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New Coach Puhalski Turns Around Wheeling

January 14, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Posting three wins in three days, Wheeling extended its winning streak to a season-high four games and improved to 4-0-1 since naming Greg Puhalski as head coach on Jan. 2.

The Nailers, who host Trenton on Tuesday before traveling to Elmira for games on Friday and Saturday, have won their last three home games to improve to 10-8-3 at WesBanco Arena. Wheeling is 2-0-0 at home and 2-1-1 overall against Trenton while Elmira is 4-0-0 against the Nailers, including 1-0-0 at home.

Wheeling has 30 points (13-20-4) and is one point behind fifth-place Trenton (14-19-3) in the North Division and one point ahead of Johnstown (14-19-1) which has won its last two games. Cincinnati (25-8-3) and Elmira (25-9-3) are tied for first in the North with 53 points, which is 10 points ahead of Reading (20-15-2) and 12 points ahead of Dayton (17-11-7).

Nailers rookie Matt Johnson, who was signed on Jan. 10, has scored the game-winning goal in each of the last two games while Sean Collins (3g-3a) and Kevin Croxton (4g-1a) have combined for 11 points during the winning streak. Wheeling rookie Curtis Darling, who was acquired from Charlotte on Jan. 2, is 2-0-0 with a goals-against average of 2.09 and a save percentage of .937 in his last two starts while Martin Houle has won his last two starts and is 2-0-1 with a goals-against average of 2.52 and a save percentage of .924 in January.

Ryan Nie of Johnstown is 3-0-0 with a goals-against average of 2.59 and a save percentage of .911 in his last three starts and 4-1-0 with a goals-against average of 2.56 in his last five games. The Chiefs will host Dayton on Friday before traveling to Reading on Saturday and Trenton on Sunday. Johnstown won its last game against the Royals, 5-3 at Reading, and the Chiefs are 3-1-0 against the Devils, including 1-1-0 at Trenton. Dayton won 5-4 in a shootout at Johnstown on Nov. 16 and is 3-0-0 against the Chiefs.


Texas Streak Ends At 23 Games



South Carolina beat Texas 4-2 on Sunday to end the Wildcatters' ECHL record streak without a regulation loss at 23 games (18-0-5).

The 23-game streak from Nov. 18, 2007-Jan. 12, 2008 broke the record of 21 games (15-0-6) set by Richmond from Nov. 12-Dec. 30, 1995. Las Vegas has the third-longest streak after going 20 games (16-0-4) from Nov. 3-Dec. 21, 2007.

Texas has won its last eight road games, which is a team record and the longest road winning streak in the ECHL this season, and the Wildcatters have not lost in regulation on the road in 16 games (15-0-1) dating back to a season-opening loss at Augusta on Oct. 19, 2007.

The 16 games surpasses the streak of 15 road games without a regulation loss by Mobile which was 4-0-1 in its first five road games in 1999-2000 after closing out 1998-99 by going 9-0-1 in its final 10 road games.

The eight road wins break the team record of seven games, set Oct. 20-Nov. 10 after the season-opening loss, which broke the mark set Nov. 12-Dec. 3, 1994 when the team played in Huntington, W.Va. The ECHL record for longest road winning streak is 10 games. South Carolina set the mark (Nov. 2-Dec. 9, 2000), which was tied by Las Vegas (Nov. 22-Dec. 31, 2005) and Long Beach (Jan. 11-Feb. 17, 2006).

The Wildcatters travel to Mississippi on Tuesday and visits Columbia for the first time this season on Friday and Saturday before concluding the road trip at Charlotte on Sunday. Texas is 3-0-0 at Mississippi and 5-0-1 overall against the Sea Wolves while going 2-0-0 at Charlotte and 4-0-0 overall against the Checkers.


Fresno Extends Winning Streak To Six Games



Fresno extended its winning streak to six games and improved to 6-0-1 in the last seven games with back-to-back wins against Phoenix and their third overtime win in a row at Las Vegas.

The Falcons are 14-3-1 since Dec. 1 and their 44 points (20-9-4) place them nine points behind leader Las Vegas (23-6-7) and 10 points ahead of Stockton (16-17-2) in the Pacific Division. Fresno rang in the New Year with three straight overtime wins at Las Vegas: 5-4 on Jan. 4, 3-2 on Jan. 5 and 2-1 on Jan. 8.

Fresno travels to Stockton on Wednesday before visiting Victoria, which leads the West Division with 48 points (22-9-4), on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Falcons have won their last three road games and are 11-5-2 on the road, including a team record six-game road-winning streak from Dec. 1-12. Fresno is 1-1-0 against the Thunder, winning 4-1 at Stockton on Nov. 12, 2007 and losing 2-0 on the road on Dec. 27, 2007. The Falcons won 5-3 against Victoria on Dec. 30 and are 2-1-1 against the Salmon Kings with all of the games played at Fresno.

Matt Stefanishion has three game-winning goals and three points (3g-0a) in the last four games while All-Star rookie Oren Eizenman has two game-winning goals and 12 points (4g-8a) during the current six-game winning streak. Jake Moreland is 5-0-0 with two overtime wins, a shutout and a goals-against average of 1.77 in his last five starts and 6-1-1 with a goals-against average of 1.84 in his last eight starts.

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