Nailers bring back Alfaro

Action photo of Matt Alfaro of the Wheeling Nailers

WHEELING, W.Va.- The Wheeling Nailers, ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, announced the team has re-signed forward Matt Alfaro to a contract for the 2021-22 season.Alfaro, 24, is coming off of an excellent rookie season, as he ranked fourth in the ECHL among first-year players with 41 points (13g-28a) in 61 games. The Calgary, Alberta native's best stretch with Wheeling took place through most of February, when he registered at least one point in nine consecutive games - the longest streak by a Nailer in 2020-21. Alfaro tallied multiple points in a game on seven different occasions, with the biggest of those being a four-point performance against Fort Wayne in a 4-3 overtime win on April 7. Following that game, Alfaro earned a brief call-up to the American Hockey League's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.Being toward the top of his team's leaderboard in scoring is nothing new for Alfaro, who led the University of Calgary Dinos in scoring with 36 points (15g-21a) in 27 games during his final year of school in 2019-20. That performance earned him selections on the USports (West) First All-Star Team and USports All-Canadian Second Team. He also finished his junior career as nearly a point-per-game player, as he racked up 60 points in 61 games during the 2016-17 Western Hockey League campaign with the Kootenay Ice and Lethbridge Hurricanes.