Sports stats

ECHL Charlotte Checkers

10,000 fans see Checkers win third straight, 6-1 over Florida

March 17, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release


(Charlotte, North Carolina) The Checkers continued an excellent week of play Saturday night, winning their third straight with an impressive 6-1 triumph over the Florida Everblades Saturday night before another sellout crowd of nearly 10,000 fans at Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

Hannu Pikkarainen scored a pair of goals and added two assists for Charlotte, and goalie Alex Westlund was solid for a second consecutive game with 32 saves in pacing the Checkers to the victory. Mark Lee also chipped in with a goal and an assist, giving him seven points in the past two games. Other Charlotte goals came from Kenton Smith, Bruce Graham, and Mike Ouellette.

The win allowed the Checkers (34-23-1-2) to remain tied for the fifth and final playoff spot in the ECHL South with Augusta, who also won Saturday night with a 2-0 victory at Texas. The Lynx and Checkers each have 71 points. Charlotte still trails South Carolina for fourth place by two points after the Stingrays shootout win over Pensacola. The Checkers still have three games in hand on Augusta, and hold four games in hand on South Carolina.

Special teams played a big part in the game, with Charlotte going 3-8 on the power play and the Everblades going 0-10. Each team had several two-man advantage opportunities. The Checkers also scored two short-handed goals.

"Our power play has been pretty good the last few games and obviously you don't expect to get that many five on threes in a game, but when you do, you have to make them work and we did," commented Charlotte Coach Derek Wilkinson. "We killed some five on threes and if they score a couple goals off it, that's very critical at any time of the year."

Both goalies sparkled in the first period, and each team had their share of power-play time in the stanza. The Checkers finally broke through late in the first as Pikkarainen wristed home his first goal of the season with a two-man advantage at 17 minutes, 27 seconds, to give Charlotte a 1-0 advantage. Just 21 seconds later the Checkers struck again as a red-hot Lee scored for a 2-0 Charlotte lead.

Florida's Adam Taylor pulled the Everblades (38-20-4-1) to within one goal at 2-1 midway through the period. But Smith gave the Checkers their two-goal advantage back at 16:30 with Charlotte holding a two-man advantage, when his blast from the top of the right circle eluded Everblades goalie Jamie Holden.

In the first five minutes of the final period, two Charlotte goals by Graham and Pikkarainen put the Checkers up 5-1. A late short-handed goal by Ouellette provided insurance as Charlotte won going away with the 6-1 final.

The Checkers ended the nine-game season series over Florida with a record of 4-3-2 for ten points. The Everblades finished 5-3-1 versus Charlotte for eleven points.

NEXT GAME: The Checkers are in Columbia Sunday afternoon to meet the Inferno at 5:00 p.m.

NEXT HOME GAME: The Checkers next home game is Tuesday, March 27 when they'll entertain the Pensacola Ice Pilots.

Watch all Checkers games on B2 Click on https://www.b2livetv.com/hockey/echl/charlotte/billnow.asp

Tickets for all Checkers home games can be purchased on the official team web site at www.gocheckers.com, on the telephone by using a credit card and calling 1-800-495-2295, or by visiting the Charlotte Bobcats Arena box office.

Check out the Charlotte Checkers Statistics



ECHL Stories from March 17, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Charlotte Checkers Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central