#cincy pride

[foreshvdowing]

didn’t take any pictures at cincinnati pride because my phone was on less than 10%, buuuuut i had a great day with some of my favorite people. 😌 we went to agave and rye and had tacos and then we went to a friends apartment and i got drunk!! i also bought some RUNES and i’m so excited to start working with them!!

[clay-lives]

Regular everyday grocery shopping.

[emile-hides]

Went to Pride today!!!

[mebrob]

when my fat faggot ass is most prideful😋

[nobuouematsu]

helped out at my work's pride booth today and there was a young girl who came up and called EVERYTHING "slay".....we were giving out books and she was like "omg i want this slay" and then we gave her a pride button and she was like "omg slay" and when her sister spun the prize wheel she was like "i hope you get books that'd be so slay" it was the cutest thing ever

[infiniteglitterfall]

the worst part about the i/p discourse

it's NOT the posters of Nazis with the swastikas on their flags replaced by stars of david. or the pages and pages of blood libel conspiracy theories in instagram posts about why local pride organizers are such big meanies. or the newfound insistence that jews just exaggerate and make up antisemitic incidents to smear the pro-palestine movement....

it's the fact that every. single. time. i try to post anything about any of these things, i end up in a rabbit hole SO DEEP IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO GET TO THE BOTTOM.

Yesterday, I saw a --

YOU SEE? I went to Reddit for a second to find the link to the post about the Melbourne protest this week that had people carrying the Nazi-star-of-David posters. But first, I saw a post that began, "All I see on social media and the news is more and more attacks. Who beat up a Jewish family here, who stabbed a 1 year old in front of a synagouge. Those are two examples, I've lost track of all of the other ones."

and I was like, SOMEONE STABBED A ONE YEAR OLD IN FRONT OF A SYNAGOGUE?!?!

And I started to look that up. AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Two days ago, I saw an article about Cincinnati Socialists setting up a table at North Kentucky Pride without asking, it sounds like, to hand out flyers saying the war in Gaza was Netanyahu's "Final Solution" for Palestinians. Cincinnati Pride organizers alerted the NKY Pride organizers, who kicked them out.

I was like, "okay, well, let's see what Cincinnati Socialists say about it." Then I discovered that their instagram not only "names and shames" the two Cincy Pride organizers and one NKY organizer. Which led to the Cincy ones getting so much harassment and violent threats that they resigned....

But also has a related post that goes on for pages and pages of pure blood libel.

So then I sat there fact-checking all their blood libel and finding out that not only was it untrue and impossible, but half the stuff they referenced didn't even exist.

Then I ended up fact-checking things in the "article" that they'd clearly used as their source. Fact-checking things I found while fact-checking those.

Trying to write a Facebook post about how fucked up it all was. Giving up on the Facebook post after several hours because it made more sense to write it on Tumblr, or at least to write it on Tumblr FIRST.

Then I'm also looking at the post they made "naming and shaming" the organizers, which is like... "the Cincy ones are partners! two days after Hamas's incredibly violent and brutal massacre, one of them changed his profile picture to a photo of them honeymooning IN ISRAEL two years ago! they did it through some group that COVERS A LOT OF THE COSTS FOR HONEYMOONS IN ISRAEL!!!!" and "the other one went to a protest of Hamas's massacre!!! with a sign saying to free the hostages!!!"

oh no. the fucking horror. truly how did these genocidal monsters even end up on the pride organizing committee. this is a shanda scandal.

then I'm responding to people's comments, trying to talk them down from horrible positions. telling people things like, "I know it's asking a LOT, but if people could grasp the idea that "going to Israel for your honeymoon" ISN'T "committing genocide," it would be really great. Or that wanting the hostages freed is actually something that both Israeli AND GAZAN protests have called for, and it's only Westerners who are opposed to it. Or that in fact, saying you "Stand with Israel," a few days after an incredibly brutal attack that burned multiple towns to the ground in one day, killed entire families and their pets, an attack which Hamas has promised to repeat "again and again and again" till Israel is violently destroyed... is opposing that attack, NOT calling for genocide."

then i'm like, "oh, i should edit these images to show the correct info, and i can explain that I drew arrows and added the correct info!" so then i'm doing that and working on writing alt text, and holy shit??? how many fucking hours??? did i spend on this?????? just because i read a frigging reddit post that linked to an article about it?????????

and like. i can go through and debunk all that shit in the comments. (and did. i responded to every single comment that believed this shit.) but ultimately, everyone who pulls this shit has way more reach than I do.

just. like. THAT'S ONE ORG IN ONE PLACE. And it was bad enough that I persevered and finished debunking it and commenting on it today and started telling people about it. Do you even know how many more of those I've seen?! How many I would see if I looked for them on purpose?!

