Charlotte Checkers Playoff Time!
Photo: wbtv.com
Last night concluded the regular season for the Charlotte Checkers, and what a season it was! With a 2-1 win last night in Cleveland over the Monsters, the Checkers finished the regular season with three straight wins and winners of 17 of their last 21 games. They collected a total of 110 points on the season, which was the best season in Charlotte Checkers’ history. It also gives them the most points in the entire AHL by a pretty comfortable margin. While there are still a few teams finishing up their last games of the season, the next closest team currently is the Syracuse Crunch at 99 total points. It was truly a special regular season for the Checkers with their 51-17-8 record.
A season this special couldn’t go without a few awards. Sensational goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic was named to the AHL First All-Star team with his 33-9-5 record this season. He led the league in wins, goals-against average (2.25), and minutes played, while finishing fourth in shutouts (4) and sixth in saves. You cannot say enough about how spectacular he’s been this season and the confidence he gives the team when he’s in the net. Center Andrew Poturalski was named to the AHL Second All-Star team. He is tied for fourth in the league in points (70), fifth in assists (47), and set his career high with 23 goals on the year. Defenseman Jake Bean was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team. He’s just 20 years old, but he led all rookie defensemen in points on the season with 44, is second with 13 goals, and second with 31 helpers.
With an incredible regular season behind us, it’s now time to turn the attention to the playoffs. It’s unknown who the Checkers’ first round opponent will be since there are still a few AHL regular season games left to be played. We do know that round one will start in a little over a week, with Charlotte getting games 3-5 in the series at home (games 4 and 5 will be “if necessary”). Game three will take place in Charlotte on Wednesday, April 24, while games four and five will take place Friday and Saturday of that week if they are necessary to determine the winner of the series. It is a best of five series, so if the Checkers were to win the first three, only one first round game would take place in Charlotte…but that would be a great thing.
It has been a great atmosphere all season long in Bojangles Coliseum, but the playoffs are always so much more fun and intense. Make sure to be part of the action and be loud to help give the Checkers all the support they deserve. You can get playoff tickets on the team’s website at gocheckers.com. Let’s do our part as fans to do everything we can to help bring the Calder Cup to Charlotte. This is going to be a fun ride…let’s go Checkers!
Credit: gocheckers.com
Garett