READING IS FUNDAMENTAL 

      VERSUS    

ANOTHER SHOOTOUT RESULTS IN CHECKERS’ SIXTH STRAIGHT WIN

Rookie Zemlak Stops 32 In First Pro Start; Charlotte Inches Closer To Playoff Berth

The Charlotte Checkers battled back from a two-goal deficit with three unanswered goals and downed the Reading Royals, 4-3, in a shootout on Thursday evening for their third straight road win.

Daniel Tkaczuk potted two goals while rookie goaltender Garrett Zemlak stopped 32 of 35 shots for the win in his first ever professional game. Andrew Carroll netted his league-leading fifth shootout-winning goal and Matt Schepke chipped in with two assists.

The Checkers have now won six straight games and can clinch a playoff berth with a win over Trenton tomorrow night in Charlotte.

The Royals opened the scoring at the 6:21 mark of the first period when Olivier Labelle picked up a rebound from a Rob LaLonde point shot and poked it in for his 22nd of the season.

Early in the second, Reading would make it a 2-0 game, on the power play, when Stefano Giliati took a pass at the side of the net and let go a perfectly-placed shot high over the glove of Zemlak.

The Checkers then responded with a power-play strike of their own just 98 seconds later. David Urquhart let a wrist shot go from the point and Tkaczuk was on the doorstep to pot his 10th of the season.

Less than three minutes later, Charlotte tied it on a goal by Carroll, his team-leading 25th. Michel Leveille held the puck in at the blueline to keep the play alive and skated to the hash marks before feeding a pass back to Steve Ward. Ward then let go a wrist shot that made its way through traffic and into the back of the net.

The Checkers would then take their first lead of the game on Tkaczuk’s second of the night. Zemlak played the puck to Schepke who skated the length of the ice and broke in alone on Reading goaltender Matt Dalton. Dalton stopped the initial shot and Tkaczuk banged home the rebound for the 3-2 lead.

Reading held a 26-17 advantage in shots through 40 minutes, however Zemlak stood his ground to keep it a one-goal game.

Midway through the third, the Royals went to work on the power play and made no mistake as Ryan Cruthers netted his 17th to send the game to overtime.

After a scoreless overtime, the two teams prepared for a shootout. Aaron Slattengren was the first to shoot for Charlotte and did not disappoint as he potted his league-leading seventh shootout goal. Giliati would even it up for Reading before Carroll put the Checkers ahead again.

The stage was then set for Zemlak to seal the victory in his first ever game. Ben Gordon skated in on the Charlotte net, faked and let a shot go which the rookie steered away with the left pad, giving the Checkers a 4-3 win.

The Checkers (37-20-7) will host Trenton Friday at Time Warner Cable Arena. 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

It was a light night foe the East Coast League. Cincinnati disemboweled Johnstown, 7-1. Jimmy Kilpatrick and Dustin Sproat each had two goals and a helper. Maxime Lacroix has three helpers , Mathieu Aubin had two. Scott Reynolds had a goal and an assist, in the winning effort.

In Las Vegas, ex-Pack Brock McBride had a pair of helpers for the Alaska Aces who also had a hat trick and an assist from Bryan Miller, a goal and two assists from Nick Mazzolini,  goal and an assist from ex-Sound Tiger and NHL’er Eric Boguniecki, but it wasn’t enough. Las Vegas got a four point night (2g, 2a) from Adam Miller, Mike Madill had a goal and two helpers, Jason Krischuk had a trio of assists, Chris Neiszner had two goals and Alex Bourret had a goal and a helper himself as the Wranglers won 55 seconds into overtime on Craig Switzer’s goal giving Vegas an 8-7 victory.

NOTES:

*  How Garrett Zemlak was not voted the game’s First Star could only mean one thing, the voters must have been Jose Feliciano, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles.

* The Checkers have won six in a row, are 7-0-1 in their last eight games and 11-2-1 in their last 14 at home

* Ryan Munce has won five straight games, is 6-0-1 in his last seven starts and ranks third in the ECHL with 21 wins

* Matt Schepke leads the team with a +20

* Andrew Carroll leads the ECHL with five shootout-winning goals and is tied with Schepke for the team lead with 24 goals

* The 2010 class of inductees for the Charlotte Hockey Hall of Fame, presented by American Airlines, was announced today and will include former goaltender Gaye Cooley, former player and coach Fred Creighton and Cliff Mehrtens, the ECHL Checkers’ beat writer since the team’s inception in 1993.

The three will be honored during the second intermission of Friday’s game when the Checkers host the Trenton Devils at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Cooley played five seasons in Charlotte and backstopped the Checkers to three championships – one in the EHL in 1971-72 and back-to-back SHL titles in 1974-75 and 1975-76. The Kirkland Lake, Ontario native was a three-time EHL All-Star and led the league in goals against average in 1971-72 and 1974-75. Cooley recorded 16 shutouts and posted a 2.87 career GAA in 181 games as a Checker.