The tsunami of deliberate disinformation is SO FUCKING BAD. All of it is SO FUCKING LAYERED. In any single bullshit post, there are SO MANY horrifically bad and wrong assumptions. So many of them are DESIGNED, BY HAMAS, to lead people down the path to "All Zionists should die! Israel should be violently destroyed!"

There were so many comments on a "Free Palestine Melbourne" group's instagram post (Sydney? Could've been Sydney) asking, pointedly, how many Jews are Zionists. What percentage of Jews are Zionists, again?

One (1) had a response telling them it doesn't matter what the percentage is, no percentage would justify collective punishment of Jews.

The rest all said things like, "Too many."

It feels like constantly being lied to. Just constantly being lied to about things I have looked up and verified myself from solid sources, now and in the past, by people I counted as my community.

Then just now I opened Instagram because I hadn't taken screenshots of a couple of the pics I wanted to add. And I'm hit with these:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by jewsinschool (@jewsinschool)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jewish on Campus (@jewishoncampus)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jewish and Proud (@jewishpridealways)

Then some brighter posts (including one of a baby bat!!) and then a post which sums up a lot of what I'm feeling right now.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jess Cook (@jessicagcoook)

It's like, yes, that, plus the uncomfortable sense that some people are getting thisclose to going, "Most Jews are Zionists anyway, so YEAH, I DO think most Jews deserve to die."

[glittter-vamp]

CHAPTER 8

Joe Burrow x Bisexual OC.

Warnings: 18+MDNI. Angsty. SAPPHIC SMUT.

Word Count: 3.1k

Body Move by Dizzy Fae blasted throughout Valeria's Condo as she cleaned up. It was a nice Saturday morning and she took it upon herself to clean up her space being that it was as cluttered as her mind has been lately. She was organizing her insane collection of shoes in her closet when her phone rang interrupting the music that was playing through her apartment since her phone was connected to the soundbar in the living room. Sighing in annoyance, she walks from the spot in her closet and retrieves her phone that was sitting on her stripped bed due her sheets getting washed. Seeing the caller ID she sees its Summer which still catches her off guard seeing her name on her phone. They had swapped numbers the day Summer arrived unannounced to Valeria's door with the flowers Joe hated.

"Hello?" Val answers the call. 

"Hey! I hope I'm not calling at a bad time." Summer replies seeming a bit nervous.

"You're not, what's up?" Val asks as she looks at the mountain pile of shoes she was donating, she couldn't believe how many shoes were stuffed in her closet. 

"I was just wondering if you wanted to grab a bite with me, there's this Mexican spot one of the construction guys suggested to me. I'll buy! " Summer asks. 

"Oh um, well what time did you want to meet up?" Valeria looks around her mess, she definitely needed some time to arrange all this. 

"How about 4ish?" I'll text you the address, it's not that far from your place.." She says. Val could hear the smile in her voice which made her smile too. 

"Yeah that's fine, I'll see you then!" Val agrees. It had been a bit since Val had seen Summer. She'd been super busy with the development job she's here in Cincy for and Val was also super busy with the store. It was finally June so, it was pride month and Kade & Elsa's idea was popping off better than any of them expected. They were all pulling early mornings an late nights but everything was going pretty well for the most part. Sure there were trolls on the company's Instagram and even google reviews but the support surpassed the hate by a lot and that's what everyone had decided to focus on. Val even had customers tell her that she'd inspire them to come out to those around them which shocked her considering the circumstances of Val's sexuality coming to light wasn't really ideal for her. 

