ECHL ECHL

Nailers Off To Best Start Ever

November 7, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Winning three games in three days for the second week in a row, the Wheeling Nailers improved to 6-1-0 to sit atop the North Division, one point ahead of Toledo which has won its last two games and is in second place at 5-2-1.

The Nailers will play three in three again this weekend as they travel to Toledo on Friday and Johnstown on Saturday before hosting Johnstown on Saturday. Wheeling beat Toledo 6-4 in the first meeting on Friday and won 4-2 at Johnstown on Saturday before ending the weekend with a 7-3 win over Victoria.

Toledo continues its six-game home stand when it hosts Wheeling on Friday and Trenton on Saturday. The Storm has won its last three home games and is 4-0-1 at home, outscoring its opponents 23-14.

Leading the Nailers offensively are Kurtis McLean and Sean Collins, who each have 12 points on five goals and seven assists. The two are tied for the league lead in assists and points and tied for third in goals among league rookies and are tied for seventh among all players in scoring. The 22-year-old Collins, who was selected in the ninth round (289th overall) by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, and the 25-year-old McLean are both under contract to the Nailers' American Hockey League affiliate, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Andy Chiodo is 5-1-0 and tied for the league lead in wins and tied for fifth in the league with 364 minutes. The 22-year-old Chiodo is under contract to Wheeling's NHL affiliate, the Pittsburgh Penguins, who selected him in seventh round (199th overall) in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

Scooter Smith leads Toledo with 14 points (5g-9a) while Ken Magowan (7g-6a) and Todd Jackson (5g-8a) each have 13 points. Smith is tied for the ECHL scoring lead and tied for second in assists while Magowan and Jackson are tied for fourth in scoring. Magowan is tied for second in the league with four power-play goals and Jackson is tied for fifth in assists. The 24-year-old Jackson is in his second professional season and under contract to the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL, who selected him in the eighth round (251st overall) in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.

David Cann and Chad Collins, both in their second professional season, have been filling in for the injured Logan Koopmans. The 23-year-old Cann is 2-1-0 with a goals-against average of 2.67 and a save percentage of .901 in three games while the 24-year-old Collins is 2-1-1 with a goals-against average of 2.92 and a save percentage of .884 in four games.

Gulls, Checkers Openers Draw Over 21,000

The San Diego Gulls had a team record standing-room-only crowd of 13,001 for their home opener on Saturday and the Charlotte Checkers had 8,317 for their first game in the new Charlotte Bobcats Arena on Sunday giving the ECHL an average of 4,216 per game through the first three weeks of the season.

The 13,001 is the largest ECHL crowd in the last three years and the fourth crowd of more than 10,000 that San Diego has had in the last two years, including 11,922 for its season opener last season when the Gulls increased their average attendance by almost 13 percent. The new arena in Charlotte has a listed capacity of 6,800 for Checkers games, but additional sections can be opened to accommodate larger crowds.

The Victoria Salmon Kings will play their first game at the 7,000-seat Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Thursday when they host the Stockton Thunder, who will open the new Stockton Arena on December 10 when they host Phoenix.

The first 23 home openers have drawn 141,053 for an average of 6,133. Included in the home openers is a sellout crowd at the Toledo Sports Arena, a crowd of more than 8,000 in Bakersfield and more than 7,000 in Dayton, Fresno, Reading, South Carolina and Trenton.

Charlotte Streaks Into Tie With Columbia

Back-to-back wins over South Carolina on Saturday and Sunday extended Charlotte's winning streak to three games and moved the Checkers into a first-place tie with Columbia (5-2-1) in the South Division.

Charlotte, which beat South Carolina 7-2 on Sunday in the first home game at the new Charlotte Bobcats Arena, has only one game scheduled this week, Friday at Pensacola. The Checkers played their first five games on the road going 4-0-1.

Defenseman Rory Rawlyk (3g-3a) and Dusty Jamieson (2g-4a) lead the Checkers in scoring with six points in six games. Assigned to the team on Friday, rookie right wing Hugh Jessiman has four points (3g-1a) in his first two games with Charlotte, including his first professional hat trick on Sunday. The 21-year-old Jessiman is under contract to the Checkers' NHL affiliate, the New York Rangers, who selected him in the first round (12th overall) in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

Rookie goaltender Jeff Glass is 2-0-1 with a shutout, a goals-against average of 1.91 and a save percentage of .943 in three starts while Bernd Bruckler is 3-0-0 with a goals-against average of 2.93 and a save percentage of .870. Glass is tied for the league lead in shutouts and shootout percentage while ranking sixth in goals-against average and fourth in save percentage. Glass, who will turn 20 years old on November 19, is under contract to the Ottawa Senators, who selected him in the third round (89th overall) in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Florida won a pair of one-goal games against Augusta, including 4-3 in a shootout on Saturday, to improve to 3-1-0. The Everblades will host South Carolina on Tuesday before heading on the road for the first time on Friday and Saturday to visit Gwinnett (3-1-1). Steve Saviano leads Florida with five assists and seven points while Phil Osaer is 2-1-0 with a goals-against average of 2.92 and a save percentage of .906 and Craig Kowalski is 1-0-0 with a goals-against average of 1.00 and a save percentage of .958. Saviano is under contract to the Everblades' AHL affiliate, the Lowell Lock Monsters, while Osaer and Kowalski are under contract to the team's NHL affiliates, the Florida Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes, respectively.

