Grrrowl Drop Season Opener at Charlotte
October 11, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Greenville Grrrowl News Release
GREENVILLE, S.C. â The Charlotte Checkers spotted the defending Kelly Cup Champions a 2-0 lead early in the second period, then rallied with 5 straight goals to post a 5-2 victory over the Grrrowl on opening night at Cricket Arena.
Eric Lind opened the scoring with an unassisted goal at 4:41 of the first period. At 5:14 of the second, Luke Sellars beat Checkers goaltender Bryce Wandler to give Greenville a 2-0 lead. The Grrrowl scored two goals on their first five shots, then Wandler was replaced by 23-year old rookie Niklas Sundberg. In a span of 7 minutes and 16 seconds - starting with 10:35 remaining in the second period - the Checkers scored four times and took a 4-2 lead into the second intermission.
Rookie Takahito Suzuki recorded three of those goals during the rally. Walker McDonald rounded out the scoring at 16:16 of the third period as the Checkers won their home-opener, 5-2.
Sundstom stopped all 20 Greenville shots he faced after replacing Wandler 5 minutes and 14 seconds into the second period. Fellow rookie Michael Garnett suffered the loss for Greenville allowing 5 goals on 27 shots. Charlotte outshot Greenville 27-25.
The Greenville Grrrowl are back at the BI-LO Center for their home-opener against the South Carolina Stingrays tomorrow (Saturday) night at 7:05 PM. The 2002 Kelly Cup Championship banner will be raised in a very special pre-game ceremony.
Grrrowl tickets are on sale at the BI-LO Center box office and all TicketMaster outlets.
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