Agreeing on the plans, Summer and Val hang up and she continues her cleaning. It was only 10AM now so Val had plenty of time to clean and then get ready later. But, as she was finally finishing up on her closet she received yet another call, this time a facetime from Joe. Taking a deep breath she answered.

"Hey!" Val answers with a small smile on her face. 

"So much for calling me back yesterday." Joe gives her an unimpressed look and Val grimaces completely forgetting about that. 

"I'm sorry! I got caught up with the store and didn't get home until 11PM. Once I came home I showered and knocked out." She says looking at him with a sorry look on her face. 

"It's okay, I knew you were already busy there when I called. But, how are are things going?" He asks he looked like he we at the gym and was sweaty as one could be after a workout. 

"It's been busy but so far so good." She nods. 

"I'm glad to hear it, you've worked hard for this...which is why I think we should go out to celebrate." Joe suggests and Val looks at him crazy. This was so out of the blue she wondered if she even heard him right. 

"Since when do you want to go out to celebrate anything, especially with me?" Val asks scoffing making Joe roll his eyes at her comment and reaction. 

"Are you busy next weekend? I sort of made us reservations at the Marble Room." He smirks. 

"In Cleveland!? You never even go past Columbus." Val says shocked. 

"I wanted to try something new with you and treat you to something nice. So what do you say? I think it'll be fun, you also deserve some time off and away from everything." Joe says. 

"Joe...we talked about boundaries last week." Val sighs. He knew better than to do something like this after the conversation they had and both agreed on.

"C'mon Val, I'm giving you what you want and it's still an issue." Joe sighs rolling his eyes in annoyance. 

"I need to know you're doing it because you want to and because you're over this whole, keeping me a secret stuff. Not because you want to win me over and go back to how things were. You know that's not an option. Plus going to Cleveland means an overnight trip and we both agreed on no sex again while we're figuring stuff out." Val shakes her head. 

"Who said anything about that? and I'm not dumb, I know you're hooking up with Summer anyway so of course you don't care to have sex with me." Joe says which annoys and upsets Val. She knew Joe was pity because she wasn't falling for his little game.

"I'm not hooking up with anyone Joe, you need to stop with the shit about Summer. I don't bring up the model from Miami and throw it in your face so you shouldn't do that to me!" Val argues back. 

"Because she's not in my life! Summer is in yours and I know she's working at an angle here. Especially now since she knows about us and our rocky relationship, this is the perfect time to sweep you off your feet." Joe says making Val roll her eyes at him while trying to keep her cool. 

"If you're going to keep up with this we should just call it quits right now because I don't appreciate you acting like this and accusing me of having sex with Summer when I haven't even seen her in weeks and the last person I fucked was you." Val snaps back over Joe's shit.

"There's just no way I believe that, after that video at the club Val. We agreed on dating other people if we wanted but I don't buy that she's not over there at your place late at night or taking you out to places." Joe shakes his head. 

"Then our conversation here is done here, bye." Val says hanging up on him. Val was now livid at Joe at the way he kept throwing this in her face. Yeah she cheated but so did he and she wasn't being petty like he was throwing that stuff in his face like he was to her.

**************************************************************************

"Smells like lavender in here, I love that scent!" Summer smiles as she walks into Val's place. They had just gotten done with their meal and drinks at the Mexican restaurant which was great, Val made a mental note to go back their with her friends soon. 

"When you called me I was cleaning every inch of this place so that's why it smells decent" Val chuckles shutting the door behind her. 

"I'm so glad my job is playing for my stay and I have house cleaning, with the amount of work I need to get done in one day coming home to a clean hotel room is sooo great." Summer teases. 

"Lucky! Maybe I should invest in housekeeping around here." Val pouts making Summer laugh. 

"We should of stopped for some wine! I'm dumb, we literally passed by a liquor store too." Summer says sitting on the couch. 

"I have two bottles, both red. I always have back up, did you forget whose house this is?" Val smirks. 

"You're the best. Reminds me of all the secret bottles of Vodka you had in your room because Gen and Karina would always drink yours if you let them in the kitchen." Summer laughs at Val as she walks over to the kitchen to open a bottle up winking at her. 

"So, now that you're out and proud, are you going to the pride parade this month? I saw a flyer for it at the club the other night, its next Saturday." Summer asks as Val pops open a wine bottle and gets two wine glasses from her cupboard.

