Tuesday, October 21, 2003

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

The Wheeling Nailers, the Penguins' ECHL affiliate, could not have a newer look this season if they were an expansion team.

There is new ownership in brothers Jim and Rob Brooks, sons of Bob Brooks, an investor in the Pirates and Penguins.

There is a new name for their 25-year-old home, no longer the Wheeling Civic Center but the WesBanco Arena after a 10-year naming-rights deal was signed Saturday.

There is a new coach in Pat Bingham, who has a 201-100-24 record in the minor leagues.

And, perhaps most important, there are new players. Only five who spent last season with the Nailers return this season.

That, as Bingham states in blunt terms, was no accident.

"Things really needed to change here, off and on the ice," he said. "We felt we had a responsibility to the fans here to work hard to make up for what wasn't there in the past. The effort wasn't there in the past as it should have been. I'm not saying that as a knock to anyone who was here before, but it was important for us to change."

Bingham replaced John Brophy, who won 1,000 games as a professional coach at various levels before retiring after last season at age 70. Once he took over, he immediately started to recruit ECHL talent to play in Wheeling. Salaries vary little in the league, so players are most attracted to teams that have a successful tradition or offer the best chance to move up to the AHL, the primary developmental league of the NHL.

Bingham did not have the latter on his side. The Nailers have missed the playoffs five consecutive years and finished last season 28-41-3. But he could and did sell players on the idea that the Penguins' organization is rebuilding with youth and had holes to fill.

The players he found have not disappointed. Home victories of 6-5 against Roanoke on Saturday and 2-0 against Long Beach the following day have the Nailers at 2-0 for the first time in the franchise's 11-year history.

"It's nice to be 2-0, but there are still 70 games left," Bingham said. "What we're happy about is that or guys have picked up on what we've wanted to do since the start of training camp, and it's paid off for us so far."

Bingham, who preaches an aggressive brand of forechecking that bucks the modern defensive trend, has been most pleased with the work of his top line, center J.C. Ruid between J.F. DuFour and Jason Jaffary, which combined for 11 of the team's 22 points in the first two games. He also has high expectations of the three Penguins draft picks assigned there, right winger Steve Crampton, defenseman Drew Fata and goaltender Nick Boucher.

The team's marketing slogan is "Returning the Feeling," a reference to the highly successful first five years of the franchise when it was known as the Thunderbirds and regularly played to capacity crowds and appeared in the postseason. But it could take time to catch on, as evidenced by crowds of 4,021 for the opener and 2,806 Sunday in the 5,600-seat arena.

"I don't think that shows a lack of hockey interest in our market but rather is a reflection of this team being a loser for so long," Bingham said. "I believe the fans here will respond to a winning team, a competitive team. And I believe that it's our job to reach out to them by going out in the community and getting in touch with them again, not just waiting here and saying they're supposed to come and see us. We want to let them know we want them back."

Minor matters

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins lost two of their most important forwards for a long stretch: Michal Sivek has a fractured ring finger on his left hand and is out four to six weeks. Colby Armstrong has a hairline fracture of the right fibula and is out three to four weeks. Both were hurt in the team's 3-2 loss Friday at Syracuse. ... The game in Syracuse was decided by a controversial goal. The Crunch's Aaron Johnson took a shot which hit goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin and trickled toward the line and was ruled a goal at 11:01 of the third period. That broke a 2-2 tie. The referees made no call, then consulted the locally employed goal judge, who told them the puck crossed. "When I saw the referee was going to have a meeting with the goal judge ... come on, this guy's a local," coach Michel Therrien told reporters. "I would understand if the referee was in a bad position. Sometimes you have to accept those things. It was the goal judge's word. It was unacceptable." ... Left winger Tomas Surovy leads the team with three goals on just 10 shots. He has scored in each game. ... The penalty-killing in Wilkes-Barre has been even worse than in Pittsburgh. The Baby Penguins have allowed seven power-play goals on 17 chances, an AHL-worst success rate of 58.8 percent. ... The Baby Penguins (1-2) play next tomorrow at Norfolk, already their third meeting with the Admirals. ... The Nailers begin a three-game road trip with games Friday and Saturday at Peoria.

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