Checkers vs. Gwinnett: 3/13/07

[Tiny44]

Click on the link below for the Coaches comments on tonights game


http://www.prosportsmedia.com/admin/../checkers/mm/video/clip/3-13-2007.wmv

[catchnblocker]

Good job tonight Tim

[babs<3checkers]

CHECKERS 7, GLADIATORS 4
Checkers rally late to win
For 1st time this season, 3rd-period comeback gives Charlotte victory
CLIFF MEHRTENS
cmehrtens@charlotteobserver.com
Third-period rallies were virtually nonexistent for the Charlotte Checkers.

Until Tuesday.

The Checkers scored five goals in the final period to beat the Gwinnett Gladiators 7-4 in an ECHL game at Bobcats Arena. Charlotte had been 0-21-0-1 when trailing after two periods, the lone ECHL club that hadn't rallied to win in the third period.

"Huge," said rookie winger Mike Ouellette, who scored three goals. "We started off well tonight, but we gave up those goals, even though we were playing well."

Charlotte (32-23-1-2) fell behind 3-0 and 4-2 to the ECHL's highest-scoring team.

That, and allowing 13 goals in a two-game slide, didn't bode well. But Charlotte followed the plan, which coach Derek Wilkinson stressed in the pregame skate. Play hard for 60 minutes. Whether it's 10-0 or 0-10.

"You have to work to get to that point, and in the third period they were simply rewarded for what they'd done in the first two," Wilkinson said. "The real work was put in earlier."

Charlotte remained two points behind South Carolina for the final playoff spot.

Charlotte, trailing 4-2, tied the score with two goals in the first two minutes of the third. Ouellette pumped in a rebound, and Daymen Rycroft flicked in a rebound from his knees.

When Nathan Gillies swooped through the crease and lifted in a goal to make it 5-4, Checkers on the bench were hugging like giddy grade-schoolers. Dan Murphy's tap-in goal and Ouellette's empty-netter prolonged the party.

"That is guys believing in themselves and in each other," Wilkinson said. "We've got a good character group that works hard. It's an incredibly big two points."


Gwinnett 1 3 0 -- 4
Charlotte 0 2 5 -- 7

First-1, Gwin, Vigilante 23 (Schell, Mifsud), 13:39 (pp). Penalties-Gillies, C (roughing), 1:29; York, G (roughing), 1:29; Vodrazka, C (hooking), 9:02; Vodrazka, C (cross-checking), 13:00; Vodrazka, C (instigating, fighting), 19:22; Bennefield, G (fighting), 19:22.

Second-2, Gwin, York 8 (Milam, Schell), 9:06 (pp). 3, Gwin, Flache 2 (Painchaud, Stepp), 11:05 (pp). 4, Cha, Bellefeuille 21 (Murphy, Lee), 17:10 (pp). 5, Cha, Ouellette 11 (Constant, Lee), 18:54 (pp). 6, Gwin, Vigilante 24 (Contois), 19:53. Penalties-Teixeira, G (hooking), 2:34; Contois, G (hooking), 6:16; Lee, C (roughing), 6:33; DeWaele, C (tripping), 8:17; Smith, C (interference), 9:29; Pikkarainen, C (roughing), 11:05; Teixeira, G (hooking), 16:10; Jackson, G (holding), 18:17.

Third-7, Cha, Ouellette 12 (Bahensky), 1:12. 8, Char, Rycroft 21 (Gillies), 1:55. 9, Cha, Gillies 16 (Vodrazka, Graham), 12:39. 10., Cha, Murphy 17 (Constant, Graham), 14:42 (pp). 11, Cha, Ouellette 13 (Vodrazka, Lee), 18:16 (en). Penalties-Jackson, G (hooking), 13:47; Lehman, G (holding), 15:48; Constant, C (cross-checking), 15:52; Smith, C (hooking), 17:11.