"I was thinking of it. The gang wants to go, are you going?" Val asks her. 

"Eh, don't know what I would do there alone other than see the parade." She chuckles. 

"You can come with us! I'll keep in contact with you about it, we're coordinating outfits with some for the stuff from the store, I'll keep you in the loop." Val says bringing over a glass of wine for Summer. 

"Sounds fun, thanks!" Summer smiles as Val sits at arms reach next to summer on the couch after handing her drink. 

"So, how are you liking Ohio? Making you want to move back after all these years?" Val teases. 

"Hell no, my family came down from Columbus and they were asking me the same thing. I love California too much to ever come back here." Summer shakes her head before taking a sip of her wine.

"I haven't been in a while. I should go, I miss Disneyland." Val says before sipping her wine. 

"There's so much to do in Cali and you want to go to...Disney...you have not changed." Summer laughs. 

"I've only been to Disney once! I deserve to go again." Val shrugs not feeling ashamed about wanting to go to Disney at her adult age. 

"You should have your rich NFL boyfriend take you. I think they do private tours, I think he could afford that." Summer giggles sarcastically. 

"Yeah... that's sooo not happening. He is not happy with me and I'm not happy with him." Val snorts taking a generous sip of her wine remembering the stupid argument they had today. 

"You guys haven't made up?" Summer asks and Val shakes her head no. 

"We had an argument today actually so... nope." Val lets out of a breath. 

"Sorry to hear that...can I ask about what? Maybe I can give some advice...if you want it of course. I know you must be really trying to salvage the relationship after everything which is understandable." Summer shrugs taking a sip of her wine eyeing Valeria. 

"You. We had argument about you today." Val chuckles. Summer freezing and giving her a confused look. 

"He thinks we're having sex. Plus he's basically is in a competition with you for some stupid reason. He thinks we have something going on and I won't admit to it." Val says rather nonchalantly. 

"I mean...I guess you could see where he's coming from because of the video and our history but I'm sure you've told him we haven't done anything, he should believe you. you've been honest so far with him, he has no reason to doubt you right now. " Summer shakes her head. 

"Yeah, well he doesn't and its annoying and pissing me off. I don't know how much more of this shit I can take, I tried but I think it's really done. Trying to glue back the pieces isn't going to work if the cracks are still visible." Val admits suddenly feeling very sad about the situation and reality of it. 

Summer doesn't say anything except give Valeria a look of sympathy and pats her hand. Val gulps down the rest of her wine and gets up to get a refill offering Summer one which she gladly accepts. After one too many wine glasses and those margarita's they had at the restaurant, Val was starting to feel the liquor a bit. She wasn't drunk, especially no where near like the night at the club but she was starting to feel a lot more comfortable around Summer and had forgotten about Joe for the time being. She was finally letting lose which resulted in feeling like her and Summer hadn't stopped talking in all these years and forgetting about how wrong she did her all those years ago.

"It's 10:30PM and I really don't think I'm going to be sober enough anytime soon to drive myself back to my hotel. I really shouldn't have had the second bottle with you, I'm driving a company rental." Summer says checking her phone seeming uneasy about her being tipsy at the moment knowing she had to leave soon because it had gotten so late. 

"Just stay over, I have plenty clothes you can borrow to sleep in...you can even shower if you'd like too." Val says setting the empty bottles of wine down by the trash can to take out tomorrow. 

"You sure? I wouldn't want to make things even worse between you and Joe...I can just uber and pick up my car tomorrow. It's no biggie." Summer bites her lip still feeling uneasy about the situation. 

"Of course I'm sure and If he already thinks there's something going on between us then it doesn't really matter now, does it? Now come on, we can watch Freaky Friday like we used to when we were supposed to do homework or study." Val says smiling at Summer and walking to her room. Summer follows Val into the the as she starts to go through her drawers finding something for Summer to wear. She picks out one of her old Ohio State oversized tees and hands it to her.

"Here, you can shower first. I'm gonna finish cleaning up the kitchen in the meantime, then I'll take a quick shower and we can watch the best movie ever made." Val smiles at Summer who chuckles at her excitement. Summer agreed to it and Val does as she says. 