Grizzlies Climb In West

Posting back-to-back wins against Alaska on Friday and Saturday, Utah improved to 5-3-0 and moved into a second-place tie with the Aces (4-2-2) in the West Division. The Grizzlies and Alaska are four points behind Idaho, which saw its season-opening six-game winning streak end with a 3-1 loss at Long Beach on Friday, but remains atop the ECHL at 7-0-1.

Utah will travel to Fresno on Friday and Long Beach on Saturday and Sunday while the Steelheads will host Alaska on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at Qwest Arena. Idaho opened the season at home with a three-game sweep of Long Beach to improve its ECHL regular season home record to 48-21-6.

Rookie Matt Craig leads the Grizzlies with 11 points (7g-4a) while Anthony Battaglia (4g-6a), Jeff Miles (3g-7a) and Louis Dumont (3g-7a) are tied for second with 10 points. Craig leads the league with two game-winning goals and is tied for the lead in goals while ranking third among rookies and tied for 11th overall in scoring. Alfie Michaud has won his last three starts to improve to 4-2-0 while lowering his goals-against average to 3.24 and raising his save percentage to .889.

D'Arcy McConvey leads Idaho with 13 points (5g-8a) while Marty Flichel has 12 points (4g-8a) and Scott Burt has 11 points (2g-9a). McConvey is tied for fourth in the league in scoring and is tied for fifth in assists while Burt is tied for second in the league in assists and tied for 11th in scoring. Flichel is tied for seventh in the ECHL in scoring and is tied for the league lead with eight power-play points and tied for second with six power-play assists. Tied for the league lead in wins, Matt Yeats is 5-0-0 with a goals-against average of 2.20 and a save percentage of .920. Rookie goaltender Steve Silverthorn, who has started the last two games for the Steelheads, is 2-1-0 with a goals-against average of 2.93 and a save percentage of .897.

Falcons Hold Lead In Pacific

Fresno won three games in three days, including back-to-back shootout wins on Friday and Saturday, to improve to 6-1-1 and first place in the Pacific Division. The Falcons, who did not get their sixth win until the 14th game a year ago, are six points ahead of Bakersfield (3-3-1) and Long Beach (3-4-1), the largest lead in any of the four divisions.

After traveling to Las Vegas on Tuesday, Fresno will return to home to host Utah (5-3-0) on Friday and San Diego (2-5-1) on Saturday. The Falcons have won their last two games and are 4-1-1 overall at Save Mart Center, which will host the 2006 ECHL All-Star Game presented by Bud Light on January 25.

Three-time ECHL All-Star Luke Curtin is tied for the league lead with 14 points while his six goals tie him for third place and his eight assists tie him for fifth place. Shawn Mather (5g-4a), Cory Murphy (2g-7a) and Derek Krestanovich (2g-7a) are tied for second on the team in scoring. Murphy leads ECHL defensemen with eight power-play points (2ppg-6ppa) while being tied for second among ECHL defensemen in goals, points and power-play assists and is tied for third in power-play goals.

Brett Jaeger is 4-1-1 with a goals-against average of 2.73 and a save percentage of .915 in six starts. Rookie goaltender Mike Brown made his professional debut on Sunday making 31 saves in a 6-2 win against Bakersfield.

Did You Know?

The largest crowd to watch an ECHL game is 20,911 on January 15, 1994 at Greensboro when the Monarchs beat Charlotte 7-1.


Feature Games Of The Week

North Division
Reading at Trenton - Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. ET
* Royals won 2-1 in overtime on October 29.
* Both teams have lost only once in regulation.

South Division
South Carolina at Florida - Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET
* Florida beat South Carolina in conference quarterfinals.
* Florida is 3-0-0 in its last three and Stingrays are 0-3-1 in last four.

West Division
San Diego at Fresno - Saturday at 7:00 p.m. PT
* Fresno was 5-3-1 against the Gulls in 2004-05.
* San Diego is 11-8-0 all-time against the Falcons.

Pacific Division
Alaska at Idaho - Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. MT
* Idaho is 3-0-0 at home and Alaska is 0-1-1 on the road.
* Idaho is 10-7-3 against the Aces, who are 10-9-1 against the Steelheads.

Check out the ECHL Statistics



ECHL Stories from November 7, 2005


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central