Charlotte Checkers Report (Feb. 28)
thehockeynews.com
Happy Friday Checkers fans! I wish I had some good news to bring you in our weekly report, but the struggles continue for the Checkers as they have now lost 4 of their last 5 games. It began with getting swept by the Springfield Thunderbirds two weeks ago, to splitting last weekend’s series with the Binghamton Devils, to losing in ugly fashion this past Tuesday to the Hershey Bears. It’s been a tough stretch for Charlotte, not only because of the losses, but because of several key players being traded away by the parent-club Carolina Hurricanes. It’s such a shame they have to deal with roster changes now because of the great roll the team was on.
Last Friday the Checkers played a tough game, but just couldn’t figure out Binghamton goaltender Gilles Senn. They dumped a whopping 48 shots on goal, but just one beat the rookie goalie. Meanwhile Charlotte goalie Alex Nedeljkovic only had to face half the shots that Senn did, but the Devils scored on two of them, beating the Checkers 2-1 on the first game of the weekend.
The Checkers would get their revenge however, and did it in a big way. Relieved that Senn was not in the goal, and perhaps frustrated from the night before, the Charlotte offense scored six goals, two of them by Steven Lorentz. Anton Forsberg was great in the net for the Checkers, stopping 36 shots in route to a 6-3 victory. It was a much needed win to put an end to the 3-game skid as the Checkers still look to make their way to the top of the Atlantic Division.
But any hope to build on the momentum created by the 6-3 win in Binghamton was crushed on Tuesday night, as the Checkers fell flat in Hershey. Jeremy Helvig started in goal for the Checkers, his first career AHL start, but had a rough night giving up six goals on 30 shots. Joe Snively was the main culprit for the Bears, recording the hat trick to lead to the big win. The only goal scored by the Checkers came from Morgan Geekie halfway through the first period. The loss, combined with Bears’ Kale Kessy having to be sent to a local hospital after being stretchered off the ice resulting from a fight made it a night to forget. After the fight and medical scare, the game was paused for a bit, but would resume. And thankfully it was later announced that Kessy was in alert and in stable condition.
With the rough stretch and roster changes recently, the Checkers must find a way to re-group and bounce back. They are holding on to the 4th spot in the Atlantic Division right now with 64 points, but if the cold streak continues they could quickly fall back to 6th with the Thunderbirds and Penguins just behind them. The Checkers have a very busy weekend that starts tonight in Lehigh Valley. They’ll take on the Phantoms tonight and tomorrow before meeting up again in Hershey with the Bears on Sunday. If they can take two of three this weekend that would be huge before coming back to Charlotte to begin a six-game homestand. Go ahead and get your tickets now for next weekend’s series against the Utica Comets back in the Bojangles Coliseum. The team needs your rowdy support. Like always, go Checkers!
Garett