Checkers Fall to Trenton, 4-3
Published on January 8, 2003 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release
Charlotte, NC â January 7, 2003: The Charlotte Checkers were short of manpower Tuesday night at Cricket Arena and finally succumbed to the Trenton Titans 4-3. Matt Zultec scored twice for the Titans and Tyler Beechy added three assists to pace Trenton. It was the first defeat in regulation for the Checkers since a 4-2 loss to South Carolina on December 26, seven games ago.
With Kenton Smith and Dusty Jamieson already out and Kurt Seher away attending his grandfather's funeral, Charlotte lost defenseman Dan Preston who left the game after being checked into the boards by Zultec midway through the first period. "I thought our guys played hard tonight and gave a good effort," quoted Checkers Head Coach Don MacAdam. "When you play a good team like Trenton and are down several guys and lose by only one goal, there's a positive there."
Charlotte took a 1-0 lead at 4:42 of the first period as Allan Egeland tipped in Takahito Suzuki's centering pass from behind the net by Titans goalie Cody Rudkowsky. Trenton tied the game at 1-1 on the power play at 13:35 as Dustin Wood launched a rebound by Checkers goalie Scott Meyer. Trenton outshot the Checkers 14-8 as the two teams went to the locker room tied at 1-1.
In the second period the Titans Sean Connolly was assessed a double minor at 14:14 giving the Checkers a four-minute power play. With 34 seconds left in the man advantage, while falling down, Brandon Cullen backhanded a shot by Rudkowsky for a 2-1 Checkers lead. The shots were tied at 25-25 after two periods.
Zultek tied the game for Trenton early in the third period at 2:54 knocking home a rebound after a Meyer save. After a hooking call against Chad Wilchynski at 5:38, Zultek scored again for a 3-2 Trenton advantage after camping out in front of the Checkers net and taking a pass from behind the goal from Beechy. Trenton made it 4-2 at 9:31 as Marco Charpentier broke into the Checkers zone on a two on one and wrapped a shot just inside the near post by Meyer. Charlotte came back to make it close as Wilchynski wristed home Kevin Caulfield's rebound with 3:40 left in the period to pull the Checkers within one. MacAdam pulled Meyer for the final 1:19 of the period, but the Checkers were unable to get the equalizer.
The Checkers record fell to 16-16-2 for 34 points while Trenton upped their record to 17-13-7 for 41 points. Charlotte will return to the ice Thursday in Greensboro for a 7:05 p.m. faceoff with the Generals.
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