Charlotte Checkers Report (Nov. 22)
Photo: 1000logos.net
Happy Friday Checkers fans! For the first time this season we have three games to report, with the midweek game against Lehigh Valley this past Wednesday. Last Friday the team began a 5-game road trip by traveling to Hershey, PA to take on the Bears. With a two-game point streak on the line, your Checkers came away with two more points on the season by shutting out the Bears 3-0.
Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, who struggled early in the season, turned in another spectacular performance last Friday in Hershey by recording 36 saves to earn the shutout, his first of the season. It’s great to see him in that form, since that’s what we became so accustomed to seeing last season. According to Paul Branecky from gocheckers.com, Nedeljkovic turned away 84 of his last 87 shots faced from that game, along with the previous two games. Steven Lorentz opened up the scoring with a goal in the 2nd period, while Colin Markison and Morgan Geekie added to it in the 3rd to give the Checkers a 3-0 victory.
The Bears would have their revenge, however. It was another game that highlighted goalie play the very next day, but this time Hershey came out on top, edging out a 2-1 win over Charlotte. After a scoreless 1st, the Bears got on the board with a controversial goal in which it looked like Charlotte-goalie Anton Forsberg was interfered with. It was a very tough way for Forsberg’s shutout to end. But Max McCormick answered in the final period for the Checkers to tie things up at one. With just under seven minutes to go in the final frame, the Bears took advantage of a power play and sent the game-winner past Forsberg for a 2-1 lead. Forsberg played spectacular all night, saving 35 of 37 shot attempts. And with one being a controversial goal and the other from a power play, it makes his performance even more impressive. Hopefully he takes that performance with him moving forward.
With the first midweek game of the season, the Checkers traveled to Lehigh Valley on Wednesday to take on the Phantoms. Alex Nedeljkovic was back in the net for Charlotte, but this time had a more difficult time. He only faced 22 shot attempts all night, and saved just 19 of them. On a night where he didn’t have his best outing, the offense couldn’t help him out enough to get the win. Two goals weren’t enough and the Checkers fell 3-2.
A couple of close games, despite them being losses, is promising after a rough start to the season. If the Checkers can find ways to win these games sooner than later, things will turn around in this young season. But if not, it will not be a very successful championship-defending season for Charlotte. They’ve got to get out to quicker starts instead of digging themselves into early deficits. A goal or two in the first is always huge, but the team has failed to score in the first period in each of their last six games. Hopefully the Checkers can right the ship this weekend and get back into the winning column. They’ve got a rematch scheduled with the Phantoms tonight (in Allentown, PA) before traveling to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to take on the Penguins tomorrow. Don’t forget you can watch the games on AHLtv. Go Checkers!
Garett