VERSUS 
CHECKERS DOWN GWINNETT, 2-1, IN HISTORIC GAME
Carroll Ends Game Again With Overtime Winner; Munce Stops 30 For 10th Win In 11 Starts
The Charlotte Checkers forced overtime with a third period goal then scored in the extra frame to down Gwinnett, 2-1, in the last ever ECHL regular season game at Time Warner Cable Arena on Tuesday.
With the win, the Checkers take the season series against Gwinnett with a 12-4-2 record over 18 head-to-head matches and grab a three-point lead over South Carolina and Kalamazoo for first place in the American Conference. Charlotte has won 11 of its last 12 games overall.
Andrew Carroll scored the overtime winner, his sixth game-winning goal of the season. Carroll now leads the ECHL with 12 combined shootout and overtime winners and leads the Checkers with 29 goals.
Ryan Munce stopped 30 of 31 shots for his 10th win in 11 starts. Munce now ranks second in the ECHL with 25 wins and leads the league with a .912 save percentage. His 10 wins in March make him a shoe-in candidate for ECHL goaltender of the month.
The Checkers carried the play for the better half of the first period but Gwinnett goaltender David Brown turned everything aside keeping it a scoreless game heading into the second.
Gwinnett opened the scoring seven minutes into the second period on a goal by forward Matt Caruana. Tom Zanoski carried the puck down low and slid a pass through the legs of a Checkers defender which was one-timed by Caruana along the ice and past Munce.
With less than two minutes to play in the period, Devin DiDiomete was assessed a misconduct penalty and the Checkers were forced to kill a four-minute Gladiators power play. Charlotte’s defenders blocked several good scoring chances and Munce shut the door as the game remained 1-0 in Gwinnett’s favor.
Early in the third period, Matt Stefanishion broke in the zone and fired a shot at Brown that was stopped and redirected to Berube at the point. Berube faked a shot to step around a Gwinnett defender and let a wrist shot go that beat the Gwinnett goaltender on the short side.
Later in the period, the Gladiators applied pressure and hit Munce with several shots but the Charlotte netminder stopped them all, including an acrobatic, diving pad save.
The Checkers failed to convert on a late power play and the two teams prepared for an overtime period.
In the extra frame, Gwinnett forward Pat Galivan fed a pass over to Zanoski but Munce slid across the crease and denied the Gladiators the win with an impressive split save.
A short time later, Tyler Doig carried the puck into the Gwinnett zone and skated around a tumbling defender. Doig then took the puck down low and dished it in front to Carroll who banged it home for the win.
The Checkers (42-21-7) will travel to Florida this weekend for two games before returning next week to host a pair of playoff games. Playoff dates will be announced shortly 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.
| TEAM | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | GF | GA | STK | P 10 | PIM |
| 1. x-Charlotte Checkers | 70 | 42 | 21 | 4 | 3 | 91 | 247 | 218 | 3-0-0-0 | 9-1-0-0 | 1493 |
| 2. x-South Carolina Sting Rays | 69 | 38 | 19 | 6 | 6 | 88 | 236 | 212 | 0-2-0-0 | 3-4-2-1 | 926 |
| 3. x- Florida Everblades | 70 | 37 | 24 | 4 | 5 | 83 | 229 | 215 | 1-0-0-0 | 5-5-0-0 | 1266 |
| 4. Gwinnett Gladiators | 69 | 31 | 30 | 5 | 3 | 70 | 239 | 265 | 0-1-1-0 | 4-4-1-1 | 1102 |
x= Teams who have clinched a playoff spot.
NOTES:
* Saturday’s crowd of 12,044 was the largest in the entire ECHL this season. The Checkers are 4th in the ECHL in attendance averaging 5529 per game.
* The Checkers are 16-3-1 in their last 20 home games and are 11-1-0 in their last 12 overall
* Ryan Munce is 10-1-0 in his last 11 starts and leads the ECHL with a .912 save percentage
* Kenny Roche is currently on a six-game point streak (3g, 7a)
* Andrew Carroll leads the ECHL with six shootout-winning goals and leads the Checkers with 29 goals
* The Checkers are 25-8-2-1 and 17-13-2-2 on the road
* This team is very hard to come back on. They are 18-1-2-1 when leading after one period and 25-0-3-2 when leading after two. When tied after one they are 14-6-2-1 and 4-17-1-0 when trailing after 2.
