ECHL Wheeling Nailers

Nailers Weekly

December 2, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Wheeling Nailers News Release


Thursday, November 28 Johnstown 4 @ Wheeling 1 For the 11th consecutive season the Nailers played at home on Thanksgiving night, this season against the Johnstown Chiefs. In the first period the Chiefs scored twice to take a 2-0 lead. J.F. Boutin opened the scoring at 6:33 with Lukas Smital and Mike Rodrigues assisting on the goal. Sam St. Pierre gave the Chiefs a 2-0 lead at 10:17 of the opening period with a power play goal from P.L. Courchesne and Phil Roy. In the second period the Nailers got back to within one goal at 2-1 when Steve Crampton scored from Zenon Konopka at 6:23. Before the first period ended the Chiefs reclaimed a two goal advantage at 3-1 on an Andy Doktorchik goal from Steve Hildenbrand. Johnstown closed the scoring with an empty net goal at 18:55 of the third period. Boutin scored the goal, his second of the game. Mike Valley made 33 saves on 36 shots in the loss. Wheeling is 6-5-0 in their history on Thanksgiving day games.

Friday, November 29 Wheeling 2 @ Johnstown 4

The Nailers and the Chiefs played the second game of the weekends home and home series in Johnstown. Wheeling took a 1-0 lead at 11:37 of the first period on a Bobby Russell breakaway goal with Steve Crampton assisting. Before the first period ended the Chiefs tied the game 1-1. Johnstown captain Brent Bilodeau scored a power play goal from Dominic Forget at 13:58. J.F. Boutin gave the Chiefs their first lead of the game at 13:19 of the second period on his third goal in the last two games. Sam St. Pierre and Steve Hildenbrand assisted on the Boutin goal. The Nailers tied the game 2-2 in the third period on a Mark Major goal at 14:38. Arpad Mihaly and Dmitri Doulebenets assisted on the game-tying goal. Johnstown broke the tie at 17:27 on a Lukas Smital goal from Bilodeau. The Chiefs added an empty net goal by Dmitri Tarabrin at 19:28 to close the scoring in the Chiefs 4-2 win. Mike Valley made 22 saves on 25 shots in the loss.

Saturday, November 30 Reading 4 @ Wheeling 3 (OT)

For the fourth time this season the Reading Royals got the better of the Nailers, winning this game in overtime. The Nailers took a 1-0 lead in the game on a Matt Smith goal, his first with the Nailers, at 13:47 of the second period.

Arpad Mihaly and Mark Major assisted on the goal. In the third period the Royals tied the game 1-1 on a Steve Rymsha goal at 3:04. Wheeling retook a one goal advantage at 9:14 on T.J. Reynolds goal from Michel Ouellet and Zenon Konopka. Bobby Russell gave the Nailers their largest lead of the night at 3-1 with a shorthanded goal at 14:55. Reading battled back with goals at 15:43 from Mat Snesrud while on a power play and Brian McCullough at 19:49 with their goalie pulled to tie the game and force overtime. Reading scored at 2:28 of overtime for the win. Colin Pepperall scored the game-winning goal. Mike Valley made 34 saves on 38 shots in the loss.

PREVIEW OF UPCOMING NAILERS GAMES

December 2-December 8

Friday, December 6 Wheeling @ Toledo 7:30p.m.

The Nailers travel to Toledo for the third time this season and will play the Storm for the fourth time overall. The Nailers are 0-3-0 against the Storm this season including an 0-2-0 record in Toledo. The Storm won 4-3 in Toledo on October 25, 7-4 in Wheeling on November 2 and 6-3 in Toledo on November 22.

Saturday, December 7 Wheeling @ Cincinnati 7:05p.m.

The Nailers make their first trip to Cincinnati of the season having played the Cyclones twice at home this year. In the two games the Nailers and Cyclone played in Wheeling, the Nailers won both games. On October 13 the Nailers won 6-2 with Mark Major getting the game-winning goal. On November 10 the Nailers won 4-3 with Major again getting the game-winning goal.

Sunday, December 8 Wheeling @ Peoria 4:00p.m.

Wheeling has already played the Rivermen four times this season, all of them at home. This will be the first trip to Peoria for the Nailers this season. In the first four games the Nailers are 2-2-0. On October 19 the Rivermen won 6-1 in Wheeling. The Nailers won 6-5 in a shootout on October 20 at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. On November 16 the Rivermen beat the Nailers 7-3. The Nailers evened the series with a 3-0 win on November 17, J.P. Soucy scored the game-winning goal.

Player of the Week

The Nailers Player of the Week is Steve Crampton. Crampton had the Nailers only goal in a 4-1 loss to Johnstown on Thursday and had an assist on Friday in Johnstown. He is among the league leaders in scoring among rookies.

Goaltender of the Week

The Nailers Goaltender of the Week is Mike Valley. Valley played all three games for the Nailers and went 0-2-1 to move his record to 7-9-2 on the season. Valley had a goals against average of 3.31 and a save percentage of .899 in the three games.

Check out the Wheeling Nailers Statistics



ECHL Stories from December 2, 2002


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