ECHL Charlotte Checkers

Checkers take two of three on weekend roadtrip with 3-2 win at Gwinnett

Published on February 18, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release


(Duluth, Georgia - Sunday, February 18) Tired, weary and short-handed, the Charlotte Checkers defied the odds and played one of their best games of the season in defeating the high-powered Gwinnett Gladiators 3-2 Sunday afternoon in Duluth, Georgia.

Mike Ouellette's short-handed strike five minutes into the final period proved to be the winning goal for Charlotte. Bruce Graham and Hugh Jessiman scored the other Charlotte goals, while goalie Chris Holt was spectacular in net gaining his 16th win with 30 saves.

The victory allowed Charlotte (27-19-1-2 for 57 points) to slip back into a tie with South Carolina for the fifth and final playoff spot in the Southern Division of the ECHL's American Conference. Each team has 57 points, but the Checkers have one more win than the Stingrays as well as a game in hand. Charlotte also picked up two points on idle Augusta, and now trails the Lynx by only three points with three games in hand.

Against Gwinnett (29-15-4-2 for 64 points) the Checkers improved to 3-3 in the nine-game season-series, including 2-2 in Georgia.

"After not being to hold a lead the past two nights, we just told ourselves today to get the puck deep in their zone and keep it simple," said Ouellette. "On the winning goal, Hugh (Jessiman) drew the defenseman over closer to him and then feathered a perfect pass cross ice to me. The goalie was sliding over to try to make the save but I still had a good two feet of open net and was fortunate to put it in."

The Charlotte Checkers took a 2-1 first-period lead, and were even in shots at 11-11 with the Gladiators through the first 20 minutes. Graham was credited with his 28th goal of the season just 12 seconds into the game, as Gwinnett goalie Dave Caruso accidentally knocked the puck into his own net to give the Checkers a 1-0 advantage.

With Jessiman in the penalty box, the Gladiators tied the game on Matt York's power-play goal at 12 minutes, 40 seconds of the first. Out of nowhere the Checkers struck back just 14 seconds after York's goal, as Ouellette put a perfect pass on Jessiman's stick for his 12th of the season.

Charlotte played a solid second period by keeping the Gladiators off the scoreboard while outshooting Gwinnett 11-7.

Twenty nine seconds into the third period, the Gladiators scored to tie the game at 2-2 when Kenton Smith accidentally kicked the puck in his own goal. Gwinnett's Scott Mifsud was credited with the goal. After Ouellette's goal at 4 minutes, 51 seconds of the final frame put the Checkers in front 3-2, it was Holts turn to shine. He turned aside all 12 remaining Gwinnett shots in the period, and none bigger than a point-blank shot by Mifsud with under a minute to play and the Gladiators with a sixth attacker.

The best save of the game, Holt described what happened. "He actually stopped a shot from the point and tried to go around me with the shot. Somehow I was able to get my right pad on it. That was probably in the top five of my best saves this season." Holt also talked about the keys to the victory. "The guys played unbelievably solid in front of me to today. I seem to be more mentally focused when playing teams above us in the standings. I need to improve on that and be ready no matter who we are playing."

The Checkers next game is at home Thursday night when they'll entertain the Toledo Storm at 7:00 p.m. at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. Thursday's home game will help raise funds for the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte.

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CHECKERS SUNDAY AFTERNOON SCRATCHES: Dusty Jamieson, Rick Kozak, Blake Bellefeuille, Lee Falardeau and Bryan Rodney.

ON RECALL TO (AHL) HARTFORD: Alex Westlund, Corey Potter and Zdenek Bahensky

FOR BOX SCORE CLICK: http://echl.leaguestat.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1518

The Checkers next game is at home Thursday night when they'll entertain the Toledo Storm at 7:00 p.m. at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. Thursday's home game will help raise funds for the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte.

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 box office.

Check out the Charlotte Checkers Statistics

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ECHL Stories from February 18, 2007


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