Heartlanders finish three-city 3-in-3 Sunday at Wheeling

Wheeling, WV – The Iowa Heartlanders complete their first three-in-three of the season at the Wheeling Nailers Sunday at 3:10 p.m. Both teams are seeking their first win.The Heartlanders are coming off a 5-2 loss Saturday at Cincinnati. Tommy Parrottino lasered in his first pro goal and Kevin Conley also scored.Wheeling dropped its only game of the weekend Friday vs. Cincinnati, 4-0. Iowa’s next home game is Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2:00 p.m. vs. division rival Fort Wayne. Iowa is three games into a four-game road trip.Broadcast Coverage: Watch on flohockey.tv. Listen on mixlr.com/goheartlanders  Affiliates: Iowa Heartlanders (Minnesota Wild/Iowa Wild) | Wheeling Nailers (Pittsburgh Penguins/Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins)Tommy comes through in second periodTommy Parrottino scored his first professional goal Saturday at Cincinnati, an unassisted strike five minutes into the second period that gave Iowa a 2-0 lead. Starting from the red line with the puck, Parrottino knifed by two defenders and used his speed to outrace the Cyclones into the defensive end. He jolted the puck high and past Beck Warm’s shoulder.The rookie scored 11 times for Michigan Tech last season, playing on the same team as Heartlanders teammate Alec Broetzman.The Rochester Hills, MI native had 37 goals in his four-year career at Michigan Tech.    Goaltender factThe Heartlanders have had four goaltenders start a game this season through the team’s first four games (Hunter Jones, C.J. Motte, Bailey Brkin and Conor O’Brien).Last season, five goaltenders started for Iowa the entire year – Hunter Jones, Corbin Kaczperski, Trevin Kozlowski, Dereck Baribeau and Jack Berry.Conor O’Brien took the loss with 22 saves Saturday.All-time historyThe Heartlanders got points in four of seven games against the Nailers last season, finishing their first-ever season series with a 3-3-1-0 record. Wheeling won the first three games of the series, all at Xtream Arena, before the Landers rattled off three straight wins at Wesbanco Arena. Iowa is 3-0-0-0 all time at Wesbanco, while the Nailers are 4-0-0-0 in games played at Xtream Arena. This is the only instance in Heartlanders history in which a division season series went in “reverse” fashion (road team has won all the games).Iowa has outscored the Nailers 10-4 in victories, while Wheeling has clashed back with a +8 goal differential in its four wins. The first team to score has won six of the seven games ever between the clubs; Wheeling earned the all-time series’ only come-from-behind win Apr. 6 last season.Scouting the NailersThe Nailers qualified for the 2022 Kelly Cup Playoffs, snapping a five-year streak in which the club missed the postseason. Head Coach Derek Army led Wheeling to the third-seed in the Central Division and the club defeated Fort Wayne in the first round of the postseason thanks to a Matthew Quercia Game Seven overtime goal.In Army’s second year in Wheeling, the Nailers are the most-youthful team in the league entering this weekend’s games (average age 23.7). The Heartlanders, by comparison, have an average age of 25. The Nailers have seven players on the roster born in the year 2000 or later, including four born in 2001.Cam Hausinger is the club’s top returning goal scorer (21g last season, third on the squad behind Patrick Watling and Justin Almeida).Road Trip Mileage UpdateThe Heartlanders are completing one of their most-difficult road weekends of the season, having already visited Kalamazoo and Cincinnati the past two days. The team follows up with Sunday’s afternoon game at Wheeling. Iowa is 885 miles into this road trip before journeying home nearly 700 miles Sunday evening. The club then hits the road again next week at Indy for Friday’s game. In total, the Heartlanders will travel more than 2,000 miles over this 4-game road trip.