PIRATES CRUSH CHECKERS 

CHECKERS DUMPED BY PIRATES IN COLUMBUS DAY MATINEE
Team will return home for historic home opener on Friday

The Charlotte Checkers outshot the Portland Pirates, 43-25, but couldn’t seem to get a read on goaltender Jhonas Enroth as they were downed, 5-1, in a Columbus Day matchup in Maine this afternoon.

Enroth made 42 saves en route to his second win in as many tries this season while Justin Pogge, who was assigned to the Checkers by the Hurricanes Saturday, stopped 20 shots in a losing effort. Portland’s defensemen kept Charlotte’s forwards to the outside and limited the number of quality scoring chances throughout the game.

Portland forward, and former NHL regular, Mark Parrish opened the scoring a minute and a half into the game when he received a breakaway pass from T.J Brennan before roofing a shot over the glove hand of Pogge.

The Pirates then went ahead 2-0 on a goal by Nick Crawford, early in the second period. Parrish beat a Checkers defender with an inside-out move and slid a pass to Crawford at the bottom of the circle, who beat a screened Pogge on the short side.

Paul Byron gave Portland a three-goal lead, with less than four minutes to play in the period, when he fired a shot off Pogge’s shoulder and into the top corner of the net. The shorthanded goal came at the 16:12 mark of the second period.

The Pirates did not stop there as they added third period goals off the sticks of Mark Mancari and Maxime Legault to pull ahead 5-0 and put the game out of reach.

Charlotte forward Jerome Samson spoiled Enroth’s shutout bid with a power-play goal with ten seconds left to go in the game. Samson took a cross-ice pass from Chris Terry and one-timed it for his second goal in as many games for the Checkers.

The Checkers (1-2-0) will return home after their three-game road trip to host the Scranton-Wilkes/Barre Penguins on Friday and Sunday.

The Checkers’ home opener is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 15 at Time Warner Cable Arena. Season tickets for the inaugural 2010-11 AHL season are now on sale and season ticket packages start as low as $10 per game. Ticket information can be obtained by calling 704-342-4-ICE or visiting www.gocheckers.com.

Notes: Forward Chris Terry has points (1g, 2a) in all three of the Checkers’ games thus far…Terry shares the team points lead with Jon Matsumoto (2g, 1a) and Jacob Micflikier (2g, 1a)…Jerome Samson has a two-game goal streak (2g) and leads the team with 19 shots in three games.

Charlotte Checkers 1 at Portland Pirates 5 – Status: Final
Monday, October 11, 2010 – Cumberland County Civic Center

Charlotte 0 0 1 – 1
Portland 1 2 2 – 5

1st Period-1, Portland, Parrish 1 (Brennan), 1:28. Penalties-Conboy Por (cross-checking), 6:49; Fitzgerald Cha (fighting), 9:40; Herauf Cha (fighting), 9:40; Conboy Por (misconduct), 9:40; Tropp Por (fighting), 9:40; Turnbull Por (fighting), 9:40; Pogge Cha (tripping), 10:05.

2nd Period-2, Portland, Crawford 1 (Parrish, Byron), 4:56. 3, Portland, Byron 1 (Stuart), 16:12 (SH). Penalties-Tropp Por (charging), 6:40; Carson Cha (elbowing), 9:46; Conboy Por (roughing), 15:09; Mancari Por (interference), 18:33.

3rd Period-4, Portland, Mancari 2 (Stuart), 0:43. 5, Portland, Legault 1 (Roloff, Parrish), 5:43. 6, Charlotte, Samson 2 (Terry), 19:49 (PP). Penalties-Dodge Cha (cross-checking), 2:04; Byron Por (holding), 10:41; Legault Por (holding the stick), 18:00.

Shots on Goal-Charlotte 14-15-14-43. Portland 5-11-9-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Charlotte 1 / 6; Portland 0 / 3.
Goalies-Charlotte, Pogge 0-1-0 (25 shots-20 saves). Portland, Enroth 2-0-0 (43 shots-42 saves).
A-2,621
Referees-Terry Koharski (10).
Linesmen-Jeremy Lovett (78), Landon Bathe (80).