Here's a Quarter, Call Somebody Up to the AHL

- Former Wheeling Nailer and current Youngstown SteelHound goalie, Andy Franck has been called up to the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League today.

Franck, 26, is 11-2-1 in 14 games for the SteelHounds and he leads the Central Hockey League in wins. Earlier this season Franck won seven straight games to lead the Hounds to the best start in franchise history.

In two years with the Nailers Franck compiled a 60-41-9 record with eight shutouts and was named to the ECHL All Rookie and All Star teams in his first season.

- Yesterday, Wheeling Nailer Adam Henrich has been signed to a professional tryout contract by the Norfolk Admirals. Henrich has been the top offensive producer for the Nailers this season as well as one of the top producers in the entire ECHL despite being suspended for the first three games of the year. Henrich has accounted for 10 goals and 10 assists in just 12 games.

- David Laliberte has been recalled for a second time this season to the Philadelphia Phantoms and has already played in two games with the Nailers AHL affiliate this season.

Turkey Lurky Dee and Turky Lurky Duh

Fresh off my turkey coma and here to smack ya with some news.

Sean Collins finally got one for the belt Wednesday night with his first goal of the season which he took off the chin... literally.

Francois Leroux debuted for the Nailers Wednesday. He looked a little sluggish, but did play the body well in front of the net, pushing Dayton forwards around like no ones business.

Does anybody find it odd that there have only been two fights at home this season and we have Bissonnette, Boogaard, Patrick, Leroux and had Manson? And they both came the same day against Dayton on October 27th? That tells you something about the teams discipline this season. Actually Wheeling is currently the least penalized team in the North division with 253 total PIM.

Adam Henrich is currently sitting number ten in the ECHL with 9 goals.

David Brown has the sixth highest save percentage in league (.928).

Former Nailer Joe Guenther was traded by Elmira to Florida for Thanksgiving.

Rookie winger Aaron Clarke, who has been on the 30-day IR is scheduled to come off the IR and get his season started underway. While defenseman Todd Spencer has been placed on the 7-day IR.

The Nailers will have two of their homegames broadcast on the NHL Network.
December 22nd Cincinnati at Wheeling from the game on December 15th.
March 8th Trenton at Wheeling from the game on March 1st

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, Francois

News out of Wheeling is that former Pittsburgh Penguin Francois Leroux will suit up tomorrow night in Wheeling for the Nailers. Leroux, a 6'6" 270lb defenseman, is a former 1st round draft pick in 1988, played 249 NHL games between the Oilers, Penguins and Avalanche. He will be replacing Lane Manson who decided to call his career quits earlier this week. He's 37 years old, can he still go? Although skating and soft hands were never his main strength, Leroux is a very physical, defensive-minded defenseman who amassed 577 penalty minutes in his NHL career.
Here's a great youtube clip of a Leroux fight against Tony Twist. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9ysnsV6fW8

Philadelphia also reassigned goalie Martin Houle. This will crowd the goal-tending situation for sure. The Nailers now have three quality starting keepers with David Brown, Martin Houle and Terry Denike, with Denike being the odd man out because of affiliations with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Philadelphia. Houle has been placed on the 3-day IR.

**Edit**
* There are some immigration issues with former Nailer/Thunderbird, Vadim Slivchenko. Coach Patrick said Last week that they were trying to get him into the lineup as soon as they can.

From Russia With Love... I think

Suspended Nailer forward, Alexei Smirnov is currently playing in the Russian Hockey Super League with a bunch of guys named Alexei, Dmetri (ending with an i or a y), Andrei and Alexandr(or ending in an er). I don't know if you've ever looked at a Russian hockey teams roster, but there's not a lot of name variations. He's playing for the Vityaz Chekhov so it appears that the immigration issue has been settled.

Along with Smirnov playing overseas, suspended Nailer forward, Kevin Du has accepted an offer to play in China.

**Edit**

*The Reading Royals were have a new name that Nailer fans may remember from his brief stint with the team last season before being traded to Texas. Goalie Danny Taylor was assigned to the Royals today from the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL..

That's about all, for real now.

The Nailers game tonight has been rescheduled until November 20th. The team was unable to make it to Cincinnati tonight to play the Cyclones because of a chemical spill in a traffic accident on I70. So not much news going on tonight besides the activations of Curtiss Patrick and Gino Pisellini. Kevin Du has also been suspended by the team. Which comes as kind of a surprise. I'm thinking it's more of a numbers issue than anything, but you never know I guess.
In four games with Mississippi, former Nailer forward Jason Tejchma has four points, (3G,1A). It would be nice to still have him, you can never have enough fire-power. It's always nice to have an extra scoring forward, especially since we've been playing Chris Snavely at forward instead of on defense. I just hope we can get something good in return for him with our future considerations.
That's all for now.

