great family atmosphere
by Anonymous on 12/17/12Wesbanco Arena - WheelingFirst time attending a game and will definitely go again
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About
Wheeling Nailers at WesBanco Arena
Wheeling, West Virginia, is home to one of the premiere teams in the ECHL. The Nailers play at WesBanco Arena, which opened as the Wheeling Civic Center in 1977, and has a current capacity of 5,406 for ice hockey. The Wheeling Nailers are the ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and are also affiliated with the American Hockey League's Scranton-Wilkes Barre Penguins. Their head coach and director of hockey operations is Mike Bavis, who had success as a player and as an assistant coach with the Boston University Terriers.
Wheeling Nailers History
The Wheeling Nailers are the longest continuously-running North American minor league hockey franchise to exist outside the AHL, getting their start in 1981 as the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League. The team was renamed the Carolina Thunderbirds after one season, went back to being the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds in 1989 and continued to play in Winston-Salem until 1992, joining the nascent East Coast Hockey League in 1988 after one year in the All-American Hockey League. C.J. Wickham of Steubenville, Ohio, won a contest to rename the team in 1996, after years of conflict between the Wheeling Thunderbirds and the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL. The "Nailers" name reflects Wheeling's history as the onetime capital of cut iron nail manufacturing.
Future Stanley Cup–winning coach Peter Laviolette began his coaching career with the Nailers, leading Wheeling to the third round of the playoffs in 1998 before moving on to coach the AHL's Providence Bruins. Legendary hockey coach John Brophy coached the Nailers from 2001 until his retirement in 2003, after which the ECHL's Coach of the Year trophy was renamed in his honor. From 2010 to 2012, the Nailers played select home games in Johnstown, PA's Cambria County War Memorial Arena, the former home of the Johnstown Jets and Chiefs, and where much of the classic movie Slap Shot was filmed. Since moving to Wheeling, the Thunderbirds/Nailers have won two regular-season ECHL titles, in 1993 and 1995, and two conference titles, in 1993 and 2016, in addition to winning two championships in the ACHL, one title in the AAHL, and the first ECHL title, in 1989, while still in North Carolina.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Rating: 5 out of 5 Total great time..especially with the NHL lockout
by Pensfans4ever on 11/26/12Wesbanco Arena - WheelingBoth teams played hard, but unfortunately the home team lost. We are planning on making it to another game later next month with the kids...they are gonna love how close we are to the ice!!!
Rating: 5 out of 5 Nailers were awesome
by Jengilly4 on 11/24/12Wesbanco Arena - WheelingNailers were great and seats were awesome. Love going to nailers games its always a good time.
Rating: 4 out of 5by Anonymous on 10/28/12Wesbanco Arena - Wheeling Great game and a great time! Perfect to see the Penguins affiliate while the NHL season is on lockout. Patrick Killeen is the Nailers goalie and a Penguins draft pick.
Rating: 4 out of 5 New Nailers Fan!
by PapaSmelf on 10/28/12Wesbanco Arena - WheelingThe size of the venue was very personable. Being able to meet the players after the game was great. The value was terrific, three of us went to this game, ate, got two souvenirs for the price of just me going to one Penguins game (ticket and parking).
Rating: 4 out of 5 lots of fun
by carol1968 on 10/9/12Wesbanco Arena - WheelingThe game was a blast,from the great shot on goal,to the yelling at other team players,from the players,to the pushing and fighting.What more could you ask for in a hockey match.
Rating: 5 out of 5 hockey!
by icycate on 10/9/12Wesbanco Arena - WheelingNice to see a game where players are playing for the love of the game and not tainted by the current hockey lockout. This may be the only hockey available this year and it's definately worth your time.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Awesome Time!!
by Anonymous on 3/28/12Wesbanco Arena - WheelingGame was intense, although the Nailers lost!! I would recommend anyone to come see the Nailers. One complaint...MORE MERCHANDISE!!! I wanted to pick up a t-shirt and/or a jersey & there were none to be found. the few t-shirts they did have were crap. I heard other people complaining of the same. Imagine all the money that was lost on that??!!!
Rating: 5 out of 5 The Nailers are awesome!
by Marla16 on 3/13/12Wesbanco Arena - WheelingSmaller arena and more lively event. Very enjoyable!
Rating: 5 out of 5 Great game
by mattie18 on 3/13/12Wesbanco Arena - WheelingThis was the first time i had attended a Nailers game before and i can say that it won't be my last it was a great game. Hope to see a lot more Nailers games.
Rating: 4 out of 5by Anonymous on 3/12/12Cambria County War Memorial - Johnstown Great family entertainment and facility! Hope the War Memorial stays active and can offer these types of events and more.
Rating: 5 out of 5by smchristner on 2/13/12Wesbanco Arena - Wheeling Excellent family event. We had a great time. My boys want to go again soon.
Rating: 5 out of 5 non stop action
by nailers on 2/12/12Wesbanco Arena - WheelingThe game was wonderful .The action was non stop and very entertaining
Rating: 4 out of 5by scurvycure on 2/1/12Cambria County War Memorial - Johnstown Hockey is so much fun to watch in person. It should not matter who the teams are or how crummy the rink is. I find it hard to believe that more people did not attend.
Rating: 4 out of 5 The Nailers are worth the $.
by GooseAlmighty on 2/1/12Cambria County War Memorial - JohnstownWe had a great time at the Nailers game. For the price of $70 we were able to get 4 seats in the first row at the glass behind the home teams bench. There seemed to be some technical issues with the speakers system but the game was great.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Good cheap fun for kids
by Scooter5864 on 1/31/12Cambria County War Memorial - JohnstownI wanted to take my 4 and 6 year old to a hockey game, but didn't want to spend to much. Had great seats, saw a great game and my kids loved it. We even rode the Johnstown Incline Plane.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Nailers were great
by brokendown on 1/29/12Wesbanco Arena - WheelingMy kids and I had a great time it was the first Hockey game we have ever been to. We will be going to more of them.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Great Hometown Hockey
by Firemixer on 1/29/12Wesbanco Arena - WheelingThe game and atmosphere was great!!! The Wheeling Fans are very knowledgeable of the game and the hockey was high quality. I have been to many NHL hockey games and the quality of play was as good as or better than many of the NHL games that I have seen. We will definitely go again. It would be ashamed to see the Nailers leave Wheeling.
Rating: 2 out of 5 The seats were the worst in the whole place.
by Rugger814 on 1/23/12Cambria County War Memorial - JohnstownThe hockey game was great when I could see it. I had ticketmaster pick me the best 8 seats and they gave me the worst. Our seats were right behind the players and the coaches stood right in front of us the whole time. We could only see parts of the ice.
Rating: 5 out of 5 Johnstown Hockey is awesome
by gismatrix on 12/19/11Cambria County War Memorial - JohnstownThe War Memorial Arena is a wonderful venue for hockey - it is quite nostalgic and offers home town charm. The people of Johnstown are very accommodating and are good down to earth people. ECHL hockey is still alive in this long-time hockey town, and the Nailers are an excellent team to watch. Although they lost this game, they had 54 shots and probably would have won 99 out of 100 games with the effort they brought to the arena. Do yourself a favor and go see the Nailers in Johnstown.