TJ Fox Scores Second in Nailers Setback
Saturday October 16th, 2009 | Game Recap

Team Stat Comparison
	WHE	SC
Score	1	4
Shots	18	36
Power Play	0/4	2/9
Penalties	12	6
Points	3	11

T.J. Fox scored for the second night in a row but the Wheeling Nailers fell to 0-2 in a 4-1 loss at the Gwinnett Gladiators Saturday night. Playing at a team’s home opener for the second night in a row the Nailers were unable to break the emotional boost the hosts received from large opening night turnouts.

Special teams appeared to make the difference in this game as the Nailers had difficulty staying out of the box. Gwinnett went 2-for-9 on the power play while the Nailers were 0-for-4.

Jordan Alford got the starting nod in goal and made 32 saves on 35 shots in the losing cause. It’s Alford’s 4th game for the Nailers dating back to last season who still has yet to play a game at home. Alford is a Red Deer, Alberta native who is a product of R.P.I. in Troy, NY where he was teammates and roommates with Nailers alternate captain Andrew Lord.

Lord was a highlight for the Nailers in the first period delivering 4 or 5 hits.

Former Dayton Bombers forward Tom Zanoski led the attack for the Gladiators with 2 goals and 2 assists including the game-winner and later tallying an empty-netter with 10 seconds left to finish the night. Gwinnett outshot the Nailers 36-15 on the contest.

Drew Paris started the scoring for Gwinnett at 3:49 of the 1st on a cross-ice feed from the left-wing corner by Zanoski to the right-wing face-off dot where Paris slammed home the one-timer.

T.J. Fox would equalize the score at 7:20 of the 2nd period on big one-time slapper from the high slot perhaps beating Gwinnett goalie Josh Johnson five-hole. Fox took the cross-ice feed from Thomas Beauregard for the goal and Jim Sharrow also assisted on the play. T.J. Fox (no relation to Jordan Fox also of the Nailers) spent the last two seasons in the San Jose Sharks organization with their AHL team in Worcester, Mass. The Union College product hails from Oswego, N.Y.

Zanoski would give the Gladiators the lead again 4 minutes later on the power play with a blast from the right-wing dot that Alford got a stick on but was unable to keep out of the net.

Matt Caruana scored for Gwinnett at 5:09 in the 3rd to make it 3-1.

The Nailers killed off a 5-on-3 advantage for the Gladiators with 4 minutes to go and then pulled Alford for an extra attacker with a little over a minute remaining. Wheeling drove towards the goal a couple times but were denied by Gwinnett’s hustling defensemen.

Zanoski raced away with it in the clear and was yanked down from behind. By rule when a player is interfered with when he’s in the clear on an empty-net scoring chance there is no penalty shot awarded and instead the player is credited with the goal.

Zanoski’s second goal of the night with 10 seconds remaining sealed the victory for the Gladiators who improved to 1-0.

Nailers Notes:

The Gladiators are the ECHL affiliate for both the Atlanta Thrashers and Chicago Blackhawks.

Rookies Kevin Schmidt and Chris Cloud both made their Nailers debuts. Jordan Fox and Scott Kalinchuk were scratched from the lineup along with Slavomir Tomko and Corey Couturier.

The Nailers season opening road trip continues Sunday at 4:05 at the Gwinnett Gladiators. Broadcast coverage begins 20 minutes prior with the Subway Countdown to Faceoff on flagship stations The Mix 97.3 and the Nailers Hockey Network presented by Amica Insurance.

Wheeling will play Gwinnett a total of four times this year. The Gladiators come to WesBanco Arena for a pair of games in mid December.

The Nailers will host a team Meet and Greet at the River City Ale Works in downtown Wheeling on Tuesday, October 20th at 6pm. C'mon out and meet the 2009-2010 Wheeling Nailers just a few days before their home opener.

The first edition of the Nailers Power Hour presented by Pepsi is this Thursday at 6 p.m. at Generations Pub and Restaurant in Wheeling. Join host Bob Rotruck and Coach Greg Puhalski as well as a Nailers player for a breakdown of recent games and a preview of what’s ahead. The show airs live on The Mix 97.3 and on wheelingnailers.com

The Wheeling Nailers officially open the 2009-2010 campaign on October 16th at the South Carolina Stingrays. The home opener for the 18th season of professional hockey in the Friendly City is October 23rd when the Nailers host the Cincinnati Cyclones. The first 2500 fans in attendance get a Wheeling Nailers season magnet schedule courtesy of Stoney Hollow Tire. Get your WTRF-Friday Family 4-Packs in advance and get great value! 4 tickets, 4 sodas 4 tickets and a large popcorn for only $44.

Home opening weekend continues on Sunday, October 25th against the Elmira Jackals at 6:35. It's a Sunday Family FunDay featuring an open post-game skate with the Nailers players. Be sure to bring your skates and gloves. It's also an NFL Sunday Special. Wear an NFL jersey to the game for a special $10 adult ticket.

Season tickets are on sale now for all 36 exciting Nailers home games at WesBanco Arena. Great season ticket plans are available for every budget. Also take advantage of the Nailers new $87 package for 7 Nailers home games. Call the Wheeling Nailers at (304) 234-GOAL, that's 234-4625. Or log on to wheelingnailers.com for more information.