Checkers @ Everblades: 1/5/07

[Ice cheX]

Posted on Sat, Jan. 06, 2007

EVERBLADES 9, CHECKERS 7

Sloppy play wipes away Bellefeuille's big effort (http://www.charlotte.com:80/mld/charlotte/sports/hockey/echl/charlotte_checkers/16396343.htm)
Center scores 4 times, has 1 assist in loss

Observer News Services
Estero, Fla. - Charlotte's Blake Bellefeuille scored four goals and had one assist, but the Checkers gave up too many points for his effort to be worth much in a 9-7 loss to the Florida Everblades.

The Checkers notched a loss in the first game of a three-game road trip.

They'll take on the Everblades again tonight and hope to be ready for another aggressive start by Florida.

"They kind of took it to us" at the start, Bellefeuille said. "They're notorious for having quick starts."

The Checkers gained some momentum in the second period, scoring three goals, but the Everblades scored five. Coach Derek Wilson blamed many turnovers.

"We just weren't very good with the puck," he said. "We had way more (turnovers) than should be expected."


Charlotte 1 3 3 -- 7
Florida 2 5 2 -- 9

First Period -- 1, Fla, Peterson 6 (Zancanaro, Van Buskirk) 8:09; 2, Fla, Peterson 7 (Zancanaro, Brine) 8:31; 3, Chr, Rycroft 9 (Bellefeuille, Gillies) 19:22. Penalties -- Ouellette Chr (interference) 3:22; Lehun Fla (interference) 4:54; Potter Chr (interference) 6:04; Vodrazka Chr (fighting) 9:25; Kinkel Fla (fighting) 9:25; MacDonald Fla (high-sticking) 10:03; K. Smith Chr (hooking) 11:06; DeWaele Chr (tripping) 13:31; Lehun Fla (hooking) 19:00

Second Period -- 4, Fla, Berg 14 (Lehun) 3:53; 5, Fla, Zancanaro 4 (Van Buskirk, Brine) 4:28; 6. Chr, Bellefeuille 11 (Rycroft, Bahensky) 12:53; 7, Fla, Zancanaro 5 14:00; 8, Fla, Berg 15 (Bellissimo, Taylor) 15:04; 9, Chr, Bellefeuille 12 (Murphy, Rodney) 15:14; 10 Fla., Lehun 9 (Peterson, Taylor) 16:25; 11, Chr, Bellefeuille 13 (Rycroft, Gillies) 17:51 Penalties- McDonald Fla (hooking) 3:10; Constant Chr (roughing) 3:53; Peterson Fla (roughing) 3:53; Bellefeuille Chr (goaltender interference) 4:57; MacDonald Fla (high-sticking) 5:15; Murphy Chr (abusive language) 5:54; McDonald Fla (hooking) 5:54; Jessiman Chr (objects on ice) 6:29; Brindley Fla (roughing) 7:30; Bellefeuille Chr (cross-checking) 8:30, Gillies Chr (cross-checking) 9:37; Czech Fla (holding) 13:22; Jessiman Chr (slashing) 14:50.

Third Period--12, Chr, Ouellette 5 (Rodney, Jessiman) 9:52; 13, Chr Bellefeuille 14 (Rodney) 11:32; 14, Chr, DeWaele 2 (Murphy, Ouellette) 11:50; 15, Fla., Lehun 10 (Berg, Czech) 15:09; 16, Fla., Berg 16 (Zancanaro) 17:36 Penalties - Van Buskirk Fla (roughing) 5:13; Gillies Chr (cross-checking) 9:25; Lehun Fla (cross-checking) 9:25; MacDonald Fla (tripping) 12:23; Gillies Chr (roughing) 12:48; Van Buskirk Fla (roughing) 12:48; Lehun Fla (hooking) 16:27; Gillies Chr (fighting) 17:36; Van Buskirk Fla (fighting) 17:36; Smith Chr (hooking) 17:46;

Shots: Chr 7-15-15-37; Fla 20-12-7-39

Goalies: Chr, Westlund (7-4-0) 32 shots, 25 saves, Holt (10-9-0-1) 7 shots, 5 saves;

Fla, Shantz (9-4-0) 22 shots, 18 saves; Kowalski (11-6-0) 15 shots, 12 saves

[Ice cheX]

CHECKERS PRESS RELEASE

01/06/07
FLORIDA OUTSCORES CHECKERS 9-7

In a wild game at Germain Arena in Fort Myers, Florida Friday night, the Charlotte Checkers scored seven goals but lost. After erasing a 7-3 Everblades lead late in the third period, Florida scored two goals in the final 4 minutes, 51 seconds to earn a 9-7 victory over Charlotte.

