ECHL Wheeling Nailers

Nailers Heading To Conference Finals For First Time Since 1998

April 27, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Wheeling Nailers News Release


GREEVILLE, SC -Kris Kushneriuk's goal 8:23 into overtime, lifted the Nailers to a 4-3 victory in game seven of the Eastern Conference Semifinals played at the Bi-Lo Center Wednesday night. Wheeling wins the series 4-3, and will take on the Kalamazoo Wings in Eastern Conference Finals beginning on Friday at Wings Stadium. The win marks the first time the Nailers have reached the conference finals since 1998 against the Hampton Roads Admirals.

An even first period started with the first power play goal of the series for the Nailers. Joey Haddad picked up a puck in the middle of a scramble, and lifted a shot top shelf past goatender Nic Ripel to give the Nailers a 1-0 lead. Greenville tied it on a goal from Marc-Olivier Vallerand. Vallerand fired a wrist shot that was initially stopped by Wheeling netminder Peter Delmas. However, the puck clipped off the pad of Delmas and trickled across the goaline for the tying goal at 17:06. The teams went into the first intermission tied at one.

In the second, Wheeling took advantage of a 2-on-1 rush led by Paul Crowder. Crowder broke into the zone on the right wing side and slid a pass ahead for Haddad who netted his second goal of the game to give the Nailers a 2-1 lead at 5:51 of the period. Nearly 90 seconds later, the same line struck again as Haddad returned the favor on a feed in front to Paul Crowder. Crowder grabbed the puck from the left hash mark and wristed one on the glove side past Riopel to extend the Wheeling lead t0 3-1.

Greenville countered as Brendan Connolly centered a pass to Andrew Rowe in the slot. Rowe reached with his stick and redirected the puck high past Delmas to pull the Road Warriors within one The Nailers took the 3-2 lead into the second break.

Wheeling fended off Greenville for a majority of third. However, Greenville with the net empty received a big play from one of the top players in Brendan Connolly. After a Wheeling clear, Connolly grabbed the puck into his own end, brought it across the Nailers line and fired a slapshot near the point which got past Delmas for the game tying goal with 23 seconds remaining, forcing overtime.

After an early surge by Greenville out of the gates, Wheeling leaned on the line that had accounted for all of the goals on the night. Joey Haddad brought the puck into the slot and slid a pass on the backside to rookie Chris Kushneriuk who batted it behind Riopel to win the game and the series for Wheeling 4-3. Haddad, Crowder, and Kushneriuk each finished with four point nights.

The Nailers now take on the Kalmazoo Wings on Friday for game one of the Eastern Conference Finals begining at 7:35 p.m. Game two will take play on Saturday, also at 7:35 p.m. Games 3, 4, and 5 will take place in Wheeling on May 5, 7, and 8 respectively.

(1) Greenville Road Warriors vs. (4) Wheeling Nailers (Best-of-Seven Series) Wheeling Wins 4-3 Game #1 - Wheeling - 4 at Greenville -3 (Thursday April 14) Game #2 - Wheeling - 1 at Greenville -2 (OT) (Friday April 15) Game #3 - Greenville - 2 at Wheeling - 3 (Wednesday April 20) Game #4 - Greenville - 1 at Wheeling - 2 (Friday April 22) Game #5 - Greenville - 5 at Wheeling - 1 (Saturday April 23) Game #6 - Wheeling 3 - at Greenville -6 (Tuesday April 26) Game #7 - Wheeling 4 at Greenville - 3 (OT) (Wednesday April 27)

For Tickets: To purchase playoff ticket packages, call the Nailers office at (304) 234-GOAL, or (304) 234-4625 to speak to a ticket representative.You may receive discounted tickets rates by participating in one of our group ticket packages

Individual tickets are on sale now through The Wheeling Nailers Office, Ticketmaster and the WesBanco Arena Box Office. Office hours are Monday-Friday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For Weekend game days, the office opens four hours before game time. For more information on ticket packages call the Nailers at 304-234-GOAL or online at www.wheelingnailers.com.

Check out the Wheeling Nailers Statistics



ECHL Stories from April 27, 2011


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