ECHL: History of the Wheeling Nailers

You may wonder how the Wheeling Nailers hockey team began and just where their team’s unique name came from. The Wheeling Nailers, now based in Wheeling, West Virginia, are the oldest minor league franchise that exists below the level of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team, founded in 1981 as the Carolina Thunderbirds in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was part of the now-defunct Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL). Along with the Virginia Lancers, they joined the All-American Hockey League in 1987, which lasted only for the 1987–88 season. The Thunderbirds, Virginia Lancers, and Johnstown Chiefs would later become the foundation for the East Coast Hockey League in 1988, now known as the ECHL.

The team would be renamed the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds in 1990 and would later move to Wheeling to become the Wheeling Thunderbirds in 1992. The Wheeling Thunderbirds would play their first regular season game on October 18, 1992, and would win 9-3 against the Dayton Bombers. The first goal of the game was scored by Tim Roberts with the first-ever hat trick by Marc Rodgers.

After a trademark dispute with a franchise team in Seattle, the team would look to adopt a new name once again. The Wheeling Nailers became official on June 18, 1996, after a “Name the Team” contest was held. The name was chosen by fans as a way for the team to pay homage to their city’s rich heritage and hails from the city’s history in cut nail manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. Wheeling, during that time, was the richest city per capita at the end of the 19th century, earning the city the nickname “Nail City.”

The team’s logo also reflects their city’s unique history as it features a protective mask that would be worn during the cut nail manufacturing process. The mask is flanked by two intersecting cut nails on each side, and the entire logo is colored in black and gold. These colors would be adopted in 2012 to better align with the team’s current parent club, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Wheeling Nailers became the ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League in 2001. The Nailers home arena, WesBanco, is approximately 60 miles SW of their NHL affiliate team’s home arena, the PPG Paints Arena, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Derek Army, who previously played for the team and was a fan favorite, was named Head Coach of the Wheeling Nailers in 2021 after serving as Interim Head Coach as Assistant Coach. He is one of just five players in team history to play in parts of five seasons with the Nailers, where he tallied 59 goals, 71 assists, and 130 points in 159 games with the team. Army signed a three-year contract extension with the Nailers this past May, which runs through the 2025-26 season.

There have been several notable Wheeling Nailers/Thunderbirds alumni, but among them is Paul Bissonnette, who began his professional career with the team in 2005. During his time in Wheeling, he was named to the ECHL All-Star Game twice. Bissonnette would later play in the National Hockey League (NHL) for both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Arizona Coyotes. He was named an analyst in 2021 for “NHL on TNT” alongside Wayne Gretzky, Anson Carter, and Rick Tocchet. He is also a co-host on the Barstool Sports popular hockey podcast, Spittin’ Chiclets, with former Penguins’ teammate Ryan Whitney.

The Wheeling Nailers will kick off their regular season on the road against the Cincinnati Cyclones on October 21, 2023, with their home opener against the Reading Royals slated for November 4, 2023 at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, WV.