"Sounds like a plan!" Summer chuckles.

***************************************************

"Jamie was so damn hot in this movie. Talk about a fucking MILF!" Summer shakes her head in disbelief as they watch Jaime Lee Curtis go off on the guitar in the house of blues scene of the movie. 

"She really was." Val agrees as the lay next to each other in bed, rather close with the lights off. Summer and Val give each other both a smile before they slowly lean in and connect their lips. Summer slipping her tongue into Val's mouth immediately and straddling Valeria. All she had on was a shirt and no pants or underwear so Valeria could feel her wetness on her bare thighs. It had been so long since Valeria had hooked up with a woman, it's like she needed to get it out of her system. All the memories of their college nights together came running in both of their minds, feeling the familiar soft feminine touch of each other.

"Wait--Are you sure you want to do this? I don't want you to regret anything..." Summer asks, her eyes scanning Valeria's face for reassurance. 

"Yeah, I'm sure." Val smiles brushing a strand of hair away from Summer's perfect face before leaning in and kissing her again. They both undress from their pajamas leaving them completely bare and both girls take in each others bodies for the first time in so long. It was almost like it was their first time ever with each other all over again. 

"You look even more gorgeous than what I remember." Summer whispers kissing Val's neck, moaning softly at the feel of her lips going gently down her body.  Summer starts giving her love bites here and there as she always did with Val, devouring her body. Biting and sucking on Val's breasts, her hands went down finding Val's clit making her moan and buck her hips at the sensation. 

"I really missed hearing that sound come out of you, it's music to my ears." Summer smirks before sucking on one of Val's nipples. The sensation of Summer rubbing her clit and sucking her nipple almost sent her over the edge right there. 

"Can I taste you? I just know you still taste so good." Summer whispers kissing Val's chest gently as she looks up at her with eyes full of lust. Val nods a yes as she bites her lip awaiting for what's about to come. Summer moves down and settles in between her thighs, kissing them slowly and leaving bite marks between them, before her tongue slowly swipes between Valeria's wet folds making Val moan, throwing her head back in pleasure. 

"Oh! Fuck...Summer..." Val moans louder than she anticipated. She had forgotten the insane tongue game Summer had and wasn't expecting this type of intense pleasure from her.

Bringing her hand to Summer's long luscious hair, which was cascading over her face, Val pushes it away from her face to see her, her face was only dimly lit by the tv in front of them but Valeria couldn't get enough of seeing Summer nose deep at her core. Summer batting her big brown eyes at her knowing it made Val even more turned on by her. Sucking on her clit, Val struggles to maintain her hips still as the euphoric feeling started to already build up inside her. Summer grabbing ahold of her hip to maintain her in place with one hand. She then slipped two fingers with her free hand inside Val's wetness thrusting it at a perfect pace, as her mouth was still on her. Which, was enough to send Val over the edge and reach her orgasm. 

"Shit...oh my god..mmph." Val moaned and bucked her hips uncontrollably as she reached her high. Summer smirked as she wiped her face off and then seductively sucked the juices off her finger making eye contact with Val who was still catching her breath and coming down from her orgasm. Val forgetting about any relationship problems, let alone Joe. 

"Tell me when you're ready for round two, that was a good warm up for my Jaw and hands. My god do you taste better than I remembered..." Summer smirks. 

A/N: Well...things just got a whole lot messier.

[angelmelon]

POC trans experiences are so often erased by white trans and cis people alike, and it is worsened so much by white transphobes like Rusty Leasebound claiming that they don’t exist, or that they are all tokens.

there was a point in time where I was in an all trans friend group and I was one of the only 2 white people in the group. You really have to think, has Rusty not seen POC trans people because they don’t exist, or because of the general demographic of where they live??

I don’t even know if we can even claim the latter because even in Kentucky, the population is only 8% black statistically. You’d think if they didn’t have a lot of people of color in their area, there’d still be enough that they’d have seen trans POC. Especially considering, again, I live in hick ass Kentucky, where you wouldn’t think you’d see trans people at all. But we have a huge scene. My local Pride parade right here in Kentucky is one of the most accessible events I’ve ever been to.

