ECHL Charlotte Checkers

Checkers win again in 5-3 victory at Augusta

Published on December 16, 2006 under ECHL (ECHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release


(Augusta, Georgia - Saturday, December 16) The Charlotte Checker were sluggish for almost the entire game, but managed to come away with an 5-3 win Saturday night in Georgia against the Augusta Lynx. Blake Bellefeuille had a pair of goals for the Checkers and goalie Chris Holt made numerous spectacular saves to notch the victory. Charlotte also received single goals from Daymen Rycroft, Mark Lee and Zdenek Bahensky. The Checkers could only muster three shots on goal in the final period, but two of the three shots were goals. The win was the Checkers fourth straight, while Augusta dropped its fourth straight. Holt finished with 35 saves while Lynx goalie David McKee suffered the loss making 19 saves.

"For whatever reason we were sluggish and didn't have much jump for almost the entire game," commented Charlotte Coach Derek Wilkinson. "We were very opportunistic tonight and got a huge game from Chris Holt. I liked the way our guys settled down from that 2-0, first-period deficit and didn't panic. We kept working to get back into the game and we finally did."

The Checkers fell behind quickly and trailed 2-0 just six minutes into the game. Two deflections, one on a power play staked Augusta to an early advantage.

Charlotte roared back to score three, unanswered goals to take a 3-2 first-period advantage. Rycroft finally got the Checkers on the board 12 minutes into the period with his sixth goal of the season. Then Bellefeuille took over with two, consecutive first-period goals to give Charlotte a 3-2 advantage. His first goal came off a breakaway with a perfect helper from Nathan Gillies, while his second came from a shot from the top of the right circle.

In the second period Augusta got a soft goal from Ryan Lang that Holt would have liked to have had back. Lang's goal tied the game at 3-3 and was the only goal of the period.

In the final stanza Charlotte had to sustain several early Lynx power plays, including a two-man advantage for a minute and 30 seconds. The Checkers penalty killers and Holt were able to survive the pressure until Charlotte got the lead for good.

Lee converted a breakaway at 2:12 to give the Checkers a 4-3 advantage. With Augusta forcing the play in an attempt to notch the tying goal, Charlotte got a late insurance goal with two minutes left in the contest. Bahensky capped off a two-on-one break by blistering a slapshot by McKee to give the Checkers a 5-3 lead which proved to be the final score.

The victory improved the Checkers record to 15-9-1 for 31 points. The Lynx fell to 12-15-0 for 24 points.

Charlotte will conclude a three-game in three-day trek Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. when they'll take on the Gwinnett Gladiators in Duluth, Georgia.

The Checkers next home game is Thursday, December 21 at Charlotte Bobcats Arena against the Reading Royals. The game was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday, December 23, but was moved to December 21 in November.

CHECKERS SATURDAY NIGHT SCRATCHES: Dusty Jamieson and Lee Falardeau.

FOR BOXSCORE CLICK: http://echl.leaguestat.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1186

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 December 16, 2006


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