Checkers vs. Everblades: 3/17/07

[Tiny44]

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


http://www.prosportsmedia.com/admin/../checkers/mm/video/clip/17-3-07.wmv

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CHECKERS PRESS RELEASE

[NEARLY] 10,000 FANS SEE CHECKERS WIN THIRD STRAIGHT WITH DOMINANT 6-1 VICTORY OVER FLORIDA

The Checkers continued an excellent week of play Saturday night, winning their third straight with an impressive 6-1 triumph over the Florida Everblades Saturday night before another sellout crowd of nearly 10,000 fans at Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

Hannu Pikkarainen scored a pair of goals and added two assists for Charlotte, and goalie Alex Westlund was solid for a second consecutive game with 32 saves in pacing the Checkers to the victory. Mark Lee also chipped in with a goal and an assist, giving him seven points in the past two games. Other Charlotte goals came from Kenton Smith, Bruce Graham, and Mike Ouellette.

The win allowed the Checkers (34-23-1-2) to remain tied for the fifth and final playoff spot in the ECHL South with Augusta, who also won Saturday night with a 2-0 victory at Texas. The Lynx and Checkers each have 71 points. Charlotte still trails South Carolina for fourth place by two points after the Stingrays shootout win over Pensacola. The Checkers still have three games in hand on Augusta, and hold four games in hand on South Carolina.

Special teams played a big part in the game, with Charlotte going 3-8 on the power play and the Everblades going 0-10. Each team had several two-man advantage opportunities. The Checkers also scored two short-handed goals.

“Our power play has been pretty good the last few games and obviously you don’t expect to get that many five on threes in a game, but when you do, you have to make them work and we did,” commented Charlotte Coach Derek Wilkinson. “We killed some five on threes and if they score a couple goals off it, that’s very critical at any time of the year.”

Both goalies sparkled in the first period, and each team had their share of power-play time in the stanza. The Checkers finally broke through late in the first as Pikkarainen wristed home his first goal of the season with a two-man advantage at 17 minutes, 27 seconds, to give Charlotte a 1-0 advantage. Just 21 seconds later the Checkers struck again as a red-hot Lee scored for a 2-0 Charlotte lead.

Florida’s Adam Taylor pulled the Everblades (38-20-4-1) to within one goal at 2-1 midway through the period. But Smith gave the Checkers their two-goal advantage back at 16:30 with Charlotte holding a two-man advantage, when his blast from the top of the right circle eluded Everblades goalie Jamie Holden.

In the first five minutes of the final period, two Charlotte goals by Graham and Pikkarainen put the Checkers up 5-1. A late short-handed goal by Ouellette provided insurance as Charlotte won going away with the 6-1 final.

The Checkers ended the nine-game season series over Florida with a record of 4-3-2 for ten points. The Everblades finished 5-3-1 versus Charlotte for eleven points.

CHECKERS SATURDAY NIGHT SCRATCHES: Dusty Jamieson, Lee Falardeau, and Adam Nightingale.

ON RECALL TO (AHL) HARTFORD: Corey Potter, Chris Holt, and Zdenek Bahensky

ON LOAN TO (AHL) HARTFORD: Kenny Smith

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=1665

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CHARLOTTE OBSERVER

CHECKERS 6, EVERBLADES 1

Pikkarainen point man for Charlotte roll
(http://www.charlotte.com/323/story/55181.html)

4-point performance helps keep Checkers in division playoff hunt

KEITH CANNON
Special Correspondent

It was a toss-up as to what the Charlotte Checkers did better Saturday night -- scoring on their power plays or on Florida's.

Defenseman Hannu Pikkarainen had two goals and assisted on two to spark a 6-1 victory against the Everblades in front of a crowd of 9,714 at Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

Mark Lee added a goal and an assist, and Bruce Graham, Kenton Smith and Mark Oulette also scored for the Checkers.

The victory was the third straight for the Checkers (34-23-1-2, 71 points), who remained two points behind South Carolina for the fifth and final playoff spot in the ECHL South Division. The Stingrays won 4-3 in a shoot-out at Pensacola.

Charlotte won with dominating special teams. They scored three power-play goals and two short-handed, and they stopped all 10 Florida power plays.

"We don't get a chance to beat that team like that very often," Checkers coach Derek Wilkinson said of the Everblades (38-20-4-1), who started the evening in a first-place tie for the South lead with Texas. "We're trying to get a playoff spot while everybody around us is also playing pretty well. It helped us that we did a lot of little things right."

The Checkers grabbed control with two goals on the same power play late in the first.

After Florida's Dustin Johner was sent off on a high-sticking double-minor, Pikkarainen took an across-the-slot feed from Lee at the top of the left face-off circle and wristed a shot over Florida goaltender Jamie Holden with 2 minutes, 33 seconds left in the period. Lee netted a hard shot from high in the slot 19 seconds later.

Florida didn't show much fight after that. Adam Taylor scored the Everblades' goal midway through the second period to make it a 2-1 game. But Smith scored a power play goal on a rising slap shot from the right point with 3:30 left in the period.

The Checkers will play at Columbia at 5 p.m. today. The next home game will be March 27.



