Charlotte Checkers Check-In (Jan. 4)
It’s finally Friday and everyone knows what that means: it’s gameday and it’s time to check in on our Checkers. It will be a busy weekend for the team as they are on the road again (let’s all sing the Willie Nelson classic really quick) in Belleville and back in Toronto. They’ll square off against the Senators tonight and tomorrow, and the Marlies on Sunday. With an unbelievable 2018-part of the season, the Checkers will try to maintain their lead within the Atlantic division, but the Bridgeport Sound Tigers are closing in fast, only three points behind.
Photo: gocheckers.com
Last Friday and Saturday the Checkers were back in Laval, Quebec taking on the Rocket. In Friday’s contest, Charlotte was slow out of the gate, falling behind 3-0 early. They have been great at playing the comeback-kids role this season, but were unable to do so in that one, and lost 4-2. Overall it was just a very frustrating night for the Checkers, resulting in three fights on the night. Despite the loss, the good guys were able to bounce back the next afternoon and steal a victory away from the Rocket. Able to come back from an early deficit, the game went to overtime after a late Rocket goal. But it didn’t take long for Charlotte superhero Andrew Poturalski to put an end to things with a rebound wrister past the Rocket netminder. In Toronto the following day, the Checkers were able to come back from three goals down to force overtime, but weren’t as successful in OT as the day before. They should feel fortunate, though, to at least get a point out of the match-up.
The Checkers are 1-1 against the Belleville Senators on the year, and 0-1 against the Marlies. With both of those teams at 34 or 35 points on the season, Charlotte needs to escape the weekend with at least four points, and ideally at least five. It is imperative though, that the Checkers start getting out to quicker starts. While it does create opportunities for exciting comebacks, that kind of play can only hold up for so long. I’m excited to see what the Checkers do this weekend after having one of their least successful weekends on the season. For those of you who can’t wait to get back into Bojangles Coliseum and cheer on the Checkers (like us here at The Chief), the next home games will be Friday and Saturday January 11-12 against the Penguins. You can buy tickets here: Friday, January 11 Saturday, January 12
Go Checkers!
Garett