Just locally in my specific region of the state, we have a trans inclusive homeless shelter, 5 trans inclusive churches, a trans inclusive synagogue, and so much more. I don’t know what it’s like over there, but judging by Rusty stating there isn’t really that many trans people compared to other places in Australia, they really haven’t met that many trans people. Not enough to have an informed opinion in general, anyway. Your entire opinion on a group of people being informed by a likely repressed tiny minority where you live and the 6 and a half “cringe” trans women tumblr TERFs decided to doxx and cyberbully this year is not being fully informed.

I invite Rusty to visit Kentucky one day, if only for the gorgeous, vibrant POC trans scene during Pride, the beautiful archaic churches in Cinci, and the damn good drinks. Maybe there is a reason to visit my state after all.

[doppleganger-rental]

Cincy pride

[cincinnatiasphalt]

Careers @ Cincy Asphalt

[foreshvdowing]

Hi hello! I saw you went to Cincinnati Pride and was wondering if you know any local online communities or discords? I started mentoring a friend of mine who lives in the area but unfortunately all of my resources are Indiana based. She doesn't have a great in person crowd she can trust.

hi!! i actually don’t unfortunately 🥺 i hope you’re able to find some! i hope she is able to find some supportive folks. i’m from the northern kentucky area if that’s of any help! 🫶🏻

[clay-lives]

[cassiedungan]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Joseph-Beth Booksellers (@josephbethcincy)

Caption: Check out our new Cincinnati drinkware and puzzles! Featuring a map of the city, this design comes in multiple different styles so there's something for everyone. Show off your Cincy pride!

Prompt: Post about local sideline items.

Posted: September 16th, 2024.

[ledenews]