Florida 0 1 0 -- 1
Charlotte 2 1 3 -- 6

First Period: 1, Charlotte, Pikkarainen 1 (Lee, Graham), 17:27 (pp). 2, Charlotte, Lee 20 (Pikkarainen, Murphy), 17:46 (pp). Penalties: bench, C (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:58; Kenton Smith, C (slashing), 8:58; Taylor, F (interference), 10:45; Rycroft, C (roughing), 11:56; Vodrazka, C (roughing), 13:19; Johner, F (high-sticking double-minor), 15:29; Berg, F (hooking), 16:28.
Second Period: 3, Florida, Taylor 21 (Lukin, Bellissimo), 10:47. 4, Charlotte, Kenton Smith 6 (Pikkarainen, Murphy), 16:30 (pp). Penalties: Tuma, F (fighting major), 0:45; Kozak, C (fighting major), 0:45; Kozak, C (elbowing), 11:44; DeWaele, C (boarding), 12:17; Taylor, F (high-sticking double-minor), 13:16; Brindley, F (hooking), 14:59; Peterson, F (tripping), 18:19.

Third Period: 5, Charlotte, Graham 31 (DeWaele, Rycroft), 2:18. 6, Charlotte, Pikkarainen 2 (Ouellette, Vodrazka), 5:08 (sh). 7, Charlotte, Ouellette 14 (Tuomi), 18:00 (sh). Penalties: DeWaele, C (slashing), 4:13; bench, C (too many men), 7:32; Kozak, C (cross-checking), 16:21; Kozak, C (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct), 18:21.

Shots on goal: Florida 12-11-10--33. Charlotte 13-17-7--37. Goaltenders: Florida, Holden 1-2-0-0 (37 shots-31 saves). Charlotte, Westlund 13-5-1-0 (33-32). Att.: 9,714 (at Charlotte).

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No Irish luck for 'Blades as Checkers win 6-1 (http://www.floridaeverblades.com/news/story.cfm?ID=231)
Florida Everblades Press Release

Charlotte, NC -  The Florida Everblades (38-20-5) ended their season series with the Charlotte Checkers (34-23-3) in disappointing fashion as Charlotte collected three power play goals and two short-handed goals en-route to a 6-1 win on Saturday at Charlotte Bobcats Arena in front of a crowd of 9,714.

The power play proved important in this contest as the Checkers used three 5-on-3 power play goals to set the tone. The game remained scoreless until the late stages of the first period when the Everblades were whistled for a four-minute high sticking penalty. During the process of that penalty, the Blades were whistled for another minor penalty, setting up Charlottes first two goals. Hannu Pikkaranien scored his first goal of the season at 17:27 of the period to open the scoring. Just 19 seconds later with the Checkers still holding a 5-on-3 power play Mark Lee blistered a slap shot from the right circle past Everblades goaltender Jamie Holden.

The game remained 2-0 into the second period when, midway throught, the Everblades were able to get on the scoreboard. Adam Taylor was able to take a pass by Vince Bellissimo from behind the net and slip it inside the left post at 10:47 to trim the lead to one. Steve Czech collected the second assist on Taylors 21st goal of the season. Charlotte however battled back to regain their two goal lead in similar fashion to how they scored their first period goals. After the Everblades were again whistled for a four-minute high sticking penalty, the Everblades took an second penalty and on the ensuing 5-on-3 power play Kenton Smiths shot from the top of the right circle found the back of the net at 16:30.

Charlotte continued their strong game, adding a trio of third period goals to increase their lead to 6-1. Bruce Graham opened a 4-1 lead for the Checkers scoring their lone even strength goal at 2:18 of the period for his 31st goal of the season. Charlotte closed out the scoring with a pair of short-handed goals. The first coming at the 5:07 mark when Pikkarainen collected his second goal of the night with a shot from the high slot on a 3-on-2 rush, and the second coming with two minutes remaining in regulation on Mike Ouellettes 14th goal of the season. The two short-handed goals were the 13th and 14th for Charlotte this season and the 11th and 12th allowed by the Everblades.

In net Weslund took care of the rest to increase his record to 13-5-1 while Holden suffered the loss allowing the six goals on 37 shots, dropping his record to 1-2-0.

On the power play, the Everblades finished the game 1-for-10, while the Checkers closed out the game 3-for-8.

Three Stars:
1) Hannu Pikkarainen  CHR
2) Alex Weslund  CHR
3) Mark Lee  CHR

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NAPLES DAILY NEWS

Power plays doom Blades (http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/mar/18/power_plays_doom_blades/?print=1)
Daily News staff

Sunday, March 18, 2007

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Florida Everblades ended their season series with the Charlotte Checkers in disappointing fashion as Charlotte scored three power play goals and two short-handed goals en-route to a 6-1 win on Saturday in Charlotte.

The Checkers used three 5-on-3 power play goals to set the tone.

The game remained scoreless until the late stages of the first period when the Everblades were whistled for a 4-minute high sticking penalty.

While they were trying to kill that penalty, the Blades were whistled for another minor penalty, setting up Charlotte’s first two goals. Hannu Pikkaranien scored his first goal of the season at 17:27 of the period to open the scoring. Just 19 seconds later, with the Checkers still holding a two-man advantage, Mark Lee blistered a slap shot from the right circle past Everblades goaltender Jamie Holden.

The game remained 2-0 into the second period when, midway throught, the Everblades were able to get on the scoreboard. Adam Taylor was able to take a pass by Vince Bellissimo from behind the net and slip it inside the left post at 10:47 to trim the lead to one. Steve Czech collected the second assist on Taylor’s 21st goal of the season.

Charlotte battled back to regain its two-goal lead in similar fashion to the first-period goals. After the Everblades were again whistled for a four-minute high sticking penalty, the Everblades took an second penalty and on the ensuing 5-on-3 power play Kenton Smith’s shot from the top of the right circle found the back of the net at 16:30.

Charlotte continued itsstrong game, adding three third period goals to increase the lead to 6-1.