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ECHL Charlotte Checkers

Checkers grounded as Ice Pilots win 3-1

February 4, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release


(Pensacola, Florida - Saturday, February 3) The Charlotte Checkers ran into a hot goaltender Saturday night, and dropped their first game of the week in a 3-1 loss to the Pensacola Ice Pilots in Florida . Goalie Michael Mole made 33 saves for the Ice Pilots while Pensacola scored single goals by Mike Wirll, David Wrigley and Niko Tuomi. The Checkers lone goal was scored by Daymen Rycroft, while netminder Chris Holt had his personal three-game winning streak snapped with the 26-save loss. The defeat was only the Checkers second in their last nine games and despite the loss, Charlotte (24-16-1-2 for 51 points) still sports an excellent record of 7-2-2 in its last 11 contests. "Their goaltender was the big difference in the game tonight," remarked Charlotte Coach Derek Wilkinson. "We gave up two bad goals early and it was tough to come from behind, although I thought we tried hard. It still was a good week for us winning two of three, but it's tough not to get at least a point out of tonight."

Pensacola (14-29-1-1 for 30 points) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the game's first 12 minutes. Wirll, who played in Charlotte for parts of two seasons from 2003 to 2005, scored at 7 minutes, 10 seconds of the first period on a jam up in front of the Charlotte goal. The Ice Pilots made it 2-0 at 11:42 when Holt failed to control a rebound. The loose puck went right to Wrigley who was wide open in front of the Checkers goal for an easy tap-in.

Charlotte climbed back into the game in the second period with a power-play goal at 7:39. Rycroft took a cross-ice pass from Blake Bellefeuille, and blasted a shot by Mole from the top of the right circle to cut the Ice Pilots lead to 2-1. But late in the period Pensacola turned a two-on-one rush into another two-goal lead. Tuomi broke into the Checkers zone, used Wrigley as a decoy, and then scored only his second goal of the season for a 3-1 Ice Pilots advantage.

In the third period the Checkers applied the pressure with 14 shots but couldn't light the lamp again. Down by two goals, Charlotte even tried to pull Holt for a sixth attacker with a minute and a half left in the contest. However, constant pressure by the Ice Pilots didn't allow the Checkers an opportunity to get the puck deep in the Pensacola zone. The 3-2 final allowed the Ice Pilots to even the nine-game season series at 3-3-0 , including a 2-2 mark in Pensacola.

Charlotte will return home to begin a three-game homestand Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at Charlotte Bobcats Arena when it will host the South Carolina Stingrays. Game two of the homestand will be Saturday, February 10 against the Texas Wildcatters at 7:30 p.m., with game three Sunday afternoon, February 11 at 4:00 p.m. versus the Columbia Inferno.

CHECKERS SATURDAY NIGHT SCRATCHES: Dusty Jamieson, John Donnelly, Rick Kozak, Nathan Gillies and Adam Nightingale.

FOR BOX SCORE CLICK: http://echl.leaguestat.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1442

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.

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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.

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