VERSUS 
CHECKERS STUNNED BY TOLEDO IN OPENER
Keefe Records Hat Trick In 7-2 Walleye Victory
The Charlotte Checkers dug themselves a quick, deep hole and on a night where they could not get any traction and were unable to demonstrate any of the talent they’ve displayed so visibly in the second half of the season and were trounced 7-2 by the Toledo Walleye in the opening game of the American Conference Quarterfinals Tuesday night. The Checkers now trail Toledo one game to none in the best-of-five series. Game two comes Wednesday night again in Toledo.
Adam Keefe, a Brampton, Ontario native, not only notched a hat-trick for the Walleye but was under the Checkers skin all night long. Keefe only had two goals in 24 games all season. Both Akim Aliu had a goal and a helper as did J.C. Sawyer. Mike Hedden had two helpers.
Andrew Carroll and Mike Taylor scored for Charlotte.
Between the pipes for Toledo, Jordan Pearce stopped 38 of 40 shots while Checkers netminder Ryan Munce made 23 saves, many incredible scoring chances, all in a losing effort.
Toledo opened the scoring just 43 seconds into the game on a turnover from an errant Checkers pass. Keefe intercepted the pass and fired a shot off the post. He then skated around the net, picked up the puck and stuffed home the rebound past Munce.
The Checkers would storm back and even the score at 1-1 just over a minute later when defenseman Kevin Schaeffer let go a wrist shot from the right point that was tipped home by Taylor.
Midway through the period, Aliu stole the puck from a Checkers defender and passed to Tony Romano who one-timed it into the back of the net to take a 2-1 lead.
Keefe would then add two more goals to make it a 4-1 game. He stuffed home the rebound off a Mike Hedden wrist shot before tucking home another rebound between the legs of Munce while falling to the ice. The hat trick goal came at the 10:17 mark of the second period.
Carroll cut the Toledo lead to two goals, the closest they would get the rest of the way, when Michel Leveille hit him with a beautiful power-play breakout pass for a breakaway. Carroll faked the shot then switched to the backhand and roofed it over the glove of Pearce.
Just three minutes later, Charlotte was penalized on a questionable intentional offside resulting in a defensive zone faceoff. Toledo won the ensuing draw back to the point and Sawyer fired a slap shot high over the glove of Munce.
Midway through the third period, Aliu stripped a Checkers defender of the puck, broke in alone and buried it between the legs of Munce. Toledo would add another, four minutes later, and walk away with the 7-2 victory. The two teams will meet again tomorrow in Toledo at 7 pm.
GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET
NOTES:
* Charlotte clinched its first division title and #1 conference seed in franchise history heading into the playoffs
* The Checkers had the four largest crowds in the ECHL this season
* Charlotte is 16-3-1 in its last 20 home games and 12-1-1 in the last 14 overall heading into the playoffs
* Ryan Munce led the ECHL in save percentage (.913) and was third in wins (26)
* Andrew Carroll led the Checkers this season with 30 goals, including six game winners.
LINES:
Roche – Leveille © – Doig
Rowe – Taylor – Stefanishion
Schepke – Carroll – Slattengren
Marshall
Urquhart – Schaeffer
Berube – Reynolds
Hendrikx – Ward
Munce
Zemlak
(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)
SCRATCHES:
Mike Bartlett – Healthy Scratch
Daniel Tkaczuk – Healthy Scratch
Brock Bradford – Healthy Scratch
Jean-Philipp Chabot – Healthy Scratch
Tysen Dowzak – Recall in Hartford
Matt Ford – Recall in Lake Erie
Julien Brouillette – Recall in Hartford
Ethan Graham – Recall in Texas
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. TOL – A. Keefe
2. TOL – J. Sawyer
3. TOL – J. Pearce
ON-ICE OFFICALS:
Referee:
Nick Krebsbach (8)
Linesmen:
Ray King (39)
Jim Scarpace (50)
NEXT GAME:
Down a game in the best of five with a second game on the road is not a good place to be for your heroes from Charlotte, but that’s where they be Mattie. It’s time for the first seed in the American conference to man up; put this awful performance behind them and get it together. If they go down 0-2 they’re done. They need a split desperately and should play that way. The Walleye should be without Akim Aliu which should help their chances substantially. Jason Shaya will be on the air at 7pm Wednesday night.
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 2 At Toledo Walleye 7 – Status: Final
Apr 6, 2010 – Lucas County Arena
Charlotte 1 1 0 – 2
Toledo 3 2 2 – 7
1st Period-1, Toledo, Keefe 1 0:43. 2, Charlotte, Taylor 1 (Schaeffer, Stefanishion), 1:52. 3, Toledo, Romano 1 (Aliu, Rankin), 11:13. 4, Toledo, Keefe 2 (Hedden, Danis-Pepin), 17:51 (pp). Penalties-Schaeffer Chr (delay of game), 5:53; Urquhart Chr (interference), 16:05; Peralta Tol (tripping), 18:48.
2nd Period-5, Toledo, Keefe 3 (Smith, Hedden), 10:17. 6, Charlotte, Carroll 1 (Leveille), 11:43 (pp). 7, Toledo, Sawyer 1 (Tanguay), 14:42. Penalties-Hendrikx Chr (double – roughing), 10:17; Stefanishion Chr (fighting – major), 10:17; Hedden Tol (double – roughing), 10:17; Keefe Tol (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting – major), 10:17; Rankin Tol (tripping), 12:23; Hendrikx Chr (slashing ), 13:15; Hendrikx Chr (unsportsmanlike conduct), 20:00; Aliu Tol (double – roughing), 20:00.
3rd Period-8, Toledo, Aliu 1 9:15. 9, Toledo, Nesbitt 1 (Robertson, Sawyer), 13:40 (pp). Penalties-Keefe Tol (hooking), 0:39; Romano Tol (slashing ), 10:32; Carroll Chr (instigating, fighting – major), 11:55; Aliu Tol (game misconduct – third man in, game misconduct – abuse of officials), 11:55; Charlebois Tol (fighting – major), 11:55; Leveille Chr (cross-checking), 12:04; Sawyer Tol (tripping), 16:10.
Shots on Goal-Charlotte 13-10-17-40. Toledo 11-11-8-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Charlotte 1 of 7; Toledo 2 of 5.
Goalies-Charlotte, Munce 0-1-0-0 (30 shots-23 saves). Toledo, Pearce 1-0-0-0 (40 shots-38 saves).
A-3,348
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