Blake Bellefeuille scored four goals for the Checkers (17-14-1 for 35 points) and added an assist for a five-point night, while Daymen Rycroft added a goal and two assists for Charlotte. Mike Ouellette and Kurt DeWaele also scored single goals for the Checkers. Reggie Berg had a hat trick for the Everblades, and Brad Zancanaro had a five-point night with two goals and three assists for Florida (21-10-0 for 42 points).

Both starting goalies weren't around for the finish, as the Checkers Alex Westlund and Florida's David Shantz were each pulled after playing two periods. Chris Holt relieved Westlund at the start of the third period and took the loss with five saves. Craig Kowalski came in for Shantz at the same time and notched the win making 12 saves.

"It's hard to score 15 goals in two games and come out at 1-1," remarked Charlotte Coach Derek Wilkinson, also alluding to the Checkers 8-0 victory on Tuesday night. "I loved our passion to come back tonight and the way we didn't give up when we were down 7-3. However, there were some circumstances that prevented us from having a chance to win the game."

The Checkers gave up four short-handed goals for the second time in the last three games, an area that has Wilkinson concerned. "That's eight short-handed goals we've given up in the last three games and that's unacceptable. Our defense hasn't been inconsistent and we're getting beat to a lot of loose pucks."

The Everblades overwhelmed the Checkers in the first period, but thanks to Westlund Florida only led 2-1 after the period. While outshooting the Checkers 20-7 in the stanza, the Everblades scored the first two goals of the game, both by former Checker Brent Petersen. Rycroft's power-play goal with a minute to go in the frame.

In the second period Florida outscored Charlotte five to three to assume a 7-4 advantage after 40 minutes. That's when the Checkers began to mount their comeback.

Ouellette, Bellefeuille and DeWaele all scored in the first eight minutes of the third period to stun the home crowd and tie the game at 7-7. But Florida's Jonathan Lehun was left alone at the top of the right circle and scored what proved to be the game-winning goal at 15:09. The Everblades added an insurance goal on a short-handed breakaway by Berg with 2:24 left to ice the 9-7 victory.

"All of us just have to tighten up defensively, get our defense more involved in the offense and play like we can play and we'll be alright," commented Bellefeuille.

The Checkers will resume their three-game road series with the Everblades Saturday night at 7:30 at Germain Arena in Fort Myers. Charlotte's next home game is Thursday, January 11 at 7:00 p.m. when it will host the Columbia Inferno at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. The Checkers will also be at home the following night, Friday, January 12 to entertain the Pensacola Ice Pilots at 7:30 p.m.

[Ice cheX]

From naplesdailynews.com

Blades win wild one over Charlotte, 9-7 (http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007
/jan/06/blades_win_wild_one_over_charlotte_97/?latest)
By Andy Kent

Saturday, January 6, 2007

ESTERO — Save the videotape of this one.

The Florida Everblades and Charlotte Checkers engaged in a hockey game for the ages Friday night at Germain Arena, with Florida surviving in the end, 9-7.

"I've never seen anything like that before in my life, I've never been a part of anything like it,'' said Everblades defenseman Brett Peterson, who had two goals and an assist. "It was just a rollercoaster.''

Over a sixty-minute span, Florida (21-10-0) set a franchise record for shorthanded goals with four and tied an ECHL record (Charlotte was the victim then, too, against Augusta on Dec. 31). The 16 goals by both teams was a new Germain Arena and franchise record.

Reggie Berg recorded a hat trick, with two of his goals coming shorthanded and rookie forward Brad Zancanaro had two goals and three assists.

Blake Bellefeuille scored four goals in a losing effort for the Checkers (17-14-1).

Charlotte (17-14-1) trailed 7-4 after after two periods but roared back to tie the game at 7-7 with goals by Mike Ouellette, Bellefeuille and Kirk DeWaele. Bellefeuille's fourth goal forced Everblades head coach Gerry Fleming to call a time out, and DeWaele tied it up by beating goalie Craig Kowalski at the 11:50 mark.

"They tied it up with a couple of goals and one bad one that I'm sure K-wal would have liked to have back,'' Fleming, who was coaching his first game since having back surgery two weeks ago, said. "It's just one of those games, I really have no explanation for games like this. We wanted to be a little more consistent with our scoring, now we've just got to put it together by keeping it out of our net.''

