Checkers drop first road game of season in 5-4 loss to Grrrowl
November 14, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release
Greenville, South Carolina - The Charlotte Checkers saw a big lead slip away Saturday night and dropped their first road game of the season, succumbing to the Greenville Grrrowl 5-4 at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, South Carolina. After building a 4-1 second-period lead, Charlotte saw the Grrrowl score four unanswered goals to snag the two points. Ed Caron scored a pair of goals for Greenville, and J.F. Flourde tallied the game-winner with 11:20 left in the game. Dusty Jamieson increased his goal-scoring streak to four with a first-period strike, and Mike Harder stretched his point streak to nine games with a goal and two assists. Checkers goalie Alex Westlund took the loss.
"We did not play a very good third period," quoted Charlotte center and leading scorer. Mike Harder. "It's only 20 minutes of bad hockey and so nobody' s pushing the panic button tonight."
The Checkers grabbed an early lead as Jamieson continued his torrid scoring netting a goal just 1:01 into the first period. Jamieson took a pretty pass from Harder and beat Grrrowl goalie Mike Morrison top shelf for a 1-0 Checkers lead. Greenville equalized at 6:01 on a power play as Kenny Smith's shot from the point trickled through the pads of Westlund to tie the score at 1-1. Charlotte got the lead right back at 10:01 on a power play as Harders knocked home the rebound of a Chris Belanger shot for a 2-1 Checkers advantage. Dwight Helminen made it a 3-1 Checkers lead late in the first at 18:23 as he roofed a shot by Morrison, and Charlotte led by two goals after the first 20 minutes. It was Helminen's first professional goal. The Checkers increased its lead to 4-1 on Lee Falardeau's short-handed tally at 13:20 while Matt Chandler was in the penalty box. It was also the first pro goal for the Michigan State grad. The Grrrowl responded 52 seconds later however, as Caron scored on the power play to slice the Charlotte lead to 4-2 after the second period.
Greenville got a big lift emotionally with a goal early in the third period to cut the Charlotte lead to 4-3. Caron scored his second of the night just 48 seconds into the period on the doorstep and the Checkers three-goal lead was reduced to one. Greenville gained the equalizer at 5:04 as again, the Grrrowl scored from in close on a strike by Carl Mallette for the 4-4 draw. At 8:40 the Grrrowl grabbed its first lead of the game as Flourde tapped in a rebound of a Colin Pepperall shot that proved to be the game winner. With over 11 minutes to go in regulation, the Checkers had lots of time to tie the game and had several chances. The best opportunity came with 1:36 left as a late Greenville penalty and a pulled Checkers goalie gave Charlotte a 6-4 man advantage. However, Morrison and the Grrrowl defense dug in and held on for the 5-4 win.
The Checkers record fell to 6-2-1 for 13 points, while the Grrrowl improved to 3-6-0 for six points. Charlotte will close out its three-game road trip Tuesday at Columbia before returning to Cricket Arena Wednesday to host the Texas Wildcatters at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available now through the Charlotte Checkers office by calling (704) 342-4ICE, through all TicketMaster locations, or on line through www.TicketMaster.com
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