Checkers Drop Game One of Finals in Double Overtime

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Checkers Drop Game One of Finals in Double Overtime

June 13, 2025 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release


CHARLOTTE, NC - Game One of the Calder Cup Finals turned into a marathon, but it was the Canucks who prevailed 4-3 in double overtime.

It appeared that the Checkers netted the game winner early in the second overtime when Abbotsford put a defensive zone faceoff into the back of their own net. The play was reviewed, however, and ultimately ruled no goal.

Minutes later - just past the midway point of the frame - the Canucks fired a shot on the man advantage that slipped past Charlotte netminder Kaapo Kahkonen and officially brought the contest to an end.

It was a back-and-forth affair leading up to the extra frames. The Canucks struck first early on in regulation - on one of seven power plays they would get across the contest - but MacKenzie Entwistle found the back of the net shortly after to even the score. The Checkers would tally each of the next two goals - one courtesy of an Oliver Okuliar laser with less than a second on the clock in the first, the other a snipe from Justin Sourdif early in the second - and briefly held a two-goal lead in the middle frame.

The tide would turn back the Canucks' way, though, as they cut into Charlotte's advantage just 22 seconds after Sourdif's goal and knotted the game midway through the third - setting things on course for overtime.

Notes

The sold-out crowd of 8,667 was the largest ever for a Checkers game in Bojangles Coliseum ... The Checkers' eight-game win streak in the playoffs came to an end ... The Checkers also lost Game 1 in their only other trip to the Calder Cup Finals, but went on to win the next four ... This was the first second overtime Calder Cup Finals game since 2017 (Game 2, Grand Rapids vs. Syracuse) ... This was the third-longest game in Checkers history, trialing another double overtime game in 2019 that ended at 18:48, and a five-overtime epic that marked the longest game in AHL history in 2018 ... The Checkers are 1-2 in playoff overtime games this season. They are 8-6 all time ... This was only the fourth time in 13 playoff games that the Checkers did not score the first goal ... The Checkers surrendered a multi-goal lead for the first time in the playoffs ... Sourdif has goals in consecutive games ... Entwistle has three points (2g, 1a) in four games since returning from an injury that had kept him out since Dec. 7 ... Jesse Puljujarvi has four points (1g, 3a) in his last three games and seven (2g, 5a) in his last six ... Kyle Criscuolo returned after missing the last two games due to injury and picked up an assist ... The Checkers are converting at just a 6.3 percent rate on the power play in these playoffs ... Checkers scratches included forwards Riley Bezeau, Brett Chorske, Zac Dalpe, Jack Devine, Riese Gaber, Riley Hughes, Ryan McAllister, Aidan McDonough, Liam McLinskey, Kai Schwindt and Nicholas Zabaneh; defensemen Marek Alscher, Colton Huard, Eamon Powell and Mitch Vande Sompel; and goaltender Cooper Black.

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