LINES:
Roche – Leveille © – Slattengren
Doig – Carroll – Marshall
Schepke – Taylor – Bradford
Stefanishion – DiDiomete
Urquhart – Schaeffer
Berube – Hendrikx
Ward
Munce
Zemlak
(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)
SCRATCHES:
Daniel Tkaczuk – Healthy Scratch
Ryan Crane – Healthy Scratch
Randy Rowe – Recall in Lake Erie
Matt Ford – Recall in Lake Erie
Julien Brouillette – Recall in Hartford
Ethan Graham – Recall in Texas
T.J. Reynolds – Lower Body – 2-3 weeks
Chris Snavely – Wrist Surgery – Season over
Trevor Glass – Back Surgery – Season over
Codey Burki – Undisclosed – Season over
Chris Chappell – Shoulder Surgery – Season over
THREE STARS
1. CHR – R. Munce
2. CHR – M. Berube
3. CHR – A. Carroll
ON-ICE OFFICALS:
Referee:
Joe Sullivan (4)
Linesmen:
Mathieu Chenier (71)
Paul Reid (97)
NEXT GAME:
The Checkers will finish the regular season with two games on the road in Florida. Jason Shaya will be on the air at 7:30pm Friday and Saturday night as the Checkers look to finish the season as the American Conference’s #1 seed.
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:
Gwinnett Gladiators 1 At Charlotte Checkers 2 (OT) – Status: Final OT
Mar 30, 2010 – Time Warner Cable Arena
Gwinnett 0 1 0 0 – 1
Charlotte 0 0 1 1 – 2
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Forney Gwt (slashing , slashing ), 9:32; DiDiomete Chr (roughing), 9:32; Stefanishion Chr (unsportsmanlike conduct), 9:32.
2nd Period-1, Gwinnett, Caruana 13 (Galivan, Zanoski), 7:09. Penalties-DiDiomete Chr (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct – disputing decision, misconduct, game misconduct – abuse of officials), 18:34.
3rd Period-2, Charlotte, Berube 3 (Roche, Stefanishion), 2:44. Penalties-Galivan Gwt (interference on the goalkeeper), 8:23; Doig Chr (slashing ), 13:58; Roberts Gwt (holding), 18:42.
OT Period-3, Charlotte, Carroll 29 (Ward, Doig), 4:32. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Gwinnett 8-14-7-2-31. Charlotte 9-10-12-5-36.
Power Play Opportunities-Gwinnett 0 of 3; Charlotte 0 of 2.
Goalies-Gwinnett, Brown 10-16-3-0 (36 shots-34 saves). Charlotte, Munce 25-14-2-1 (31 shots-30 saves).
A-5,133
Comments (5)
c stuart livingstonsays:
March 31, 2010 at 10:07 AMMitch very much enjoy and appreciate your column .My question is with the potential of even more AHL ex Checkers returning and the rule of only allowing 4 players dressed with over 260 pro games played along with only dressing 20 players will the chemistry this team seems to have built -and peaking at exactly the right time -be in jeopardy. Also any insight as to why Tkaczuk was a healthy scratch last night.Wonder if this is the beginning of a trend. Many thanks.
Mitch Becksays:
March 31, 2010 at 10:55 AMStuart,
Thank you for the kind words. It’s people like you that make all the work that goes into this worthwhile.
You make a good point. The chemistry could in fact be challenged. The ones who are ultimately going to have to figure this out is Derek Wilkinson and Jason Dawe. I have confidence that they are going to make the right calls on this. They’ve been making them all season long. I see no reason to believe that somehow they’ll lose that.
The other point to consider is that if you’re returning players that are more talented then you benefit from that. For example, and I’ll give you a big exaggeration just to make the point. Say that the Rangers were eliminated, okay that’s not much of a stretch, and you have Ryan Callahan coming back from an injury. If he could be sent to the Wolf Pack without fear of losing him through waivers, even if things were going soundly would you want him there? Of course you would because the team would jump up in talent level. The same thing applies here. Julien Brouillette has benefitted from playing at the AHL level; as has Jared Nightingale. Both have played enough games in the ECHL this season to qualify for playing in the playoffs. Why wouldn’t you want them there?
It’s a tightrope that the coaching staff will have to deal with, but if they are going to bring back the kind of names that they’re talking about, this will be a VERY strong team with depth in virtually every position and if Ryan Munce continues to play at the level he’s been playing at, this could be a VERY long run for this team.
c stuart livingstonsays:
March 31, 2010 at 10:16 AMMitch forgot to check the boxes below on my previos question -my apologies
Keithsays:
March 31, 2010 at 2:34 PMMitch,
What is up with Tysen Dowzak? I haven’t seen his name in the lineup, nor has he been listed in the scratches. I didn’t see any transaction on the ECHL page…so I was curious what was up.
Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks again for the great job covering both the ‘Pack and the Checkers!
Mitch Becksays:
March 31, 2010 at 3:09 PMKeith,
I double checked and I should have been listing him as a Healthy Scratch… My bad…
Thanks for the kind words…They’re much appreciated.