Shots: Gwin, 13-12-10-35; Cha, 10-11-22-43. Goalies: Gwin, Turple (17-11-2-1) 42 shots, 36 saves; Cha, Holt (21-18-0-2), 35-31; Att-3,541.


www.charlotte.com

[babs<3checkers]

CHECKERS PRESS RELEASE

CHECKERS SCORE FIVE UNANSWERED GOALS IN DRAMATIC 7-4 COMEBACK WIN OVER GWINNETT

The Checkers playoff push was given a huge boost Tuesday night. Down 3-0 and 4-2, Charlotte rallied with five, unanswered goals in a 7-4 dramatic win over the Gwinnett Gladiators at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. Mike Ouellette had a hat trick, while Mark Lee added three assists to pace the Checkers. Other Charlotte goals came from Blake Bellefeuille, Daymen Rycroft, Nathan Gillies and Dan Murphy. The Checkers also scored seven of the game’s last eight goals.

Charlotte goalie Chris Holt snapped a personal two-game losing streak making 31 saves while earning his 21st victory. The victory gave the Checkers a 3-2 record for their just completed, five-game homestand. The game was a power-play fest, with six of the game’s goals scored with the extra man.

The Checkers (32-23-1-2) remained two points in back of South Carolina for the fifth and final playoff spot in the ECHL South. The Stingrays rallied for a 7-6 victory Tuesday over the Florida Everblades. Charlotte still holds three games in hand on South Carolina with 14 regular-season games remaining.

“We were playing well despite being down a pair of goals at the end of the second period and not getting many good bounces,” remarked Ouellette. “We were playing with a lot of confidence and just wanted to carry it over to the third period.”

The Checkers played a pretty even first period against the Gladiators, but went to the locker room trailing 1-0. Vigilante scored a power-play goal 13 minutes, 39 seconds for the period's lone goal. Gwinnett had a 13-10 shots advantage in the first 20 minutes.

The Checkers got into penalty trouble midway through the second period and the Gladiators (35-19-5-2) took advantage. Matt York got credit for a power-play goal that just dribbled over the goal line at 9:06, as Gwinnett took a 2-0 advantage. Another Charlotte penalty resulted in a third Gladiators power-play goal just two minutes later. A shot from center point by Flasche eluded Holt and Gwinnett led 3-0.

Late in the period the tide turned, and the Gladiators started to march to the penalty box. It was now Charlotte's turn to take advantage and they did. Bellefeuille's power-play goal got the Checkers on the board at 17:10. Two minutes later Ouellette scored another power-play goal, his first of three tallies on the night, and pulled Charlotte to within at goal 3-2.

A late second-period goal by Gwinnett temporality halted the Checkers momentum. With just six seconds left in the period, Vigilante scored his second of the game after Holt wandered from his crease and scrambled to get back in. The goal allowed Gwinnett to take a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes.

The entire third period belonged to the Checkers. They outscored the Gladiators 5-0 and outshot the visitors 22-10. Two goals in a 43-second span early in third period allowed Charlotte to finally tie the game at 4-4. Ten minutes later the Checkers took their first lead of the game at 5-4 on Gillies’ 16th goal of the season. At 14:42 Murphy connected to give Charlotte a two-goal cushion at 6-4. Late in the period Gwinnett pulled goalie Dan Turple for a sixth attacker. The Checkers put the game away with 1:44 left, as Ouellette scored a short-handed, empty net goal to complete his hat trick and give Charlotte the 7-4 triumph.

“We got rewarded in the third period for what we did in the first two periods tonight and what we did the last three periods on Sunday.” commented Charlotte Coach Derek Wilkinson. “We came out with that same determination and finally it turned, and boy when it did it got exciting and guys got confidence.”

CHECKERS SUNDAY TUESDAY NIGHT SCRATCHES: Dusty Jamieson, Rick Kozak, Lee Falardeau, and Adam Nightingale.

ON RECALL TO (AHL) HARTFORD: Alex Westlund and Corey Potter.

