WHEELING – The Wheeling Nailers, proud ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, have announced the schedule for the North Division Semifinal playoff series against the Reading Royals.

Thanks to their first division title in 22 years, the Nailers have home ice advantage for the series, which will be played in a 2-3-2 format. Wheeling will host games one and two at WesBanco Arena on Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25. Both of those contests will begin at 7:10 p.m. The series will then shift to Reading’s Santander Arena for games three, four, and five (if necessary). Those tilts will be played on Wednesday, April 29, Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2, and all three will start at 7 p.m. If necessary, games six and seven will return to WesBanco Arena on Monday, May 4 and Wednesday May 6, with both opening face-offs slated for 7:10 p.m.

The Nailers finished the 2025-26 campaign with their second best record in team history, as they went 46-20-6 for 98 points. Wheeling has qualified for the playoffs for the third straight season and the 18th time in team history. The Royals finished in fourth place in the North Division with a 36-26-10 mark for 82 points. Reading has reached the postseason for the fourth time in five years and the 17th time in team history.

Wheeling and Reading are extremely familiar with each other, as they collided 15 times during the regular season. The Royals came away with a slight 8-7 edge in the season series, which saw six of the games get decided by one goal. One of the most noteworthy numbers from the set is that both teams earned five road victories. Both teams also earned two shutouts (all by the road team), and the goal differential was 37-33 in favor of the Nailers. Wheeling’s Brent Johnson led all players with 11 points, while Connor Lockhart of the Nailers and Kyle Haskins and Connor McMenamin of the Royals all had four goals in head-to-head play.

This is the fourth time that the Nailers and Royals will play in the postseason. In 2004, Reading ruined Wheeling’s best regular season in team history with a 3-2 series win. The Royals took the winner-take-all fifth game, 4-0 with a 30-save shutout by Cody Rudkowsky. The Nailers exacted their revenge two years later in 2006 by eliminating Reading, 3-1. Jordan Cameron snapped a 4-4 tie in the third period of game four to clinch the series for Wheeling. In 2016, the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series went as long as it possibly could have, as the two rivals needed overtime in game seven to determine a winner. With 37.1 seconds left in the extra session, Riley Brace scooped up a rebound on the right side of the slot and delivered the 4-3 win in both the game and the series for the Nailers. That series also featured the longest game in Wheeling Hockey History, as Cody Wydo scored at the 4:22 mark of triple overtime to give the Nailers a 2-1 triumph in game four.

Playoff rosters are due to the ECHL by Monday at 3 p.m., and will be announced in the following days.