ECHL Wheeling Nailers

Nailers Week in Review

February 3, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Wheeling Nailers News Release


Wednesday, January 29 Wheeling 3 @ Richmond 7

The Nailers dropped their third game of the season against the Renegades, second in Richmond. The Renegades scored two first period goals to take a 2-0 lead through one period of play. Ryan Van Buskirk scored a power play goal at 7:29 of the first period from Jamie Herrington and Kerry Ellis-Toddington for a 1-0 Renegades lead. Herrington made it 2-0 at 16:43 on an even strength goal from Russ Bartlett and Ellis-Toddington. Brad Churh scored another Richmond power play goal at 2:49 of the second period from Ellis-Toddington to give the Renegades a 3-0 lead. Michel Ouellet got the Nailers on the scoreboard at 8:03 from Chris McNamara and Mark Major. Van Buskirk scored his second power play goal at 16:36 of the second period to give the Renegades a 4-1 lead. Richmond took a 5-1 lead at 16:54 on a Peter Hogan power play goal from Jon Zion and Church. At 19:09 of the second period the Nailers got back to 5-2 on a Matt Smith goal from McNamara. Zenon Konopka made it a 5-3 game at 3:40 of the final period on a goal from Matt Elich and Dmitri Doulebenets. Richmond scored their fifth power play goal of the game at 16:10 of the third period to take a 6-3 lead. Richard Pitirri scored the goal from David Brosseau and Zion. The Renegades ended the scoring with an even strength goal from Leon Hayward at 17:21. Tyler MacKay made 29 saves on 36 shots in the loss.

Friday, January 31 Augusta 3 @ Wheeling 2

This was the first game ever played between the Nailers and the Lynx. Wheeling had previously played the Augusta franchise when they were in Raleigh. Augusta scored three first period goals to take a 3-0 lead. Andrew Williamson scored the first two goals for the Lynx and assisted on the third. The first Lynx goal was Williamson from Mike Legg at 8:35, the second goal was Williamson from Legg and Tyson Holly at 11:22. Jim Shepherd added a power play goal at 14:47 from Martin Lapointe and Williamson to give Augusta a 3-0 lead. Wheeling scored two second period goals to get to within one goal at 3-2. Zenon Konopka scored the first Nailers goal at 4:52 from Michel Ouellet and Ryan Gillis. Mario Larocque scored the second Wheeling goal at 17:08 from Konopka and J.P. Soucy. Neither team scored in the third period with the Lynx outshooting the Nailers 9-5 in the final period. Tyler MacKay made 29 saves on 32 shots in defeat.

Saturday, February 1 Mississippi 4 @ Wheeling 5

The final game of the week for the Nailers was the first ever meeting between the Wheeling and Mississippi franchises. In the first period the Nailers scored four times to take a 4-0 lead through 20 minutes of play. The two teams also combined for 60 penalty minutes as there were five first period fights. Mario Larocque scored the games first goal just 56 seconds into the game to give Wheeling a 1-0 lead. Zenon Konopka and Michel Ouellet assisted on the goal. Matt Elich scored his first goal as a Nailer at 1:11 from Matt Smith and Ryan Gillis to give the Nailers a 2-0 lead. Konopka made it a 3-0 game with a goal at 9:55. Larocque and Ouellet assisted on the Konopka goal. Ouellet ended the first period scoring at 17:16 with Konopka and Smith assisting. Mississippi got back to within one goal at 4-3 with three goals in the first 6:18 of the second period. Steffon Walby scored a power play goal at 3:03 from Dave Paradise and Jim Baxter. At 3:33 the Sea Wolves got a goal from Darryl Campbell to make it a 4-2 game. Josh Bennett and Sergei Kuznetsov assisted on the goal. Walby added another power play goal at 6:18 of the second period with Mike Scott and Cody Bowtell assisting. The Nailers reclaimed a two-goal lead on Elich's second goal of the game at 10:45 of the second period with Smith assisting. Mississippi got back to within one goal at 16:14 on a Kuznetsov goal from Campbell and Sean Peach. Neither team scored in the third period and the Nailers held on for the 5-4 win. Tyler MacKay made 28 saves on 32 shots in the win.

PREVIEW OF UPCOMING NAILERS GAMES February 3-February 9

Friday, February 8 Wheeling @ Johnstown 7:30p.m.

The Nailers play only one game this week and it is on the road in Johnstown. The Nailers are 3-2-0 against the Chiefs this season, including 1-1-0 in Johnstown. The two franchises have played 124 games against each other with Wheeling holding the advantage with a 70-39-15 record against the Chiefs. The Nailers return home on Friday, February 21 against the Toledo Storm.

Player of the Week

The Nailers Player of the Week is Zenon Konopka. Konopka scored one goal in each game last week. He ended the week with three goals and three assists for six points and played at a +5.

Goaltender of the Week

The Nailers Goaltender of the Week is Tyler MacKay. MacKay went 1-2-0 in the three Nailers games last week. He had a save percentage of .860 and a goals against average of 4.67.

Check out the Wheeling Nailers Statistics



ECHL Stories from February 3, 2003


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