Nailers Jackals Beat Nailers 5-1
Friday February 5th 2010 | Game Recap

Team Stat Comparison

WHE

ELM

Score

1

5

Shots

24

28

Power Play

0/4

2/11

Penalties

16

10

3 Stars

1.Connelly

2. Holt

3. Donati

Elmira, NY - The Elmira Jackals benefitted from 11 power plays and the Wheeling Nailers weren’t able to get their game on track as they dropped a 5-1 decision on the road Friday night to conclude their two game road trip.

Aaron Boogaard made his return to the Nailers assigned to Wheeling by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. It was his first game in a Nailers uniform since March, 2008. Andrew Lord scored his 4th goal in a little over a week and his 9th goal of the season early in the 3rd period for the lone Wheeling tally.

Brendan Connolly led the way for the Jackals with a pair of goals and both of the dangerous Donati twins lit the lamp as well as streaking Elmira picked up their 5th win in their last 6 games to move into first place in the East Division.

The Nailers are 12-5-1 in their last 18 games but lost both ends of their two game road trip right after their four game winning streak and sweep of conference leading South Carolina.

Michael-Lee Teslak took the loss for Wheeling in his first game at Elmira. He had previously gone 2-0-0 against his former team. Teslak was the team MVP for the Jackals in 2008-09 and is on assignment with the Nailers from the Philadelphia Flyers organization.

Tim Spencer of Elmira set the tone early blasting Wheeling’s Dan Henningson into the boards. Spencer received a boarding major and game misconduct while Henningson did not return to action. No update was available on Henningson who was able to skate off with assistance from trainer Jerry Duncan.

After Lord and Boogaard both took exception to the hit Spencer dealt it was the Jackals who ended up with the power play even though it was their player who was ejected from the game. R.J. Anderson scored a 4-on-3 goal from center point a couple minutes into the game to get Elmira on the board at 1-0.

Brendan Connolly scored late in the first period to make it 2-0 and then weaved his way through the Wheeling defense midway through the 2nd for his 2nd goal of the game stretching the lead to 3-0. Justin Donati slammed home a power play goal on a cross-ice feed from his brother Tyler later in the 2nd for a 4-0 lead.

The Nailers had difficulty establishing any kind of flow to the game partly due to all the penalties they were charged with. Elmira went 2-for-11 on the power play to Wheeling’s 0-for-4. The 11 power plays is the most an opponent has had against Wheeling this year.

The Nailers trailed 4-1 midway through the 3rd period and appeared to have an opportunity to get back into the game with a 5-on-3 power play advantage. But right away Joey Haddad got called for a hooking penalty and Mitch Ganzak took an unsportsmanlike conduct for expressing his displeasure with the call and those penalties wiped out Wheeling’s chances to try to close the deficit.

Tyler Donati tacked on his 20th goal of the season later in the 3rd period to cap the scoring.

Wheeling falls to 25-20-3 with the setback and now stands in 4th place in the American Conference 2 points ahead of Elmira. But in the extremely jammed conference standings Wheeling finds themselves only one point out of 4th place which is held by three with 55 points each: Kalamazoo, Toledo and Florida. So conceivably a Nailers win in their next game could vault them from 7th all the way to 4th.

Wheeling is 4-3-0 against Elmira on the season and has a pair of home games against the Jackals coming up next weekend on Friday and Saturday to cap a four game homestand.

The Nailers four game homestand begins Saturday night against the Kalamazoo Wings on SnowBird
Bobblehead giveaway for the first 1000 kids age 14 and younger courtesy of WTOV. Take care out there on the slippery roads. We would love to have you come join us at the game and hopefully road conditions will allow safe travel in the Ohio Valley on Saturday night.

There are still openings available for the Nailers inaugural Education Field Trip Day on Tuesday, February 9th when the Nailers play the Johnstown Chiefs with a special morning start time. Tickets are free for all students and teachers when the Nailers play the Johnstown Chiefs at 11:00am. All the kids will be receiving an educational book and will quizzed on the material they learn at the game when they return to the classroom.

That Tuesday morning game is also a Business Man’s Special with all upper bowl seats available for only $10.

Next Friday and Saturday, February 12 and 13 the Nailers host Elmira for a pair of games including a Friday Family Four-Pack night followed by Mini-Stick giveaway night for the first 1,000 kids courtesy of Tim Horton’s.

Call the Nailers at 304-234-GOAL or toll-free at 1-877-NAIL-TIX. Get your tickets online at the team’s website at wheelingnailers.com