Kowalski started the third period after rookie David Shantz played the first two, and Charlotte changed goalies as well, replacing Alex Westlund with Chris Holt.

But Jonathan Lehun helped Florida avoid an embarrassing collapse by blasting a shot from the right circle 15:09 in off assists from Berg and rookie defenseman Steve Czech.

Berg iced the game at the 17:36 mark with Lehun in the penalty box to bring the 5,541 fans to their feet one last time.

The two teams will go at it again tonight at 7:30.

"We're just lucky we got out of it with a win,'' said Berg, who leads the Everblades now with 34 points (16 goals, 18 assists). "We came out playing great, then I think we got a little complacent and took the lead for granted there and they're a good hockey team. You can't do that against teams like that and that's why, they come back.

"But it was nice to get those two at the end and pull it out. The big guy (Fleming) coming back, he wouldn't have been too happy if we had blown that one.''

Three Everblades players were knocked out of the game and unable to return -- forwards Vince Bellissimo (leg), Dustin Johner (arm) and defenseman Chris Dyment (concussion).

Bellissimo left the arena on crutches and will get X-rays on Monday and Johner will have his arm X-rayed.

"Vinny tried to suck it up and tried his best to go back out there but we couldn't risk anymore damage,'' Fleming said. "(Brent McDonald) also sucked it up, we'll just have to reevaluate all of them tomorrow, but Dyment won't be back in the lineup for sure.''

Florida outshot Charlotte 7-0 over the first eight minutes of the game and finally capitalized on the ninth shot 8:09 in when Peterson finished off a 2-on-1 with Zancanaro.

Veteran defenseman Ryan Van Buskirk got the second assist for making the breakout pass to Zancanaro and Peterson kept after the puck and jammed it in on the second effort.

Just 22 seconds later, Peterson scored again off another assist from Zancanaro, with rookie forward David Brine getting the second assist. Peterson's shot from the bottom of the left circle banked off a Checkers defenseman and past goaltender Alex Westlund.

The Everblades owned a 2-0 lead and a 12-2 edge in shots midway through the period.

"It was an entertaining game for the fans for sue,'' said Checkers head coach Derek Wilkinson. "I think both teams blue lines and goalies played uncharacteristically sloppy. Forwards had a field day obviously and we had a tough time with turnovers in our zone. We didn't play very smart at times, but to come back and tie it was good.''

By the time the final minute was about to tick off, Florida had a 20-4 advantage in shots and had dominated the play at both ends. But an untimely hooking penalty on Lehun gave the Checkers a power play and they took advantage.

Daymen Rycroft buried an easy shot from the bottom of the right circle past Shantz after Shantz's penalty killers failed to clear the puck.

Bellefeuille got the first assist by keeping the puck in the zone and slipping it over to Rycroft. Nathan Gillies picked up the second assist and the first period ended with the Everblades holding a 2-1 lead.

Berg ignited the home crowd with a shorthanded goal 3:53 into the second period, his 14th goal of the season. The veteran forward got loose on a breakaway down the middle of the ice and beat Westlund.

Less than a minute later, Zancanaro chased down a clearing by Van Buskirk in the neutral zone, blowing past the Charlotte defenseman, and wristed a forehand shot inside the right post to make it 4-1 at the 4:28 mark.

A flurry of penalties ensued over the next five minutes ranging from bench minors for abusive language and objects on the ice against Charlotte to multiple roughing calls. When 5-on-5 hockey did resume, Bellefeuille struck, beating Shantz 12:53 in off assists from Rycroft and Zdenek Bahensky to cut the deficit in half.

But after a holding penalty on Florida rookie defenseman Steve Czech, Zancanaro scored another shorthanded goal, the third of the night for the Everblades, fourteen minutes in to make it 5-2. He pounced on a turnover in the offensive zone and faked out Westlund again with the forehand.

Berg increased the lead to four goals less than two minutes later at the 15:04 mark with an easy one after taking a pass from Bellissimo down low on the left side. He walked in unabated, got Westlund to commit to the near post and went around him for the shot into the open net. Forward Adam Taylor picked up the second assist for his first point as an Everblade since coming over from Pensacola in a trade Wednesday.

Bellefeuille answered ten seconds later off an assist from Dan Murphy to cut the lead in half again, but Lehun came right back 16:25 in when he was left alone outside of the crease and took a pinpoint pass from Peterson. Taylor got his second assist of the night.

Then Bellefeuille scored again at the 17:51 mark from the right circle off assists from Rycroft and Bryan Rodney to make it a 7-4 hockey game.