ECHL Wheeling Nailers

Wheeling places two on All-Rookie Team

April 4, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
Wheeling Nailers News Release


WHEELING, WV. - The ECHL today announced its All-Rookie Team for 2005-06 as determined in a vote of ECHL coaches, who were asked to select a goaltender, two defensemen and three forwards. A rookie is defined as a player who has played in less than 25 professional games., prior to this season.

The Wheeling Nailers placed two players on the team. Forward Sean Collins and Goaltender Andy Franck were honored by the league.

Wheeling forward Sean Collins leads the Nailers in scoring and is 3rd among rookies with 26 goals and 74 points and he ranks tied for eleventh among all ECHL players in scoring. He leads the North Division in scoring, and is tied for the team lead with 13 power-play points and ranks first with 32 power play points. Selected in the ninth round (289th overall) by Colorado in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, Collins, who made the American Conference roster for the 2006 ECHL All-Star Game, was named rookie of the month in October and just wrapped up an 18-point month of March. The Reading, Massachusetts native finished up a four year career as the twelfth leading scorer at the University of New Hampshire.

Wheeling goaltender Andy Franck might be the story of the year in the ECHL. Franck left Mercyhurst College prior to his senior season last fall. Looking for a place to play Franck was added to Wheeling's training camp roster as an afterthought. With a strong pre-season he won a backup spot and now is a record setter in Wheeling. He is 30-14-4 with a 2.30 goals-against average and .919 save percentage. He is tied for third in the ECHL with 30 wins and ranks third in goals against average. Tied for the league lead with five shutouts he has also set Wheeling single season records. Thirty wins is a new single season record for wins by a goalie (Geoff Finch 26, 1994-95) and he has tied the record for shutouts (Dany Sabourin 5, 2004-05). The 24-year-old Franck was ECHL Goalie of the Week for March 1-8, going 1-0-1 with 70 saves on 71 shots. He also was named to the American Conference roster for the 2006 ECHL All-Star Game.

Check out the Wheeling Nailers Statistics



ECHL Stories from April 4, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central