TO QUOTE DARTH VADER, “IMPRESSIVE!” 

     VERSUS    

CHECKERS BLANK CYCLONES, 5-0, TO EVEN SERIES

Munce Stops 25 For First Postseason Shutout; Bartlett Nets Two

The Charlotte Checkers jumped out to an early lead and didn’t look back, running over the Cincinnati Cyclones, 5-0, in Game 2 of the American Conference Semifinals on Saturday evening.

The win evens the best-of-seven series at 1-1. The next three games to be played in Cincinnati Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. During the regular season, During the regular season, the Checkers were 18-13-2-3 on the road. In Cincinnati, the Checkers dropped their first visit to the Queen City 4-1 on January 27th and then came back to win on a Julien Brouillette goal, 2-1 on February 26th.

For the Checkers, it was a balanced effort all around. Between the pipes, Ryan Munce (4-2-0) stopped 25 shots for his first career playoff shutout. On the offensive side, Mike Bartlett potted his first two goals of the postseason. Mike Taylor, who had just four goals during the regular season, scored to extend his point streak to six games and tallied for his fifth goal of the post season. Right Winger David Marshall added a goal and an assist to up his goal streak to four games.

Meanwhile for the Cyclones, rookie netminder Jeremy Smith (4-2-1) had a very shaky night allowing some soft goals while stopping 33 of 38 shots for Cincinnati.

The Checkers scored first for the fourth time in six games this postseason on Bartlett’s first of the evening. Marshall chipped the puck to Bartlett who skated out from the corner and backhanded a shot by Smith over the left pad at 4:19 of the first period.

Early in the second frame, Matt Stefanishion doubled the Checker advantage when he beat two Cincinnati defenders and fired a wrist shot high over Smith’s glove. The play came as a result of quick thinking and a quicker outlet pass from Jared Nightingale in his first game since being sent back to Charlotte after the end of the Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL) season.

The Checkers grew their lead to 3-0 just 1:25 later after Dustin Sproat was sent to solitary confinement for Holding. On the resulting power play, Julien Brouillette took a pass at the blueline and fired a low slap shot at the net. Smith initially stopped the shot with his right pad, but the puck rebounded away from the Cyclone cage protector and right to Bartlett on the doorstep to whack the rebound into the top corner for his second of the game.

If there’s one thing you can say about this Cyclones team, they don’t quit. Cincinnati showed some signs of life midway through the period and went put pressure on Munce who made several impressive saves to keep the visitors off the board.

Just sixteen seconds after Bartlett took a Slashing call at 6:17 of the third period, Taylor forced a turnover in the Cyclones end. The Checkers’ forward then broke in alone on Smith and beat him with a nifty backhanded shot that went to the far side and past Smith to make it 4-0. The goal was Taylor’s team-leading fifth of the playoffs.

Munce continued to make his case for a promotion to the next level with his solid play stopping a great Cincinnati scoring chance on the power play before denying Cyclones leading scorer, Barret Ehgoetz, with an acrobatic kick save.

Any coach would attest to the fact that their team can get a major boost from play in net, the Checkers did just that feeding off their goaltender’s strong play and put strong offensive zone pressure on the Cyclones forcing Cincinnati to take costly back-to-back penalties.

On the ensuing 5-on-3 power play, Michel Leveille’s impressive backhanded saucer pass over to Marshall early in the first part of the power play, allowed the Buffalo, Minnesota native to fire a bullet of a slap shot off the crossbar and in on the short side.

Munce shut the door for the remaining seven minutes and the Checkers cruised to a 5-0 victory.

Charlotte (4-2) will host Cincinnati again on Tuesday, Apr. 27 and Wednesday, Apr. 28, if necessary. Ticket information can be obtained by calling 704-342-4-ICE or visiting www.gocheckers.com/playoffs.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

NOTES:

* Charlotte is 11-2 in its last 13 home games

* Mike Taylor (5g, 2a) and David Marshall (4g, 3a) lead the Checkers with seven points each in the playoffs

* Taylor has a point in each of the six playoff games thus far while Marshall has scored in four straight games

* Michel Leveille is currently on a five-game point streak (1g, 4a)

* 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

* Ryan Munce led the ECHL in save percentage (.913), was third in wins (26) and was named ECHL Goaltender of the Month for March

* Andrew Carroll led the Checkers this season with 30 goals, including six game winners.

LINES:

Taylor – Leveille © – Slattengren
Roche – Bartlett – Marshall
Doig – Carroll – Roche
Stefanishion

Schaeffer – Brouillette 
Nightingale – Reynolds
Hendrikx – Ward

Munce
Zemlak

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:
Mike Berube – Healthy Scratch
Matt Schepke – Healthy Scratch
Brock Bradford – Healthy Scratch
Dave Urquhart – Healthy Scratch
Daniel Tkuczak – Healthy Scratch

THREE STARS

1. CHR – R. Munce
2. CHR – M. Bartlett
3. CHR – D. Marshall

ON-ICE OFFICALS:

Referee:
Jarrod Ragusin (28)

Linesmen:
Mathieu Chenier (71)
Paul Reid (97)

NEXT GAME:

In a great move for fans, the Checkers are sending both Jason Shaya and Chris Snavely to call Games Three, Four and Five on the road starting Wednesday night at 7:30pm.

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

Cincinnati Cyclones 0 At Charlotte Checkers 5 – Status: Final

Apr 17, 2010 – Time Warner Cable Arena

Cincinnati 0 0 0 – 0

Charlotte 1 2 2 – 5

1st Period-1, Charlotte, Bartlett 1 (Marshall), 4:19. Penalties-Ortiz Cin (high-sticking), 6:14; Roche Chr (hooking), 18:25.

2nd Period-2, Charlotte, Stefanishion 2 (Nightingale), 3:33. 3, Charlotte, Bartlett 2 (Brouillette, Roche), 4:58 (pp). Penalties-Sproat Cin (holding), 4:00; Carroll Chr (interference), 8:08; Eddy Cin (unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:27; Lacroix Cin (boarding), 15:27; Nightingale Chr (unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:27; Motherwell Cin (roughing), 18:06; Doig Chr (double – roughing), 18:06; Sproat Cin (fighting – major), 20:00; Carroll Chr (fighting – major), 20:00.

3rd Period-4, Charlotte, Taylor 5   6:33 (sh). 5, Charlotte, Marshall 4 (Leveille, Doig), 12:41 (pp). Penalties-Bartlett Chr (slashing ), 6:17; Benson Cin (double – roughing, misconduct), 10:31; Del Monte Cin (slashing ), 11:38; Del Monte Cin (slashing , fighting – major), 15:21; Nightingale Chr (fighting – major), 15:21; Roche Chr (interference), 16:42.

Shots on Goal-Cincinnati 6-12-7-25. Charlotte 11-17-10-38.

Power Play Opportunities-Cincinnati 0 of 5; Charlotte 2 of 6.

Goalies-Cincinnati, Smith 4-2-1-0 (38 shots-33 saves). Charlotte, Munce 4-2-0-0 (25 shots-25 saves).

A-3,015