Wheeling, WV- After a high-scoring and chippy game on Saturday, both teams came out of the tunnel on Sunday with almost no energy to spare. The Iowa Heartlanders and Wheeling Nailers each took one of their two-game rivalry renewal at the WesBanco Arena.
Iowa earned their league-high point streak for this season at 8 games with a 6-2 victory on Saturday where Hunter Jones got his first win of the season, and this was snapped when Peyton Jones got his first loss of the season with a 4-1 Final.
The Heartlanders scored 4 goals in the first period of their Saturday win, with Calverley netting his 5th goal of the season. Louis Boudon tallied the second and got an assist on the third that quickly followed, where he found Odeen Tufto for his first goal of the campaign. Davis Koch rounded out the action in the first 20 minutes to put the Landers up 4-0.
Between the end of the first period and the duration of the second period, Nailers enforcers and Peter Laviolette III and Felix Paré began getting more aggressive with Iowa to keep their fans in the game, catching Adam Goodsir and Jake Durflinger for chippy moments. Brett Budgell scored each of the last two for Iowa and the team left the ice on Saturday with excitement.
Sunday was a much more exhausting day, and it showed on both sides. Both teams were playing their 4th game in 5 days and could not fill their rosters due to injuries and exhaustion. While Adam Goodsir scored his first goal with Iowa in the 2nd period, Wheeling was able to pull away in the third, as Iowa’s five available defensemen could not protect Peyton Jones like they had the rest of this month.
Looking Forward, The Landers will play in Cincinnati on Friday and Toledo on Saturday and Sunday, looking for their chance to defend second place in the standings, and potentially start fighting towards first. Friday’s game will drop the puck at 6:30 pm CT, Saturday at 6:10 pm CT, and Sunday at 4:10 pm CT.
