Walleye Weekly No. 11: January 5, 2026
ECHL Toledo Walleye

Walleye Weekly No. 11: January 5, 2026

Published on January 5, 2026 under ECHL (ECHL)
Toledo Walleye News Release


Toledo Walleye forward Nate Roy (right)
Toledo Walleye forward Nate Roy (right)
(Toledo Walleye)

Overall Record: 19-5-2-2, 1st Central Division, Current Streak: 10 Wins

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS

Wednesday, December 31 at Kalamazoo (5-3 W)

Friday, January 2 at Cincinnati (4-0 W)

Saturday, January 3 at Cincinnati (7-1 W)

Sunday, January 4 vs. Bloomington (4-1 W)

THIS WEEK'S GAMES (All Times Eastern)

Friday, January 9 vs. Iowa (7:15 p.m., Fox Sports Radio 1230, BCSN, FloSports)

Saturday, January 10 vs. Fort Wayne (7:15 p.m., Fox Sports Radio 1230, BCSN, FloSports)

Sunday, January 11 at Fort Wayne (5:05 p.m., Fox Sports Radio 1230, BCSN, FloSports)

Walleye Notes

Back Like They Never Left: After 10 days of rest, the Walleye got back to action against the Kalamazoo Wings for a New Years Eve matchup, defeating the K-Wings 5-3. Mitch Lewandowski scored two goals, one of them shorthanded, to lead the Walleye to victory. They travelled to Cincinnati for a weekend series against the Cyclones, as Carter Gylander shut them out 4-0 on Friday and Nate Roy scored two goals on Saturday to contribute to a 7-1 team win. Jed Pietila scored a short-handed goal in both contests against Cincinnati. The Walleye closed out the weekend with a 4-1 win against the Bloomington Bison, as Nate Roy posted the game-winning goal and Riley McCourt recorded another goal on the power play. With the three wins this week, the Walleye now stand at 42 points and lead the Central Division by 4 points over Fort Wayne (38).

Fish Feast Saturdays: The Walleye have been firing on all cylinders in all 11 Saturday games they've played this season, posting a 9-0-0-2 record and outscoring opponents 51-21 (+30). Brandon Hawkins leads the charge, recording a point in all but two Saturday games, recording two hat tricks, and putting up 20 points in the team's 11 games (8 goals, 12 assists). Riley McCourt has 12 assists to lead all Walleye defensemen in points on Saturdays. Denis Smirnov has 4 goals and 7 assists, totaling 11 points and averaging a point per game. Tanner Kelly and Chad Hillebrand each have 6 goals on Saturdays, as Kelly has two assists to go along with his goals. Walleye goaltending has shut the door on opponents on Saturdays, averaging less than two goals against per game. Liam Soulière put up a .957 SV% in his only Saturday appearance, Nolan Lalonde has a .921 SV% in his six Saturday games, and Carter Gylander (.941 SV%) and Matt Jurusik (.954 SV%) have each only allowed three goals in their two Saturday appearances.

Make It Ten: With Sunday's win, the Toledo Walleye have extended their winning streak to a league-best 10 games (the longest streak league-wide this season), setting numerous season-high numbers. The Walleye have scored power play goals in each of their last six games (since 12/19 vs. IA), went three consecutive games with short-handed goals from Mitch Lewandowski and Jed Pietila (12/31-1/3), and still haven't allowed a short-handed goal in 28 games. Carter Gylander holds the longest goaltender win streak of the season during that period (4 games, starting 12/7), closely followed by Nolan Lalonde (3 games, started 12/6). Lalonde also holds the team's longest span without a regulation loss, going 8 games since his last loss in standard time (11/9 vs. Iowa). The Walleye kicked off the winning streak by scoring a season-high four power play goals on 12/6 against the Indy Fuel, the highest single-game total in the ECHL this season. Throughout the 10-game win-streak, the Walleye are also boasting their season-long home and road wins streaks, at five games each. Toledo has outscored their opponents 49-18 (+31) in the 10-game span, with Brandon Hawkins leading the charge with 19 points (9 G, 10 A).

