photo by: Ian Hicks

WesBanco Arena, home of the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers, is pictured late Friday.

WHEELING — The Wheeling Nailers are tentatively set to return to the WesBanco Arena ice Wednesday after a two-day player strike resulted in the postponement of a pair of home games over the weekend.

The Professional Hockey Players’ Association and the ECHL announced Saturday that a tentative deal has been reached on a new collective bargaining agreement. The agreement remains subject to ratification by the union’s ECHL membership and approval by the ECHL Board of Governors.

Players will report to their teams in good faith and prepare to return to play, pending ratification and approval, according to the announcement. Terms of the agreement have not been released, but league officials said in a statement details “will be shared at an appropriate time.”

The Nailers, who have the ECHL’s best record, last played Dec. 20, a 3-2 overtime road victory against the Greensboro Gargoyles. They have six games remaining of a scheduled eight-game homestand, starting at 6:10 p.m. Wednesday against the Worcester Railers.

They will play Worcester again at 7:10 p.m. Friday, followed by games at 7:10 p.m. Saturday against the Bloomington Bison and three games against the Trois-Rivieres Lions — Jan. 9 and Jan. 10 at 7:10 p.m. and Jan. 11 at 4:10 p.m.

Games against the Toledo Walleye this past Saturday and the Cincinnati Cyclones this past Sunday were postponed due to the strike. Nailers officials said in a social media post that fans who had tickets to those games have three options:

– Use them for the rescheduled date of the game they purchased;

– Exchange them for a future 2025-26 home game for tickets of equal or lesser value, subject to availability;

– Receive a refund, which would be issued through the same source from which the tickets were purchased.

Exchanges must be done through the team office by calling 304-234-4625 or emailing tickets@wheelingnailers.com.