of the AHL due to goalie injuries in the Flyers organization. Equipment Manager Billy Higgins again served as Wheeling's Emergency Backup Goalie.

The Nailers have 7 games remaining in the regular season and 5 home games. 7th through 11th place in the American Conference are all very close. Only the top 8 teams qualify for the playoffs. Toledo, Reading, Trenton, Wheeling and Gwinnett are jammed close together in the race that could go down to the last game of the regular season just like it did last year when the Nailers qualified on the final day.

Upcoming Promotions!

Friday, March 26th is Team Poster Giveaway Night for the first 2500 fans and Team Autograph Night after the game with the entire Nailers team appearing.

Friday, April 2nd is Nailers Baby Blue Ball-Cap Giveaway for the first 2500 fans courtesy of Main Street Bank.

Saturday, April 3rd is Fan Appreciation Night and Ticket Extravaganza. Lots of gifts and prizes on the last game of the regular season.

Call the Nailers at 304-234-GOAL or toll-free at 1-877-NAIL-TIX. Get your tickets online at the team's website at wheelingnailers.com.

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ECHL Stories from March 17, 2010


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