ON THE NAIL! - Season Comes Down to Final Four Games

The Nailers struggled last weekend, earning only one out of a possible four points with games at Toledo and Cincinnati.  What went wrong for Wheeling in those games? Coming down the stretch of a hotly contested playoff race, every point matters.  I understand the first game was against Toledo, who yet again are division winners and are poised to make a deep run in the postseason, so that was set to be a difficult matchup.  But when you have an opportunity to play a team who’s already all but out of the running and is only playing for pride and you fail to earn a couple of crucial points, it’s quite disappointing. Friday’s game was actually a really good showing by the visiting team, as Wheeling managed to keep Toledo off the scoreboard early while tallying one of their own almost halfway through the first when Jordan Martel found the back of the net.  The only goal scored in the period came on the power play, and area the Nailers have struggled at a bit this season, and their penalty kill managed to kill one off too. In the second, Wheeling was able to earn another power play, but this time it was the Walleye who took advantage and netted a short-handed goal to tie the game back up.  Despite the Nailers leading in shots in the frame 11-6 and getting another man advantage with just over two and a half minutes left in the period, they couldn’t solve the Toledo goaltender, and the game went to the third tied, a situation that has not gone Wheeling’s way much this season, with a record of 6-8-1 in such games coming into the weekend. Sponsored by: The Nailers got another power play opportunity early in the third period and once again cashed in, as Jared Westcott (a new signee coming in from Lake Superior State University) earned his first professional goal on a nice tip in.  That score managed to stand for almost five minutes before Toledo scored the tying goal and put all the pressure back on the visitors.  Despite the game becoming a bit of a back-and-forth affair, the Walleye were able to score the third and deciding goal with just over five minutes to play, and despite pulling their goalie, Wheeling just couldn’t even the score and lost in regulation, earning zero points for the game. The Nailers came out the next night in Cincinnati looking to put their disappointing performance the evening before behind them and tried to at least salvage two points on the weekend.  Despite both teams getting scoring chances in the first period, neither team was able to find the back of the net in the frame.  Only one power play was given in the period to Wheeling, and they couldn’t take advantage of it (the man-advantage group went 0-for-3 on the evening in total). The second period started a lot different to the first, as the Cyclones managed to get on the board twice within the first three minutes of the period to put the Nailers down 2-0 and forcing them to chase the game a bit.  Luckily, just before the midpoint of the second another newcomer, Ryan Miotto (who joins the team after four years at Canisius followed by one season at Vermont) got his first tally as a pro to cut the Cincy lead in half, which turned out to be the score going into the final period of the weekend. In the third, Wheeling really picked up their game and tried to earn the tying mark, which eventually did come with over nine minutes left in regulation thanks to a rebound picked up by Justin McRae and stuffed into the net.  From there, it turned into a bit of a mad dash to the final horn, with both teams trying to finish the game but neither succeeded and the game entered overtime.  Each team was able to pick up one shot on goal in the extra frame, but unfortunately, the Cincinnati shot found the back of the net and sent the Nailers home with just one point on the weekend, which simply isn’t enough to help them in the playoff chase. The Nailers then dropped another overtime game on Wednesday, their final road game of the season, in Indy.  What could they have done better to earn the two points? Well, the house of horrors known as Indiana Farmers Coliseum continues to be just that for the Nailers, winning just once in six games there this season.  Wheeling is now 2-6-2 against the Fuel this season overall, with one more chance to try to get one more win against them coming up this weekend (but more on that shortly).  Earning at least a point in this game helps, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s just not enough when you’re in a dogfight to make the postseason. The game started very quickly, with a lot of back-and-forth action and some really good saves before Indy finally opened the scoring just under seven minutes into the game.  Wheeling was able to answer with one of the own just two and a half minutes later, as Davis Bunz got his tenth goal of the season, and things stayed deadlocked for a while.  It appeared the game would remain tied into the intermission potted one behind Sparks with about two and a half minutes left, but the Nailers once again answered, this time off the stick of the returning Dillon Hamaliuk, and the game did indeed to go the intermission tied. The second period opened with a very quick penalty just under 30 seconds in on Indy, and Wheeling’s power play capitalized thanks to yet another newcomer, this time getting the first professional goal for Dustin Manz (who joins the Nailers after two years at American International College, which came after three years at Lake Superior State).  Seeing these new guys work as hard as they are and be rewarded three games in a row gives a lot of hope for what they’ll do in their careers, which will hopefully continue in Wheeling beyond these last few games this year.  The Wheeling lead lasted until halfway through the period, when the Fuel earned a power play tally of their own to tie the game at 3-3, which stuck as the score until the horn sounded, giving both teams the chance to rest before commencing one of the most frantic periods of hockey I can remember in quite a while. The third period started quick, with Tanner Laderoute scoring just over two minutes in and putting Wheeling ahead once again, but just under two minutes later, Indy managed to tie the game yet again.  Things managed to quiet down for a while, but not for a lack of trying, as both goaltenders had to make some strong saves to keep things where they were.  Then, with a little more than nine minutes left in regulation and just as their only power play of the period expired, Hamaliuk threw a beautiful pass across to Manz who scored his second of the night and gave the Nailers another lead at 5-4. Wheeling appeared ready to bring the two points home with less than a minute left in the game when Justin Addamo got called for slashing and, with their goalie pulled, Indy used their 6-on-4 advantage to net a goal just ten seconds after the penalty call, with only 21 seconds left on the clock, and you could just feel the air get sucked out of the Nailers.  