Photo by Joe Lovell The Wheeling Nailers’ Jordan Martel and Jordan Frasca high-five during a regular season game this season inside WesBanco Arena. Wheeling, the No. 3 seed in the playoffs, are set to face No. 2 Indy on Friday.

WHEELING — It was good news, bad news for the Wheeling Nailers on Thursday.

First the good news, the ECHL announced that Nailers goaltender Taylor Gauthier has been selected as the winner of the Nick Vitucci ECHL Goaltender of the Year Award.

Now, the bad. The 23-year-old Gauthier did not board the team bus to Indianapolis Thursday afternoon as he had been recalled by the Wilkes-Barre Baby Pens of the American Hockey League late last month.

“He was the goalie of the year in the league and he was the backbone in a lot of our wins,” Wheeling head coach Derek Army said. “Unfortunately, he is up with Wilkes-Barre right now. Whenever that time comes, we will be excited to get him back, but until then, Jaxon Castor will be our No. 1 goalie. He’s played well down the stretch and helped get us into the playoffs. We have all the confidence in the world in him.”

Castor won his last three starts and allowed just four goals in those games. According to Army, the Nailers have brought in Ludvig Persson to serve as backup in Game 1. Garrett Sparks, another goalie on the Nailers roster, is also in the AHL.

The third-seeded Wheeling Nailers and the No. 2 Indy Fuel begin their best-of-7 Central Division semifinal series tonight inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The puck drops at 7. The two teams will also meet in Game 2 on Saturday at the same venue and time.

“We’re excited for the series. The whole regular season is built to try and get into the playoffs, especially at this level,” Army said. “You’ve just got to get yourself into the dance. I truly believe once you’re in the playoffs, it’s all luck.

“Every team is 0-0. You’ve got to hope every player on your team is healthy. You’ve got to hope every bounce goes your way and you’ve got to hope your goaltending plays well,” Army added. “Now that we’re in the playoffs, anything can happen.”

Army said the matchup against the Fuel will be one of familiarity, with the teams meeting 11 times this season, with the Fuel holding a commanding, 8-3, advantage, including 5-1 edge on home ice.

“I think each team has its own matchups,” Army pointed out. “There are some things we’ve done good against them, and there’s some things we’ve struggled with against them. They are a good hockey team and it’s going to be a challenge, a tough challenge, but one that we are looking forward to. We certainly know each other.

“Nobody is expecting us to go in there and win,” Army continued. “The pressure is all on them to win at home, so all we have to do is go in there and play our game. It’s not a case of we have to go in there and steal a game, we’ve just got to play the way we are capable of.”

Gauthier added more hardware to his collection this season, after being named to the All-ECHL First Team and matching a league-record by being chosen as ECHL Goaltender of the Week four times. The Nick Vitucci Goaltender of the Year Award is presented annually to the goaltender selected to be the best at his position as determined in a vote of ECHL coaches, broadcasters, media relations directors and media members.

He was at or near the top of all ECHL goaltending statistics for the majority of the season. He finished the year with a league-leading .923 save percentage, tied for first in the circuit with four shutouts, second in the ECHL with a 2.23 goals against average, and fourth in the league with 24 wins.

In addition to his dominance at the league level, Gauthier also delivered one of the best seasons for a netminder in Wheeling hockey history. His 24 wins and four shutouts were both tied for the fourth most in a single season in club history, his 2.23 goals against average ranked fourth all-time for a single season, and his .923 save percentage was the sixth highest mark ever in one year. The Calgary, Alberta native was between the pipes for 63.2% of the team’s wins this season – the largest percentage since Andy Franck earned 84.4% of the club’s victories in 2006-07.

Gauthier made history with this recognition, as he became the first Wheeling netminder ever to win ECHL Goaltender of the Year. He is the first Nailer to win an ECHL award since Mathew Maione was chosen as ECHL Defenseman of the Year in 2015-16.

The series will make its debut in Wheeling and WesBanco Arena on Monday and Tuesday for Games 3 and 4. The puck drops at 7:10 p.m. each night. In the 2-3-2 format, should Game 5 be necessary, it would be played at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, Pa., due to Monster Trucks scheduled for WesBanco Arena. Games 6 and 7, if necessary, will be played in Indianapolis.