Founded 1981 (In the ACHL) Captain Derek Army Division North Division Head coach Jeff Christian | Home arena WesBanco Arena Arena/Stadium WesBanco Arena Conference Eastern Conference | |
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City Wheeling, West Virginia Colors Black, Vegas gold, white Owner(s) Hockey Club of the Ohio Valley Location Wheeling, West Virginia, United States Affiliates Pittsburgh Penguins (National Hockey League), Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (American Hockey League) Parent organization The Hockey Club of the Ohio Valley Profiles | ||
11 11 16 reading royals at wheeling nailers
The Wheeling Nailers are an ECHL ice hockey team based in Wheeling, West Virginia. They are the ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL.
Contents
- 11 11 16 reading royals at wheeling nailers
- 6 1 16 wheeling nailers vs allen americans game 3 highlights
- Franchise history
- Head coaches
- References
The Nailers are the oldest surviving minor league franchise below the level of the American Hockey League, with unbroken continuity of franchise and never having missed a season of play.
6 1 16 wheeling nailers vs allen americans game 3 highlights
Franchise history
The Nailers began play in 1981 in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League as the Carolina Thunderbirds based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Thunderbirds were hugely successful on the ice, winning four consecutive regular season titles and were three-time Bob Paine Trophy winners as league champions. In 1987, the ACHL folded and the team joined the All-American Hockey League, which lasted just the 1987–88 season. The Thunderbirds, Virginia Lancers, and Johnstown Chiefs then became the basis for the East Coast Hockey League, now known as the ECHL. The Thunderbirds lost the first ECHL playoff championship final to the Toledo Storm. The team was renamed Winston-Salem Thunderbirds in 1990 and moved to Wheeling to become the Wheeling Thunderbirds in 1992 under the leadership of president and co-owner Ed Broyhill.
After a trademark dispute with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League, the team was renamed Nailers for the 1996–97 season when the franchise held a contest open to local fans, which was won by C. J. Wickham of Steubenville, Ohio. The name "Nailers" was chosen for the city's long history of nail manufacturing. For the 2012–13 season, the Nailers dropped the red-black-gold scheme they had used for nearly two decades in favor of a black-and-gold palette used by the Penguins.
The team plays at the WesBanco Arena (formerly the Wheeling Civic Center), and used the Cambria County War Memorial Arena in Johnstown, Pennsylvania as an alternative venue during the 2010–2011 and 2011-2012 seasons. 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. In season 2005–06 they had a great season making it to the second round of the playoffs losing to Toledo in the final second of the final game.
In August 2011, the Nailers moved to the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division as part of the league realignment for the 2011–12 season. The Chicago Express took the North Division spot vacated by the Nailers. In June 2014 the Nailers returned to the North Division after the ECHL eliminated the Atlantic Division in its realignment for the 2014–15 season.
On March 29, 2012, the ECHL announced that ownership of the Nailers would be transferred from the Brooks-owned Nailers Hockey LLC to the Hockey Club of the Ohio Valley, a joint venture of the Ohio Valley Industrial & Business Development Corporation, and the Wheeling Amateur Hockey Association, to take effect at the conclusion of the 2011–2012 season.