Despite the game going to overtime, Wheeling couldn’t even manage to get a shot on goal in almost four minutes of extra action, and the third shot off an Indy stick ended up in the net and the Fuel took home the extra point. The Nailers were scheduled to have two home games this weekend, but the Fort Wayne contest has been postponed due to flooding.  Now they only have Indy coming to town on Sunday.  What does Wheeling have to do to get revenge for Wednesday? Even though I am sad it takes away the chance to see some hockey over the weekend, the safety of everyone involved in the flooding areas of the city is paramount, and I hope everyone reading this has been able to stay safe.  Remember, things can be replaced, but people cannot, so be thankful if you and your loved ones were able to remain safe.  Luckily, they were able to push the game that was originally scheduled for Friday to Wednesday to make it up, so we’ll still get to see the game be played and the Nailers can try for some absolutely crucial points against the team directly behind them in the standings. We do still get some hockey this weekend, as Wheeling gets the chance to take to the ice against the Fuel for the final time this season coming off the heartbreaking loss last weekend.  Indy comes to the Friendly City after playing a game against the Komets in Fort Wayne the night before, so while we have to hope Indy can find a way to win that game and allow Wheeling to keep a little cushion before Fort Wayne comes to town, we can also hope that game is a bit more physical and beats them down a little bit before the Fuel come our way. From what we saw last weekend, we know the Fuel want to play a bit more wide open of a game, as Indy comes into the game averaging 3.22 goals for per game, while allowing 3.07 goals per game.  Another thing to be prepared for is how physical the Fuel will want to be, as they have the second most penalty minutes in the Western Conference (fourth most in the entire league), and their penalty kill group is 20th in the league on the road, so if Wheeling is able to take advantage of their power plays in this game, they can find a way to come away with two necessary points. As the season winds down, the Nailers find themselves barely in a playoff spot, just three points ahead of Fort Wayne, with the Komets having two games in hand.  How can Wheeling assure themselves of a spot in the postseason now? After the Nailers went on their big 12-game winning streak back in January into February, I thought it wouldn’t take much the rest of the way for them to stay in a playoff spot with only two months left in the season.  However, since the streak ended, Wheeling has earned a record of 7-12-3 for only 17 points, which isn’t enough to stay very high in such a competitive division.  Over the same time period (since February 16), the other teams in the division that are still in the playoff race have earned 25 points in Indy, 26 points for Kalamazoo, and 20 points for Fort Wayne.  I didn’t include Toledo because they’re far enough beyond the race that it isn’t worth counting, and Cincinnati and Iowa are far enough behind that they were never in the race to begin with. When you run into a situation where the other teams around you are earning that many more points than you, a lead can evaporate on you, just like it has for the Nailers.  One of the games in hand that the Komets have will be played on Saturday, so a loss by Fort Wayne against Indy would go a long way towards helping Wheeling.  The real issue is, the Nailers don’t really control their own destiny at this point.  The Komets’ schedule coming down the stretch is Indy, at Kalamazoo, at Wheeling, Indy, then a home and home with Toledo, so if Fort Wayne finds a way to win all of them but the games against the Walleye, they earn an extra eight points, giving them 82 for the season.  If Wheeling wins all but the Fort Wayne game, they can only come up with 81 points, and are stuck watching the playoffs from home.  I’m not saying the game next Wednesday is more important than the other three Wheeling has left, but without a win in that game, it will be very difficult for the Nailers to get in.  But it all starts with a win on Sunday against the Indy Fuel. Looking back over the season that has happened so far, what are your takeaways from this year and what do you think caused the Nailers to be in the position they are in, fighting for their playoff lives? Boy, there sure are a lot of things that happened this season with the Nailers, both good and bad, that have led them to where they are now.  The most obvious thing is the winning streak we talked about earlier.  Turning even a few of those wins into losses (even overtime losses) would put Wheeling down in the fifth spot in the division right now and would force them to work hard to jump someone and get in, rather than hoping to hold the spot they currently occupy. Something else that has stuck out to me almost all year is just how important it has been to the Nailers to score first.  With four games left, Wheeling has managed to score first in 37 of their 68 games played (54.4% of the time), and their record in those games is 25-10-1-1 for a point percentage of 0.703.  Even though it’s actually behind the league average (which is a 0.734 points percentage for the team that scores first), that’s still an impressive figure, and it shows just how much playing with a lead means for these teams. On the other hand, an area the Nailers could really benefit from working on next season is on the specialty teams.  Their power play has improved slightly throughout the season, but they still sit 18th leaguewide with a 19.1% success rate.  Before the season began, I said it had to be over 20% for Wheeling to be successful for the season, and despite them being close, it just isn’t close enough.  As for the penalty kill, that group absolutely struggled overall this year, currently in 24th place in the ECHL with a 77.0% success rate.  I said they needed to hang around the 80% success rate for the season, and when looking at the rankings, that seems to be the cutoff between the really good teams and the mediocre to bad teams.  If they can find a way to turn that around over these last few games and get it prepared for next year, I think the Nailers can turn things around and definitely be a playoff team. Read the full article

[chowtrolls]

Anyone in the Kentucky/Ohio area at Cinci pride? :D I’m the fruit walking with Toyota!!!

[kweenorion]

Pride is tomorrow! (for my fellow Cinci peeps at least) so we're making more pride stuff! star stickers and me and Maron and Ryder at Pride!