Nailers News & Notes - December 10, 2025
ECHL Wheeling Nailers

Nailers News & Notes - December 10, 2025

Published on December 10, 2025 under ECHL (ECHL)
Wheeling Nailers News Release


Wheeling Nailers Teddy Bear Toss
Wheeling Nailers Teddy Bear Toss
(Wheeling Nailers)

Last year's Wheeling Nailers won 17 of their first 21 games (17-3-1) in a feat that left fans amazed, and probably thinking they wouldn't see another run like that for a long time. One year later, the Nailers find themselves with wins in 18 of their first 22 games (18-3-1) and owners of a five-point lead for the best record in the entire ECHL. Over the weekend, Wheeling swept a three-game homestand against Greensboro to complete a perfect four-game week. The team also earned 15 of 16 possible points during a grueling stretch of eight games in 12 days. The Nailers will spend the next two weeks away from home, starting this week against Reading on Wednesday and Adirondack on Friday and Saturday.

ANOTHER CLEAN SWEEP

The ECHL season is only eight weeks old, yet the Nailers have already swept a multi-game series against an opponent four times. This weekend's victim suffered its fate for the second time this year, as Wheeling took down the Greensboro Gargoyles on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with final scores of 3-1, 3-1, and 5-2. The Nailers are now 6-0-0 against Greensboro with two head-to-head games remaining next weekend. The other two sweeps recorded by Wheeling came in two-game series, as the Nailers beat Norfolk twice on home opening weekend, then took two wins at home against Maine a couple of weeks later. Wheeling has posted a winning record in seven of eight weeks (Monday-Sunday), with the lone outlier being a split at Maine in October. Last season's team earned five multi-game series sweeps against the same opponent.

GOALTENDING GREATNESS

A lot of teams would be in trouble if they lost the ECHL Goaltender of the Month for a chunk of time, but that position is deeper than ever for the Nailers. That netminder was Jake Smith, who earned the honor thanks to a 7-0-1 mark in November, but has temporarily left Wheeling to try out for Italy's 2026 Winter Olympic Team. Maxim Pavlenko dominated the crease last week by winning all three of his starts, including his second shutout of the year in Reading. The native of Kazakhstan stopped 81 of the 84 shots he faced in the three victories to earn ECHL Goaltender of the Week, while improving to 8-3-0 on the season. Taylor Gauthier made his season debut with a 22-save win on Saturday, and in doing so, became the first goaltender (21st player) to play in at least one game in four different seasons for Wheeling.

TEDDY TIME COMES EARLY

The 26th annual Teddy Bear Toss took place at WesBanco Arena on Saturday night, and fans didn't have to wait very long to start throwing their stuffed animals onto the ice. Matty De St. Phalle whipped a power play wrist shot into the top-left corner of the net at the 7:14 mark of the first period to ignite the toss. Early goals have been extremely common for the Nailers on Teddy Bear Toss Night both in recent seasons and all-time. This was the fourth straight season in which the fur went flying less than ten minutes into the contest. Historically, Wheeling has now netted the Teddy Bear Toss Goal during the first period 16 times, and 13 of those have taken place during the opening ten minutes. De St. Phalle's strike was the seventh fastest to produce the shower of stuffies, with the earliest goal coming just 2:19 into the game in 2018 from Zac Lynch.

DARE TO COMPARE

Since 2024-25 and 2025-26 have produced such similar results in the standings through 22 games, it's a good time to look deeper into the numbers to see how closely the two seasons compare to this point. This year's club will play its 23rd game of the season on Wednesday with an 18-3-1 record. Last year's team played its 23rd game of the season on December 21st and was 17-4-1. Goals for and goals against are both separated by merely two, and the goal differentials are identical at +33. This year's group has outscored its opposition, 79-46, while last season's squad outscored its opponents, 81-48. Special teams have been better in 2025-26, as the power play has converted on 17 of 64 attempts (26.6%), compared to 15 of 71 (21.1%) a year ago. Both of this season's special teams rank second in the ECHL, with the 2025-26 penalty kill having succeeded on 58 of 66 disadvantages (87.9%) to last year's 60 of 69 (87.0%). For the second straight campaign, the wins have been earned by four different goalies. 24 different players have scored goals in the first 22 games this season, after 21 players scored goals in the first 22 games last season.

WE KNOW ONE WELL, BUT NOT THE OTHER

For the second week in a row and the fourth time in five weeks, the Nailers will be making their way to Reading to face the Royals. Last Wednesday, Maxim Pavlenko made 32 saves to blank Reading for the second time this season, as Wheeling improved to 3-2-0 in head-to-head action. Over the weekend, the Royals split a pair of games with Worcester, which included a 5-4 triumph on Saturday to snap their six-game losing streak. Reading has been active in the trade market over the past week, acquiring former Nailer Davis Bunz from Orlando and Pittsburgh native Ty Voit from Utah. The Royals also got 2025 Kelly Cup Champion Vincent Sevigny back from a loan to AHL Syracuse.

The opponent for the weekend will be the Adirondack Thunder, who are tied for the fewest games played (18) in the ECHL, but have played plenty of extra hockey, thanks to a league-leading eight contests being decided after regulation. The Thunder swept a home-and-home series from Maine over the weekend to improve to 9-6-3, which is good for 21 points. Adirondack is one of three teams in the ECHL (Greenville & Wichita) to rank in both the bottom-10 in goals for (2.56, 25th) and the top-10 in goals against (2.61, 7th). Jeremy Brodeur and Tyler Brennan have backstopped eight of the nine wins for the Thunder, and Brodeur ranks 14th in the league with a 2.28 goals against average. Offensively, fourth year pro Brannon McManus leads the way with seven goals and 17 points. McManus starts the week on a five-game point streak. Adirondack will host Worcester on Wednesday, before the Nailers invade Harding Mazzotti Arena. The Thunder won three of the five head-to-head tilts against Wheeling in 2024-25.

Buy Tickets for Upcoming Games

Sat. Dec. 27 - 80's Night

Wed. Dec. 31 - Kid's New Year's Eve

Sat. Jan. 3 - Women in Sports Night

Sat. Jan. 10 - Marvel Night

Check out the Wheeling Nailers Statistics

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Wheeling Nailers Teddy Bear Toss
Wheeling Nailers Teddy Bear Toss
   



ECHL Stories from December 10, 2025


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