CHECKERS NAIL WHEELING

     VERSUS             

CHECKERS STRIKE EARLY, EDGE NAILERS IN SHOOTOUT
Munce Stops 34 of 36; Carroll Scores Shootout Winner

The Charlotte Checkers started their three-game northern road swing with a win as they edged the Wheeling Nailers, 3-2, in a shootout on Friday evening.

Ryan Munce rebounded from Wednesday’s loss to Cincinnati with 34 saves on 36 shots for his 16th win of the season. Andrew Carroll notched his third shootout-winning goal of the season, tying him for first in the ECHL while Kenny Roche added two assists to extend his point streak to five games.

The Checkers got things going just four minutes into the game on a goal by team captain Michel Leveille. Aaron Slattengren chipped the puck from the high slot past a Wheeling defender and onto the stick of Leveille who then faked Teslak and wrapped the puck around the sprawling goaltender’s pads.

Later in the period, Wheeling would tie the game when Casey Pierro-Zabotel took the puck out from a scrum in the corner, skated behind the net and passed it out into the slot. Defenseman Kyle Bushee took the pass and fired a wrist shot over the glove of Munce who seemed to be interfered with on the play.

Charlotte killed a late 5-on-3 Wheeling power play and Munce stood his ground keeping the game tied at 1-1 through the first 20 minutes.

The Checkers would take their second lead of the game late in the second period on a great play by Kenny Roche. Roche, at end of his shift, stripped the puck from a Wheeling defenseman on the forecheck and fed Ryan Crane in the high slot. Crane made no mistake and let a hard wrist shot go that beat Teslak high over the glove.

The Nailers applied pressure in the third period, however Munce was solid and made several key stops, including a split-save to rob leading scorer T.J. Fox.

With time winding down in regulation, Charlotte was assessed a hooking penalty and Wheeling pulled its goaltender for the 6-on-4 advantage. A point shot resulted in a scrum in front and Noah Clarke dug the puck free and stuffed it home to tie the game at 2-2 with 50 seconds to play.

After a scoreless overtime in which the Checkers killed an early penalty, the two teams prepared for a shootout. In the shootout, Wheeling took an early 2-1 lead before Leveille beat Teslak low blocker to tie it up with one shooter remaining for each team. Jordan Morrison was stopped by Munce before Andrew Carroll skated in, faked right and beat Teslak with a shot that hopped over the pad and in.

The Checkers (31-20-6) will continue their road trip tomorrow and Sunday in Toledo before returning home on Thursday, Mar. 11 to host Gwinnett. The puck drops at 7 p.m. and ticket information can be obtained by calling 704-342-4-ICE or visiting www.gocheckers.com. Season tickets for the inaugural 2010-11 AHL season are now on sale and 40-game packages start as low as $200.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

STANDINGS:

SCOREBOARD:

The Checkers next opponent, Toledo got two goals each from Maxime Tanguay and J.C. Sawyer one their way to bedeviling Trenton 5-3. The Cyclones swept through South Carolina and got the point deuce with a 4-2 win over the Sting Rays. Dominic Osman had a hat trick leading the second place Everblades over last place Gwinnett, 7-5. Elmira got an overtime winner over Johnstown 5-4. Idaho dismantled Bakersfield 5-0. On the West coast Las Vegas scored FOUR times in the third period, two from Ned Lukacevic including one that was a short-handed penalty shot and the game tying goal came from ex-Wolf Pack forward, Alex Bourret’s feed and went on to win in a shoot out over ex-Checker goalie Curtis Darling and the Ontario Reign, 7-6. was leading Las Vegas3-1 late and despite giving up two in the third period, Victoria won on the road beating Stockton 5-3.

NOTES:

* Scott LaGrand was tonight’s backup goaltender du jour. LaGrand is 40 years old and hasn’t played sine 2000-2001. He’s an old teammate of Head Coach Derek Wilkinson’s from their days together during the 1994 – 1995 season in the IHL with the Atlanta Knights. Wilkinson had LaGrand on the bench in uniform because Eddie Giacomin couldn’t get there in time. 🙂 We kid, but understand that finding a suitable backup / spot starter at this time of the season isn’t an easy task for Wilkinson to pull off.

