Top Performances From Early Tuesday ECHL Action

It isn’t every day that a hockey fan can have breakfast while watching live action. But Tuesday presented a slate of three morning matchups in the ECHL as part of School Days, an annual tradition that allows kids and teachers to take a break from the usual classroom routine and educate themselves on hockey while having some fun at the same time.

Here’s a look at some top performances from the three morning games.

Kalamazoo Wings 3, Cincinnati Cyclones 2 (OT)

The Cyclones are still looking for their first victory through the first month of the season. It’ll have to wait another day, as the Wings took them down in OT at Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati in front of a record crowd of 13’667.

Ted Nichol scored the game-winner after taking the puck from behind the K-Wings’ net all the way down the left side and backhanding a shot five-hole for the winner and his first of the season. Jaden Shields picked up the assist.

The Cyclones struck first at the 18:30 mark of the opening period after Austin Swankler scored his first goal as a Cyclone and third of the season.

Ben Berard tied the game 1-1 at 7:13 of the second with his third goal in the last two games.

Kalamazoo took the lead on Adam Tisdale’s first professional goal of his career at 10:14 of the second.

Cincy scored the equalizer on a power play at 12:43 of the third for a 2-2 score before Nichol put home the game-winner in overtime.

The Wings move their record to 5-4-0 for the season, while Cincinnati falls to 0-6-3.

Wheeling Nailers 3, Fort Wayne Komets 1

If it were practical, the Wheeling Nailers might consider playing more games in the morning. With Tuesday’s victory, the club improves to 16-4-3 in morning games.

The Komets were the latest opponent to be sent to detention during Education Day. Jack Beck scored his first professional goal while Sergei Murashov stopped 32 shots to aid in the win.

It was a scoreless, penalty-free first period, with Fort Wayne holding a 13-7 advantage in shots on goal.

The Nailers finally scored first at 7:08 of the second frame after Nick Hutchison connected with Beck, who fired a wrister into the left side of the net.

Matthew Quercia potted his third goal of the season for a 2-0 Wheeling lead in the early stages of the third period. Jack Dugan got the Komets on the board on a power-play tip-in, but Dustin Manz put the game out of reach with an empty-netter.

Komets goalie Brett Brochu made 17 saves on 19 shots to suffer the loss. Fort Wayne had outshot their opponents in six of their eight games. They did so in Tuesday’s contest, yet still fell short on the scoreboard.

Iowa Heartlanders 5, Kansas City Mavericks 3

The power play was the story of the day for the Iowa Heartlanders, as they tallied a season-best three goals with the man advantage to knock off the Kansas City Mavericks on the road.

With Iowa holding a 4-3 lead in the third period, Gavin Hain took a pass from Louka Henault and rifled a shot through traffic top-shelf for his third of the season to put the game out of reach.

Iowa went 3-for-5 on the power-play and jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead. They increased the advantage to 4-0 before Kansas City rallied for three goals in the final six minutes of the second period.

It wasn’t enough, however, as the Heartlanders improve to 5-3-1 and have won five of their last six games. The Mavericks fall to 6-3-0-1.