It's a game of give and take...

The Wheeling Nailers have announced that forward David Laliberte has been re-assigned to the team from their AHL affiliate Philadelphia Phantoms.
Laliberte played in one game for the Phantoms during this recent AHL stint, and has played two games overall for Philadelphia this season. He had zero points and four penalty minutes. Laliberte returns to the Nailers where he has seven points in seven games with two goals and five assist. Laliberte should be in the lineup tonight against los Cyclones de Cincinnati.
However one player who will not be in the lineup for the Nailers will be Ned Havern, who was re-called to the Nailers other AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
In nine games, Havern has six goals and five assist for 11 points.

Chris Snavely Does It All

Forwards Aaron Clarke and Gino Pisellini who have been on the injured reserve list will soon be back on the ice which is great news to the Nailers as they are a little shorthanded (even if the score sheet says otherwise) in the forward department.
Rookie defenseman, Chris Snavely has played up against Augusta Sunday since Clarke and Pisellini have been injured and Mark Letestu and David Laliberte have been spending time in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Philadelphia respectively with the Nailers' AHL affiliates.
Defenseman Curtiss Patrick is due to come off IR soon and may possibly get some ice time Friday in Cincinnatti. Patrick has also had professional experience at forward with Wheeling two seasons ago.

Cyclones Blowing Down The Doors

Last night the Nailers had their three game unbeaten streak snapped by the Cincinnati Cyclones via shutout, 4-0.
The team looked flat the entire evening. This was the first time the Nailers did not score a power play goal in a game this season. Subsequently, it was also the first time the team was shut out this season.
The Nailers' record now stands at .500, going 3-3-1 on the season. Wheeling has faired much better at the Hammerdome, going 2-1-1 while their road record is 1-2.
In the beginning of the game, the Cyclones were getting a lot of chances, but rookie Wheeling net minder, David Brown played beyond stellar, as he turned away chance after chance.
The Cyclones got the first goal of the game, as Jean-Michel Daoust found the back of the net, on (you guessed it) the power play. This seems to be a trend the entire season thus far. The last time Brown was in net, the Nailers gave up 3 PPG.
Cincinnati quickly put a dagger to the Nailers a minute and nine seconds into the second period, as Billy Irish-Baker scored his first goal of the season. The Nailers looked flat the rest of the period and Cinci scored it's third goal of the night as Thomas Beauregard lit the lamp at 11:01. The final goal came at 16:37, as Billy Irish-Baker netted his second goal of the night in the 3rd.
Despite allowing the three goals, Nailers' goalie David Brown played well, as he made some big stops to give the Nailers a chance to get back in the game.
If there have been two things the Nailers need to work on fixing, it would be the penalty kill and adapting to playing on the road.
The Nailers take on Reading this Friday night. It will be the first time the home fans get to see the much feared Aaron Boogaard.

Newsworthy Nuggets

• Former Dayton Bombers goalie, Terry Denike, signed a contract with Wheeling earlier today. Denike posted an 11-4-2 record with 2 shoutouts last season with the Bombers. Denike was placed on waivers last night.
  
• Defensemen Jeremy Swanson and Curtiss Patrick are closer to returning.
• Nailer defenseman Mike Vanelli left the team last week to use his education. Vanelli played two games with the Nailers, notching 2-points. (0G,2A).
• Former Wheeling Thunderbird, Vadim Slivchenko, has been practicing with the Nailers this past week. Slivchenko, last played for Wheeling in 1999. Between 1993-1995, Slivchenko scored 76 goals for the Thunderbirds. Slivchenko is awaiting the go-ahead on his immigration before he can suit up. He played last season for Crimmitschau ETC in Germany, scoring 17 goals.
  
• Forward Alexei Smirnov, who has been dealing with immigration problems, has been suspended by the Nailers in order to retain his playing rights.
  

I think I saw a Boogyman...

The Pittsburgh Penguins have reassigned center Mark Letestu from Wheeling to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL.
Pittsburgh also assigned toughman/right winger Aaron Boogaard from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to Wheeling.
Boogaard is brother of Minnesota Wild toughman Derek Boogaard and is as tough as they come.
Here are a few Aaron Boogaard fights for your viewing pleasure.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRPmcNOQhmE
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzTXRVfm14o
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQPnNCdKfRc
  

In another roster move the Nailers have traded forward Jason Tejchma to Mississippi Sea Wolves.