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It’s Nailers And Railers Twice This Week

Shawn Rine Nailers Notebook

WHEELING — Fans of the Wheeling Nailers will get their first look at the newest ECHL membership at 7:05 tonight inside WesBanco Arena. They can then grab their second Saturday night on the same ice surface.

The Worcester (pronounced wuh-ster) Railers are will be in town for a pair of games. Also a member of the jam-packed North Division, the Railers, who are coached by former Elmira Jackals boss Jamie Russell, are last in the division with 15 points. But that’s just five back of the first-place Nailers.

Wheeling coach Jeff Christian said despite this being Worcester’s first season, knowledge isn’t hard to come by.

”We’re doing our same pregame scout with them as we would any team,” Christian said following practice Tuesday. ”We have a good idea of their personnel. They’re not all brand-new players to the ECHL.

”You go about it in the regular way. What are their systems? Who are their good players?

What are their tendencies and things like that.”

The Railers are led in scoring by the duo of Patrick McNally and Chris Langkow with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Busy Week

Aside from the two meetings with Worcester, the Nailers have two road encounters to deal with — Friday at Cincinnati and Sunday at Reading. If you’re keeping track at home, that’s four games in a five-day span.

”After a 6-in-9,” Christian said with a sigh. ”The last game — a 4-1 loss at Norfolk last Saturday — we didn’t have a lot of energy, but we didn’t play that bad.

”We took a lot of penalties. It wasn’t just that they were 2-minute penalties, it’s that they took away all of the momentum.”

Which, if you’re reading between the lines, could be the mark of a tired hockey team. However, Christian doesn’t necessarily believe that. He feels as though the Nailers are a victim of their inconsistency.

”Look, I told the guys that’s it’s one loss,” the coach said. ”Good teams lose games. It’s a long season.

”But I also told them that the only team that can beat Wheeling, is us.”

Balance Is Key

A look at the ECHL scoring race shows that Wheeling is getting production across the board. Of the top 24 scorers in the league, five of those are Nailers.

”We have a lot of offensive upside and we want to play an offensive game, no question about that,” Christian said. ”But it’s the commitment to defense that we’re working on. That’s what’s going to sustain our season.

”We can run and gun with Greenville, who might have more offense than we do. We got lucky in those two games. But we don’t want to play that way.

”Our goal every night is 25 shots or less, 10 blocked shots or more, and three goals or less.

”Those are lofty goals.”

Cody Wydo leads the way with 20 points (8g-12a), which ranks third in the league. He’s followed by Reid Gardiner (19, fourth), Garrett Meurs (17, 10th), and Nick Sorkin and Cam Brown, who are tied for 24th with 16 points apiece.

Shawn Rine can be reached via email at: srine@theintelligencer.net

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