ECHL Wheeling Nailers

Nailers Win 3-2 At Reading For Third Straight Win

Published on December 30, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Wheeling Nailers News Release


Reading, Penn. - Fox scored all three goals for the Nailers, two from T.J. and one from Jordan, and Wheeling moved past the .500 mark for the first time this season on the strength of a 3-2 victory at the Reading Royals Wednesday night at the Sovereign Center.

The Nailers have strung together a 3 game win streak since the holiday break to improve their record to 16-15-2 and move all alone into 8th place in the American Conference passing both Elmira and Gwinnett in the standings. It equals the team's longest winning streak of the season.

Wheeling began the year with a sluggish 2-7-1 record but has gone 14-8-2 since. The Nailers also clinched a winning December with the win improving to 8-5-0 on the month with one game remaining.

Brad Thiessen won his third game in a row turning away 30 of 32 Reading shots. T.J. Fox had his second multi-goal game of the week to up his season total to 10. Fox also had a two goal game on Saturday at Kalamazoo.

Jimmy Fraser started the scoring to stake the Royals to a 1-0 lead at 9:29 of the 1st period.

But both Foxes got in the scoring column to close the first. T.J. Fox scored his first of the night on a blast from inside the right point on a drop from Casey Pierro-Zabotel at 13:43 to tie the score at 1-1.

Jordan Fox picked up the rebound off a Blair Yaworski drive and circled out in front of the goal and fired a wide wrap-around to the far post past Royals goalie Matt Dalton with just 6.7 seconds left in the period to give the Nailers a 2-1 lead.

T.J. Fox scored his 2nd of the night midway through the 2nd period on the power play as he moved to the right-wing side of the goal and fired it home. It came just 12 seconds into the power play and was after a hooking penalty that he was able to draw. Wheeling has scored a power play goal in 8 straight games and is 12-for-45 (26.7%) in that stretch. After beginning the year near the bottom of the league on the man advantage, Wheeling has moved to the top 7 in the league at over 18% for the season.

Olivier Labelle for Reading scored his 9th of the year about 4 minutes into the 3rd to close it to a one goal game again. The Royals had a few other good chances and missed opportunities in the Wheeling zone through the 3rd but Thiessen and the Nailers defense were able to weather the storm to preserve the win.

Wheeling is 1-0 against Reading this year. The two former rivals will only meet four times this year due partly to new divisional alignment in the North and East Divisions.

Reading outshot the Nailers 32-26 including 10-5 in the 3rd period. Wheeling was 1-for-1 on the power play while Reading was 0-for-2.

Nailers Notes:

Cleve Kinley missed the game with a minor injury from Sunday's contest. Blair Yaworski returned to the lineup after missing two games with visa issues. #19 Zack Sill made his Nailers debut. He arrived a couple hours before game-time on assignment from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Truro, NS native had 1 goal in 15 games for the Baby Penguins this year.

The Nailers play their traditional New Years' Eve game Thursday night against the Toledo Walleye at 7:05 at WesBanco Arena. Reigning ECHL Rookie of the Year Bryan "Boomer" Ewing who had 43 goals for the Nailers last season and is the first Wheeling native to play professional hockey is bringing with him a team that is the hottest in the ECHL with an 8 game winning streak.

The Nailers had little trouble disposing Toledo in back-to-back games in early December 4-1 and 7-3 but the Walleye got their game together after that and have yet to lose since that December 9th humbling in their building.

The traditional New Years' Eve game this year features Michael Jackson Tribute Night with Michael Jackson music and also a look-alike contest!

Wheeling Hockey Hall of Fame Night is coming January 30th! Before the Nailers tangle with the South Carolina Stingrays we'll honor the newest inductees: Doug Sauter and Nick Bedway. Sauter is the first head coach of the Wheeling Nailers organization and Nick Bedway was a long-time beat-writer for the team before retiring in 2005. Get your tickets for Wheeling Hockey Hall of Fame Night and other great upcoming Nailers games by calling 304-234-GOAL or log on to wheelingnailers.com to purchase your tickets online.

Check out the Wheeling Nailers Statistics

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ECHL Stories from December 30, 2009


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