Prior to joining the pro ranks, Cooley played at Michigan State and led the Spartans to the 1965-66 NCAA National Championship. He ranks sixth in all-time save percentage at Michigan State and held the school record for career save percentage throughout the 60’s and 70’s.

Cooley joins Nick Vitucci as the only two goaltenders in the Charlotte Hockey Hall of Fame.

Creighton played four seasons in a Checkers uniform before stepping behind the bench for seven as the team’s head coach. He compiled 90 points and 389 penalty minutes in 204 games as a player and a 294-178-35 (.614) record as a coach.

As Checkers head coach, the native of Port Arthur, Ontario had six consecutive seasons above .500 and helped the team to back-to-back league championships in 1970-71 and 1971-72.

Creighton went on to become head coach of the NHL’s Atlanta Flames for five seasons and the Boston Bruins for a single season in 1979-80. He was twice named Minor League Hockey Coach of the Year and won four championships in 22 seasons as a head coach. Creighton was also recently inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.

Mehrtens has covered the ECHL Checkers for the Charlotte Observer since the team’s inception in 1993. He has attended hundreds of Checkers games and has not missed a playoff contest. During the 1995-96 playoffs, Mehrtens traveled with the team to Roanoke, Charleston, Tallahassee and Jacksonville as the Checkers went 13-3 en route to their only ECHL championship.

A native of New Orleans, Mehrtens has covered every major event in ECHL Checkers history, including the inaugural 1993-94 season and the move to Time Warner Cable Arena. Mehrtens has won several journalism awards throughout his career and has covered high school and pro sports for 25 years

LINES:

Crane – Leveille © – Slattengren
Doig – Tkaczuk – Stefanishion
Carroll – Chabot – Schepke

Urquhart – Schaeffer
Berube – Hendrikx
Dowzak – Ward

Zemlak
Munce

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Mike Taylor – Sick – Day-to-Day
Randy Rowe – Recall in Lake Erie
Matt Ford – Recall in Lake Erie
Julien Brouillette – Recall in Hartford
Ethan Graham – Recall in Texas
Kenny Roche – Recall in Providence
Devin DiDiomete – Lower Body injury – 2-3 weeks
T.J. Reynolds – Undisclosed Injury – 2-3 weeks
Chris Snavely – Upper Body – 2-3 weeks
Trevor Glass – Back Surgery – Season over
Codey Burki – Undisclosed – Season over
Chris Chappell – Shoulder Surgery – Season over

THREE STARS

1. CHR – A. Carroll
2. REA – R. Cruthers
3. CHR – D. Tkaczuk

ON-ICE OFFICALS:

Referee:
Keith Kaval (20)

Linesmen:
Ray King (39)
Matt Macpherson (83

NEXT GAME:

A nine hour bus ride from Reading, PA back home to Charlotte for a battle with Trenton  Friday night. Jason Shaya will be on the air both nights 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 4 (SO) At Reading Royals 3 – Status: Final SO

Mar 18, 2010 – Sovereign Center

Charlotte 0 3 0 0 – 4

Reading 1 1 1 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Reading, Labelle 22 (LaLonde, Gordon), 6:21. Penalties-Carroll Chr (holding), 11:05; Hendrikx Chr (roughing, roughing), 12:57; Stamoulis Rea (roughing), 12:57; Ward Chr (interference), 15:33.

2nd Period-2, Reading, Giliati 18 (Cruthers, Gordon), 2:58 (pp). 3, Charlotte, Tkaczuk 10 (Urquhart, Schepke), 4:36 (pp). 4, Charlotte, Ward 5 (Leveille, Carroll), 7:26. 5, Charlotte, Tkaczuk 11 (Schepke, Zemlak), 13:08. Penalties-Schepke Chr (hooking), 2:24; Giliati Rea (interference on the goalkeeper), 3:13; Gordon Rea (unsportsmanlike conduct), 7:26; LaLonde Rea (holding), 11:00; Stefanishion Chr (cross-checking), 15:34; Dowzak Chr (holding), 18:50.

3rd Period-6, Reading, Cruthers 17   11:44 (pp). Penalties-Gordon Rea (hooking), 3:03; Urquhart Chr (hooking), 4:00; Chabot Chr (high-sticking), 5:55; Schaeffer Chr (interference), 6:39; Slattengren Chr (holding the stick), 10:15.

OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shootout – Charlotte 2 (Slattengren G, Leveille NG, Schepke NG, Tkaczuk NG, Carroll G), Reading 1 (Labelle NG, Giliati G, Cruthers NG, Sarauer NG, Gordon NG).

Shots on Goal-Charlotte 6-11-6-3-1-27. Reading 15-11-8-1-0-35.

Power Play Opportunities-Charlotte 1 of 4; Reading 2 of 10.

Goalies-Charlotte, Zemlak 1-0-0-0 (35 shots-32 saves). Reading, Dalton 18-19-0-3 (26 shots-23 saves).

A-4,426