Flyers Gain New Hilariously-Named Affiliate

In news that is funny if you are eight years old — or have the maturity of an eight-year-old, like myself — the Philadelphia Flyers have partnered with a new affiliate in the East Coast Hockey League, the Wheeling Nailers.

The Nailers play in the East Coast Hockey League, and the Flyers will be able to send two goalies and up to three additional players for seasoning with the squad. The Flyers previous affiliate in the ECHL was the Trenton Titans — now the Trenton Devils — who are not quite as funny.

And, of course, the Wheeling Nailers have a history on the sliver screen as well:

While they were still the Wheeling Thunderbirds, members of the team in 1994-95 also participated in the filming of the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie “Sudden Death”. Because of the NHL lockout, the scene where Van Damme’s character attempts to stop a bomber from bombing Mellon Arena during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals was filmed with players from the Chiefs and Thunderbirds.

It’s hard to tell what’s the funnier part of the name, but I think it might be the part that says there’s actually a hockey team in Wheeling, West Virginia. On the other hand, what kind of city names its team after its famous nail industry? (Or, if you will, prostitution industry.) That’d be like a city naming its football team after the the steel indus–oh, sorry, Pittsburgh.

Wheeling Nailers to be Flyers’ minor league team [Philadelphia Business Journal]