REASSIGNED FROM CHARLOTTE TO (AHL) HARTFORD BY (NHL) NEW YORK: Hugh Jessiman

FOR BOX SCORE CLICK: http://echl.leaguestat.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1642

www.gocheckers.com (http://www.gocheckers.com/)

[babs<3checkers]

GLADIATORS PRESS RELEASE

Gladiators Fall to Checkers, 7-4

3/13/2007
Gladiators Fall to Checkers, 7-4
VIGILANTE WITH TWO GOALS FOR GWINNETT IN LOSS
Mike Vigilante had two goals for Gwinnett while Brad Schell pushed his point-scoring streak to 15 games but it wasn't enough to help the Gladiators past the Charlotte Checkers in a 7-4 loss on Tuesday night at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena. With the loss, Gwinnett falls to 35-19-7 on the season.

Gwinnett took a 1-0 lead on the Checkers just 39 seconds into a power play. Parked in the slot, Mike Vigilatne took a centering feed from Brad Schell and beat Charlotte netminder Chris Holt for his 23 rd goal of the season. Scott Mifsud also had an assist on the power play goal at the 13:39 mark of the first period. Schell pushed his point scoring streak to 15 straight games with the assist on the goal.

Matt York pushed the Gladiators lead to two with his 8th goal of the season. York found a loose puck that squirted past Holt and sat in the crease and jammed it into the net for the marker. Jamie Milam and Schell posted the assists on the power play goal for Gwinnett at the 9:06 mark of the second period.

Gwinnett took a 3-0 lead on the Checkers on Paul Flache's 2nd goal of the season. Flache ripped a slap shot from the point past Holt for the power play goal off a feed from Chad Painchaud. Joel Stepp also had an assist on the Gladiators third power play goal of the game. The marker came at the 11:03 mark of the second period.

Charlotte cut the lead to one goal with a pair of makers late in the second period. Wide open in the right wing circle, Blake Bellefeuille ripped a snap shot past Gladiators netminder Dan Turple for the goal. Mark Lee and Dan Murphy posted the assist on the power play goal scored with just 2:50 left in the middle stanza.

Less than two minutes later, Charlotte cut the Gladiators lead to one goal as Mike Ouellette beat Turple to the far post for the goal. Ryan Constant collected an assist on the Checkers' second power play goal of the game coming at the 18:54 mark of the second period.

Gwinnett regained the two-goal lead with 6 second left in the second period. Vigilante collected his second marker of the game jamming the puck past Holt as he was parked in front of the crease. Andy Contois fed a waiting Vigilante to set up the goal for Gwinnett.

Charlotte cut the Gladiators lead to one goal on Ouellette's second marker of the game. From his stomach, Ouellette rolled the puck past an outstretched Turple. Zdenek Bahensky posted an assist on the goal scored just 72 seconds into the third period.

Daymen Rycroft tied the game at 4-4 just 43 seconds after Ouellette's marker. Sliding into the Gwinnett zone, Rycroft, ripped a snapshot past Turple for the goal. Nathan Gillies added the assist on the goal for the Checkers.

Charlotte took a 5-4 lead on the Gladiators at the 13:39 mark of the third period. Gillies beat Turple as he ripped a snap shot of the netminder's shoulder for the goal. Jan Vodrazka and Bruce Graham collected the assists on the goal.

Bruce Lee gave the Checkers a 6-4 lead at the 14:42 mark of the third period beating Truple from the left wing circle for the goal. Ryan Constant collected the assist on the power play goal for the Checkers.

Ouellette rounded out the scoring as he posted his third goal of the game for a hat trick at the 18:16 mark of the third period. Gwinnett pulled Turple on a power play in a effort to cut into the Charlotte lead, but Ouellette posted the empty net goal shorthanded. Vodrazka and Lee had the assists on the goal for Charlotte.

Turple finished with just 19 saves for the Gladiators while Gwinnett netted three power play goals on nine chances in the loss. Charlotte also had three power play goals coming on six chances in the win.

www.gwinnettgladiators.com (http://www.gwinnettgladiators.com/)