ECHL Wheeling Nailers

Nailers Lose Hard Battle At Cincinnati 3-1

Published on October 24, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Wheeling Nailers News Release


The Wheeling Nailers dropped a hard-fought battle at Cincinnati 3-1 Saturday in the home opener for the Cyclones. Thomas Beauregard scored his team leading 4th goal of the season for the Nailers staking his team to a 1-0 lead early in the 2nd period.

Wheeling trailed 2-1 through the entire 3rd period and had several good chances to come up with the equalizer but were unable to convert. Chris Mueller capped the Cyclones night with en empty-netter with 46 seconds left to seal the victory, his 2nd goal of the game.

Jordan Parise made several great saves including stopping Dustin Sproat on a penalty shot early in the 2nd.

The Nailers struck first early in the 2nd period when Dan Henningson and T.J. Fox raced forward on a 2-on-1. Jeremy Smith made the initial save but Thomas Beauregard was there to jump on the rebound and fire it home giving Wheeling the 1-0 lead at 0:38 into the 2nd. The Montreal, Que. native led the Cyclones in goals a couple seasons ago with 31 and scored a pair of goals against his former team on the weekend.

After a mass pile-on in the crease the Cyclones were awarded a penalty shot with 17:30 remaining in the 2nd perhaps from a Nailers defenseman cupping his hand over the puck on a big scramble. Dustin Sproat$B!G(Bs attempt was kicked away off the left leg of Parise to keep the Nailers in front.

Cincinnati turned on the pressure after the midway point of the 2nd as they scored two goals and almost had a couple more.

Matt Pierce stole the puck in the Nailers zone and took advantage of the turnover to slide the puck around Parise on the partial breakaway tying the game at 1-1 at 12:39.

A couple minutes later it appeared the Cyclones had taken the lead but the goal was disallowed when it was ruled that the cage had been knocked loose from the moorings perhaps with Alex Grant backing into it at some point. That lucky break saved the Nailers for only a few moments though as Chris Mueller would race in and fire it off the cross-bar from the right-wing circle. After picking it up in the corner and still buzzing Mueller was able to walk out in front again and thus time dodge the Parise poke-check attempt and slide it in past his left skate for the game-winning goal at 19:13 of the 2nd giving the Cyclones a 2-1 lead.

Wheeling had several good opportunities in the 3rd including one situation where they appeared to have potentially tied it when Andrew Lord split the defense and stuffed in a second chance with about 7 minutes left. It was the goal on the same end that had come loose earlier and this time it had obviously been knocked free before Lord scored so it was Wheeling$B!G(Bs turn to have a disallowed goal. As Lord was celebrating what he thought was a potential tying goal he got blind-sided by Cincinnati$B!G(Bs Hans Benson which started another melee and Scott Kalinchuk of Wheeling and Mark Voakes of the Cyclones mixed it up for a little bit.

The Nailers pulled goalie Jordan Parise with 1:50 left and after a couple of tries, including a big shot from Alex Grant in the high slot that didn$B!G(Bt connect, the Cyclones were able to seal the victory with Mueller stealing the puck at the Nailers bench and shooting it right into the open net with 47 seconds remaining.

Cincinnati outshot the Nailers 26-20. Wheeling went 0-for-2 on the power play while Cincinnati was 0-for-6 including two different times with a 2-man advantage.

Wheeling is back in action Sunday night at 6:35 against the Elmira Jackals at WesBanco Arena. The Jackals won in overtime at Johnstown Saturday night to stay unbeaten at 4-0.

The Nailers and Cyclones will meet again on October 31st at WesBanco Arena.

Nailers Notes:

Tom Harrison received a two game suspension for his slashing penalty on Cincinnati$B!G(Bs Brock Sheahan in the 3rd period Friday. He was a scratch in Saturday$B!G(Bs game at Cincinnati and won$B!G(Bt be available for Sunday$B!G(Bs game vs. Elmira. He will be available again Wednesday night when the Nailers take on his former team, the Trenton Devils.

Home opening weekend continues on Sunday, October 25th against the Elmira Jackals at 6:35. It's a Sunday Family FunDay featuring an open post-game skate with the Nailers players. Be sure to bring your skates and gloves. It's also an NFL Sunday Special. Wear an NFL jersey to the game for a special $10 adult ticket.

Season tickets are on sale now for all 36 exciting Nailers home games at WesBanco Arena. Great season ticket plans are available for every budget. Also take advantage of the Nailers new $87 package for 7 Nailers home games. Call the Wheeling Nailers at (304) 234-GOAL, that's 234-4625. Or log on to wheelingnailers.com for more information.

Check out the Wheeling Nailers Statistics

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ECHL Stories from October 24, 2009


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