Wheeling Nailers
Encyclopedia : W : WH : WHE : Wheeling Nailers
| Wheeling Nailers | |
 | |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Home ice | WesBanco Arena |
| Based in | Wheeling, West Virginia |
| Colors | Black, Red, Gold |
| League | ECHL |
| Head coach | |
| General manager | |
The Wheeling Nailers are an ECHL ice hockey team based in Wheeling, West Virginia.
One of the oldest low-minor league hockey teams surviving, the franchise began play as the Carolina Thunderbirds in 1988, as an original ECHL franchise based in Winston-Salem. They won the first ECHL playoff championship, then known as the Jack Riley Cup, defeating the Johnstown Chiefs, 4-3. They became the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds in 1990 and moved to Wheeling in 1992. After a trademark dispute with the junior league Seattle Thunderbirds, the club became the Nailers for the 1996-97 season in a fan vote. The team colors are black, red, and gold.
While they were still the Wheeling Thunderbirds, members of the team in 1994-95 also participated in the filming of the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie "Sudden Death". Because of the NHL lockout, the scene where Van Damme's character attempts to stop a bomber from bombing Mellon Arena during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals was filmed with players from the Chiefs and Thunderbirds.
The team plays at the WesBanco Arena (formerly the Wheeling Civic Center). After missing the playoffs for five straight seasons, they had a 106-point season in 2003-04. They were defeated by the Reading Royals in 5 games, 3-2.
| ECHL | |
| 2006-07 teams: Alaska Aces | Augusta Lynx | Bakersfield Condors | Charlotte Checkers | Cincinnati Cyclones | Columbia Inferno | Dayton Bombers | Florida Everblades | Fresno Falcons | Gwinnett Gladiators | Idaho Steelheads | Johnstown Chiefs | Las Vegas Wranglers | Long Beach Ice Dogs | Pensacola Ice Pilots | Phoenix RoadRunners | Reading Royals | South Carolina Stingrays | Stockton Thunder | Texas Wildcatters | Toledo Storm | Trenton Titans | Utah Grizzlies | Victoria Salmon Kings | Wheeling Nailers | |
| Planned 2007-08 teams: Mississippi Sea Wolves | Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz | Reno Raiders | |
| Trophies and Awards: Patrick J. Kelly Cup | |
| Related Articles: NHL | AHL | UHL | CHL | SPHL | World Cup | |
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.