*  For Devin DiDiomete fans, he was a factor in this game. He’s getting his legs back and is playing VERY strong hockey for Charlotte. He’s coming close in terms of scoring. He got three real good chances in this game. We’re predicting he breaks through against Toledo this weekend. He’s right there. Once he gets the monkey off his back, he’ll start pouring in the goals. He was a 20 goal scorer in juniors. He can do it.

* Kenny Roche has a five-game point streak (3g, 7a)

* Ryan Munce is 8-4-1 in his last 13 games

* Andrew Carroll leads the team with 23 goals and ranks tied for first among all ECHL players with three shootout-winning goals

* T.J. Reynolds leads the ECHL with 237 penalty minutes and leads the Checkers with a +19 rating

* Julien Brouillette and Derek Couture are up with Hartford (AHL), Ethan Graham is with Texas (AHL) while Matt Ford and Randy Rowe are with Lake Erie (AHL)

LINES:

Slattengren – Leveille © – Roche
Schepke – Tkaczuk – Stefanishion
DiDiomete – Taylor – Carroll
Marshall

Berube– Reynolds
Dowzak – Schaeffer
Ward – Crane

Munce
LaGrand

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Jean-Philipp Chabot – Healthy scratch
Tyler Doig – Lower Body Injury – Day-to-Day
Julien Brouillette – Recall in Hartford
Trevor Glass – Lower Body – Mid-March
Chris Snavely – Upper Body – 2-3 weeks
Codey Burki – Undisclosed – Season over
Chris Chappell – Shoulder Surgery – Season over

THREE STARS:

1. CHR – A. Carroll
2. CHR – K. Roche
3. WHL – A. Clarke

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Keith Kaval (20)

Linesmen:
Ray King (39)
Zach Roberts (77)

NEXT GAME:

The team has a four plus hour ride from Wheeling to Toledo where they will spend the weekend with a back-to-back with the Walleye.  After that they come home for three straight with Gwinnett.  Jason Shaya will be on the air at 7pm.

For live in-game coverage from your cell phone or computer, we’ll have the action for you at www.twitter.com/howlingstoday.

You can always buy tickets for any Checkers game home or away at Ticketmaster.com.

Should you want to watch this very exciting team from the comfort of your computer chair, all Checkers games are available on B2Live.

SCORE-SHEET:

Charlotte Checkers 3 (SO) At Wheeling Nailers 2 – Status: Final SO

Mar 5, 2010 – WesBanco Arena

Charlotte 1 1 0 0 – 3

Wheeling 1 0 1 0 – 2

1st Period-1, Charlotte, Leveille 15 (Slattengren, Roche), 4:09. 2, Wheeling, Bushee 6 (Pierro-Zabotel, Boogaard), 13:01. Penalties-Fox Whl (boarding), 9:23; Roche Chr (holding), 14:02; Slattengren Chr (roughing), 14:48; DiDiomete Chr (unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:37; D’Aversa Whl (unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:37; Schmidt Whl (slashing ), 19:36.

2nd Period-3, Charlotte, Crane 4 (Roche), 18:16. Penalties-Crane Chr (roughing), 5:46; Power Whl (roughing), 5:46; Roche Chr (hooking), 7:12; DiDiomete Chr (fighting – major), 9:48; Clarke Whl (tripping), 9:48; Lord Whl (fighting – major), 9:48; Slattengren Chr (tripping), 19:56.

3rd Period-4, Wheeling, Clarke 18 (Fox, D’Aversa), 19:10 (pp). Penalties-DiDiomete Chr (misconduct), 13:48; Power Whl (slashing ), 13:48; Marshall Chr (hooking), 17:19; Reynolds Chr (delay of game), 19:35.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Higgins Whl (unsportsmanlike conduct), 5:00.

Shootout – Charlotte 3 (Slattengren G, Marshall NG, Roche NG, Leveille G, Carroll G), Wheeling 2 (Ryan G, Ganzak G, Fox NG, Lord NG, Morrison NG).

Shots on Goal-Charlotte 4-11-6-3-1-25. Wheeling 13-8-12-3-0-36.

Power Play Opportunities-Charlotte 0 of 4; Wheeling 1 of 6.

Goalies-Charlotte, Munce 16-13-1-1 (36 shots-34 saves). Wheeling, Teslak 11-15-2-3 (24 shots-22 saves).

A-3,116