ECHL Wheeling Nailers

Nailers Knock Off First Place Wings 5-3

Published on December 26, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Wheeling Nailers News Release


Kalamazoo, Mich. - The Nailers returned from the holiday break with a vengeance and got their first ever victory over division leading Kalamazoo in the process with a hard-fought 5-3 result on the road Saturday night. After spending a week away from each other while taking some time off for the holidays the Nailers returned to play together for the first time in a week and looked like they had never missed a beat.

Kyle Bushee, who grew up 20 minutes up the road from Wings Stadium, led the attack with his first two goals as Nailer. T.J. Fox also scored a pair and Chris Davis added a valuable goal in the 3rd period after Kalamazoo had closed to within one.

The Nailers had the early jump on the Wings and roared out to a 3-1 lead in the first. T.J. Fox started the scoring less than a minute into the game on a pass from behind the goal by Casey Pierro-Zabotel.

Matt Jones tied the score for the home team at 5:30 but Kyle Bushee got it back just 13 seconds later from the left point and then scored again 2 minutes after that on a Kevin Schmidt feed into the slot. Bushee's parents were K-Wings season ticket holders when he was growing up and a contingent of about 20 Bushee friends and family were on hand to cheer on his first ever goals against his hometown team.

Chris Capraro and Jordan Fox both rang blasts off the posts in the opening period and Ryan Nie made a few spectacular saves to prevent the Nailers from putting the game away early.

T.J. Fox stretched the lead to 4-1 early in the 2nd period on a power-play redirection on a drive from Cleve Kinley.

Kalamazoo picked up the intensity and roared back into the game with goals late in the 2nd and early in the 3rd by Rick Cleaver and Ryan McGinnis to close the gap to 4-3. The Wings lead the ECHL in scoring at 4.2 goals per game and just missed on a few other opportunities.

The Nailers got the intensity back for much of the 3rd outshooting Kalamazoo 14-8 in the frame. After Chris Capraro hit the post for the 2nd time in the game Chris Davis would scoop up the puck and carry out on the left-wing side and spin-around with a backhander along the goal-line that deflected off Nie and into the goal for an important tally at 14:13 of the 3rd. It was Davis' 3rd of the season.

Brad Thiessen had 30 saves on 33 shots in recording the victory to improve to 5-3-0.

Wheeling went 2-2-0 on their stretch of four straight road games and are back within one game of .500 with a record of 14-15-2. The Nailers can own an even record for the 2nd time this season if they win Sunday's game against Elmira.

The Wings fell to 2nd place in the North Division with a record of 16-8-3.

Kalamazoo outshot Wheeling 33-31 on the night but the Nailers outshot the Wings 14-8 in the important 3rd period. Wheeling was 1-for-6 on the power play while Kalamazoo was 0-for-6 which included three straight solid Wheeling penalty-kill efforts in a row in the opening minutes of the 2nd period.

Wheeling is 1-2-0 against the Wings this year with the next matchup slated for February 11th at WesBanco Arena. The Nailers don't return to southwest Michigan until St. Patrick's Day.

The win knocked Kalamazoo out of first place in the North for the first time this season. Wheeling also defeated goalie Ryan Nie in the regular season for the first time. He had previously been unbeaten against Wheeling in 11 appearances over the last two years when he played with Johnstown and Cincinnati.

Wheeling returns to home ice for the first time in two weeks with a Sunday night game at 6:35 against Elmira on another Sunday Family FunDay featuring a post-game open-skate with the Nailers players. Be sure to bring your skates and gloves!

After a Wednesday night game at Wheeling the Nailers will have their traditional New Years' Eve game upcoming with a Thursday, December 31st matchup against the Toledo Walleye on Michael Jackson Tribute Night!

Nailers hockey is always the most awesome family entertainment value in town and we want you there cheering on your hometown team. Kids tickets are always $5 and students get in for only $7. Call the Nailers at 304-234-GOAL.

Check out the Wheeling Nailers Statistics

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ECHL Stories from December 26, 2009


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