Wheeling, W.Va. (October 27) - The Johnstown Chiefs lost to the Wheeling Nailers tonight by a score of 7-3 at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia.

The Nailers jumped out to a three-goal lead in the first period, with Kurtis McLean opening the scoring at 5:40 of the first period on the power-play. The Nailers took a 2-0 lead at 9:43 when Chiefs' goaltender Morgan cey tried to poke-check a puck off the stick of  Wheeling's Joe Jensen 20 feet in front of his net, the puck caromed over to Ned Havern who got it back to Jensen who buried it in a goal-mouth schmozzle. Joe Guenther would give the Nailers a 3-0 lead at 13:22 when he one-timed a pass from Eric Sonnenberg past Cey.

Radek Smolenak got the Chiefs on the board early in the second period, banging home the rebound of a shot by Gus Katsuras. Randy Rowe would cut Wheeling's lead to one at 5:14 of the second, picking up the rebound of a shot by Doug Andress. The Nailers regained their two-goal lead at 19:08 of the second when Sean Collins hit Jordan Cameron with a breakaway pass and Cameron roofed the puck over Cey.

Smolenak scored his second of the game on a blast from the top of the circle just :28 seconds into the third period. Wheeling took over from there, With Fernholm, McLean, and Cameron each adding insurace goals as Wheeling cruised to a 7-3 win.