Special Teams Specialists: The Toledo Walleye have been dominant on both ends of man-advantages. The Fish boast the best power-play unit in the league at 32.1%, and that remains true both at home (31.7%) and on the road (32.6%). The Walleye penalty kill has been dominant at home, placing 2nd in the ECHL at 91.3%, trailing only Greensboro (95.5). Riley McCourt leads the league with 14 power-play assists, closely followed by Brandon Hawkins with 12 (3rd in league). Hawkins and McCourt tie for the league lead in power-play points at 16. The Walleye PK unit has struggled on the road, ranking 28th (75%), which anchors their overall PK to 12th at 83.3%. However, the penalty killing unit is only -3 on the road. In last night's game, Jed Pietila landed the team's 11th and 12th shorthanded goals of the season in Cincinnati, a team single-season franchise record (they had reached 10 SHGs three times prior to this season). A whopping nine of those twelve shorthanded strikes have come on the road, helping to cancel out some of the 15 power-play goals allowed in those situations. The team has passed the single-season franchise record for shorthanded points (24, 2009-10). Toledo still hasn't allowed a short-handed goal, one of three teams to accomplish that at this point of the season (Kansas City, Reading).

He's Just That Gy: Most of Toledo's goaltending work this week went to Carter Gylander, who started three games for the Walleye stopped 76 of the 80 shots he faced, securing his third ECHL shutout on Friday in Cincinnati and the team's first shutout of the season. In 11 games this season, Gylander has a 7-3-1-0 record and a 2.54 GAA average in Toledo, with a save percentage of .910. Toledo isn't the only level Gylander is finding success in, as he's posted a 6-0-1 record in 7 appearances with the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins, recording a 1.57 goals against average and a .943 save percentage. Gylander has wins in six consecutive starts with both Toledo and Grand Rapids and hasn't lost a game in regulation since November 30 with either team.

Forces in the League: Opposing teams fear seeing Toledo on their upcoming schedule, as many Walleye players rank among the top of the league in various stat categories. Brandon Hawkins had five points on the week to bring his point total to 43, extending his league lead. Hawkins leads the league in assists (27) while Riley McCourt ranks third (22), second among defensemen (Kansas City's Marcus Crawford leads with 26). McCourt ties for the league's second-longest point streak in the league, collecting a point of each of his last 6 games (8 total points). Dylan Moulton stands at +19 on the season after going +3 in Sunday's game and +8 on the week, placing him at 3rd place in the league and leading all rookies in that category. Tanner Kelly ranks 12th among ECHL rookies in points with 8 goals and 10 assists (18 total points). Jed Pietila stands as the only defenseman in the ECHL this season to score multiple short-handed goals. The team leads the league in goals for per game (3.89) and ranks 6th in the league in goals against per game (2.50). Nolan Lalonde currently holds the 11th best GAA in the league (2.37), while Carter Gylander ranks 16th among goaltenders (2.54) with a minimum of 540 minutes played.

Showing Out: Walleye fans have packed the Huntington Center night-in and night-out as the team approaches 100 consecutive sellouts, bringing the team's franchise-record sellout streak to 94 games with Sunday's game against Bloomington. The Walleye have welcomed a total of 112,300 fans and counting into the Huntington Center this season. Toledo's average attendance ranks second in the ECHL, drawing around 8,021 fans per game (Jacksonville is the only team averaging higher, at 8,896 fans per game). The all-time ECHL record for consecutive sellouts currently stands at 140 games, reached by Colorado from 2011 to 2015.

Walleye Player of the Week:

Jed Pietila (2 SHGs, 1 A, 3 Pts, +4)

Walleye Goaltender of the Week:

Carter Gylander (3-0-0-0, .950 SV%, 1.33 GAA)

Check out the Toledo Walleye Statistics

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Images from this story

Toledo Walleye forward Nate Roy (right)
Toledo Walleye forward Nate Roy (right)
   



ECHL Stories from January 5, 2026


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