Charlotte Checkers Report (Jan. 31)
The Sports Chief Photography
With the all-star festivities behind us, the Checkers look to rebound tonight from a couple of losses last weekend to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Prior to last Friday’s game, the team had won five straight games and 11 of their last 12, but all good things must eventually come to an end. The Checkers dropped a tough 5-4 series opener to the Penguins, before falling again to them the next day with a final of 4-2. With the losses, they dropped back into 5th place (tied with the Penguins) in the Atlantic Division with 51 points. The good news is they are just eight points behind division leaders Hartford Wolf Pack and Hershey Bears.
Last Friday night’s contest saw the Checkers dig themselves in an early hole by going down 3-0 before the halfway point in the 2nd period. David Warsofsky scored two of those goals, beating Charlotte netminder Anton Forsberg. The Checkers would storm back quickly, however, scoring the game’s next three goals in the next eight minutes to tie things up. But Cole Cassels found the back of the net for the Penguins before the end of the 2nd to give the visitors a 4-3 lead. Eight seconds into the third, the Penguins added another, which proved to be too much for the Checkers to overcome. David Gust scored halfway through the third for Charlotte, but that was the last goal Casey DeSmith would give up for Wilkes-Barre, and the Checkers comeback fell just short.
The two teams met up on the ice again 23 hours later in front of a packed crowd, including several of us from The Sports Chief. Julien Gauthier scored less than a minute into the game for the Checkers, sending the home crowd into a quick frenzy, who were eager to avenge the previous night’s loss. But Jordy Bellerive would score back to back goals in the 2nd period to give the Penguins the lead. Their lead wouldn’t last a full minute though, because Morgan Geekie knotted things up at two goals apiece with his quick blast. The game looked like it might have been headed for overtime with a quiet 3rd period, but with less than a minute and a half left to play, the Penguins beat Checkers’ goalie Alex Nedeljkovic to give them the 3-2 lead. Quickly pulling the goalie to give Charlotte the extra-man advantage for the final push, the Penguins capitalized and sent home an empty netter to seal the win.
Despite the loss, we all had a great time at the game last Saturday and enjoyed the big-time atmosphere. If you haven’t gone to a game in a while, or ever, they really are a lot of fun and worth every dollar. The next home games will be next Friday and Saturday against the Wolf Pack and you can get tickets at www.gocheckers.com. In the meantime, the Checkers have an away series tonight and tomorrow taking on the Toronto Marlies. The Marlies are out of the North Division, and like the Checkers, are in 5th place. It should be an exciting matchup as the Checkers attempt to get back on the winning side of things. Don’t miss out on the action by tuning into AHLtv. Go Checkers!
Garett