Nailers Light It Up in 10-6 Win
Friday Dec 21st, 2008 | Game Recap

Jordan Morrison tied an all-time organizational record becoming the 4th Nailer or Thunderbird ever to score 7 points in a game as the Nailers routed the Reading Royals 10-6 Friday night at WesBanco Arena. It was a season high for goals in a game for the Nailers who previously had a 9-7 win over the Cincinnati Cyclones on October 24.

Morrison had 2 goals and 5 assists on the game to tie record for points. And his 5 assists fell one shy of the organizational record of 6 helpers set by Len Soccio of the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds in 1989.

Bryan “Boomer” Ewing recorded his first professional hat trick in the game and Matt Grennier, Reid Cashman, Andrew Lord and Kelly Miller all also lit the lamp for the Nailers attack. Miller’s goal at 11:05 put the Nailers into double figures to delight the crowd.

Wheeling improves to 18-4-5 with the win and with 41 standings points are now all alone in first place in the North by 2 points over the Johnstown Chiefs who lost 2-0 at Elmira. The Nailers trailed the Chiefs by 8 points in the standings a little over a week ago but closed the gap and eventually took the lead by winning several of the games-in-hand they’ve been playing. Wheeling actually takes over the top spot in the entire ECHL with their 41 points as they pass Florida and Victoria who both have 40 points and were idle on Friday.

The Nailers were returning from their holiday vacations after spending time with family and friends and had not practices all week but the offense hardly looked rusty in building a 4-0 lead in the 1st period including both goals that Morrison would score en route to his big 7 point night.

The Nailers built their lead to 7-0 midway through the 2nd period and led 8-1 after 2 periods and appeared to be well on their way to an easy victory but Reading would fight back in the 3rd with 4 unanswered goals to close the gap to 8-5 and make things a bit more interesting. The Nailers got back into it after Coach Puhalski called timeout and Ewing and Mille scored back-to-back goals shortly after the discussion to give the Nailers a 10-5 lead and put the game away for good.

Wheeling went 3/8 on the power-play while Reading was 2/10. The Royals outshot the Nailers 44-36 on the contest. Curtis Darling picked up the win in net with 31 saves on 36 shots to improve to 12-3-4. The Reading Royals fell deeper into last place in the North Division as their record dropped to 8-21-2. The Nailers are 3-0-0 against the Reading Royals this year. They will next meet when Wheeling makes their first trip to Reading on January 16th. The Nailers and the Royals are scheduled to play each other 10 times this year.

It was also the first game for the Nailers after the recent call ups of Rob Sirianni and Aaron Clarke to the AHL who were the team’s top scorers but the deep Wheeling offensive attack looked like they hardly missed their leaders.

This is the first of 6 games in 9 days for the Nailers with 5 of those 6 games coming at WesBanco Arena.
Saturday, December 27th is Moon Dog Bobblehead night. The first 5000 fans receive a Moon Dog Bobblehead courtesy of Perkins, Generations, Convenient Food Mart and Jackson Hewitt. $1 from every adult ticket sold will be donated to the Coats for Kids program.
Wheeling will be on the road Sunday at 5:00 at the Dayton Bombers. They will return to home-ice on New Year’s Eve, Wednesday, December 31 with a 7:05 tilt against the Cincinnati Cyclones.
Great New Years Eve packages are available now. For $175 you get hotel accommodations in Wheeling, tickets to the New Year’s Eve party at Generations Pub and Restaurant, and 2 tickets to the Nailers game that night.
For more information contact the Nailers at 304-234-GOAL or log on at wheelingnailers.com.