WHEELING — The Wheeling Nailers, proud ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, are excited to announce their ninth player signing of the 2024 offseason. Wheeling has re-signed forward Cal Kiefiuk to an ECHL contract.

Kiefiuk, 24, joined the Nailers this past spring, after concluding his NCAA playing career. He made his professional debut on March 29 at Toledo, and went on to play in three regular season games and one postseason contest for Wheeling. The rookie forward was one of three players to debut in that game, and all three players are returning for their first full season with the club, as Jared Westcott and Dustin Manz were the other two. Those were the 999th, 1,000th, and 1,001st players in team history.

Prior to turning pro, the Macomb, Mich., native played five seasons of college hockey — four at the University of Mass-Amherst and one at Providence College. The shining moment of his college career took place at Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena in 2021, when the UMass Minutemen captured the NCAA national championship with a 5-0 victory over St. Cloud State University. He assisted on the second goal of the contest. In addition to the National Championship, Kiefiuk won back-to-back Hockey East Championships at UMass in 2020-21 and 2021-22. His best individual season came during his final campaign with the Minutemen in 2022-23, when he tallied seven goals and 21 points in 31 games.

A fun personal fact about him is that he played under former Nailer Jacob Pritchard, who was an assistant coach at UMass. Kiefiuk was also college teammates that year with current Wheeling teammate Matt Koopman.

Kiefiuk and the Nailers will open the 2024-25 season on the road against the Maine Mariners on Friday, Oct. 18. The team’s home opener is Saturday, Nov. 2 against the Bloomington Bison at 7:10 p.m.