ECHL Charlotte Checkers

Charlotte loses second straight, 5-2 to South Carolina

March 27, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release


(Charleston, South Carolina - Saturday, March 26) The Charlotte Checkers played much better on Saturday night than they did Friday night, but the end result was still the same. Kevin Spiewak and Trevor S. Johnson each scored a pair of goals and goalie Justin Eddy sparkled with 33 saves as the South Carolina Stingrays defeated the Checkers 5-2 at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, South Carolina.

Charlotte outshot the Stingrays 35-28 for the game, but gave up three, first-period goals to South Carolina in falling behind 3-0. Juris Stals scored both Checkers goals, while Alex Westlund took the loss in goal making 23 saves. Charlotte has slumped in its last seven games with a record of 1-4-2.

"There were many positives tonight even though we lost," said Checkers player / Assistant Coach Allan Egeland. "Their goalie played great and came up big on several of our excellent chances. Juris (Stals) was the best player on the ice and is really coming around. We played much better tonight than last night and we can definitely build off this game."

The Stingrays jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead. At three minutes, 58 seconds of the first period Spiewak beat Westlund on a breakaway for a 1-0 South Carolina advantage. The Stingrays made it 2-0 at 10:51 on the power play as Johnson wristed a shot by Westlund from the slot while Steve MacIntyre was in the penalty box.

A fluke goal gave South Carolina a 3-0 lead when Johnson was credited with his second goal of the night when the puck rolled off his stick, and somehow trickled into the Charlotte goal on the short side.

In the second period the Stingrays increased their lead to 4-0 as Spiewak found himself alone in the slot and scored his second goal of the game at 10:33.

The Checkers finally stopped a five-plus period scoring drought at 11:51 of the second period, when Stals stick-handled to the front of the net, deked a defender and stuck a backhander past Eddy to trim the Stingrays lead to 4-1.

In the third period Charlotte sliced the Stingrays lead to two goals at 2:15 as Stals blast from the right face-off circle on a power play found its way to the back of the net. Despite several good scoring opportunities the rest of the third period, the Checkers were unable to muster another goal. South Carolina closed out the scoring with Joe Tenute's empty-net goal in the game's last minute for the 5-2 final.

Charlotte's record fell to 37-24-6 for 80 points with South Carolina improving to 36-22-8, also for 80 points. With Columbia and the Stingrays both winning Saturday night, the Checkers dropped down to the fifth playoff seed in the ECHL's American Conference.

Charlotte will continue its five-game road trip next Friday night at Greenville, South Carolina when the Checkers will meet the Grrrowl at 7:00 p.m. Following the five-game road trip, Charlotte will return home for two, final, regular-season games at Cricket Arena. On Friday, April 8, the Checkers will host the Greenville Grrrowl, with South Carolina coming to the Queen City on Saturday, April 9. Both games will start at 7:00 p.m.

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ECHL Stories from March 27, 2005


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