ECHL Charlotte Checkers

Gwinnett thumps Charlotte 6-4

April 3, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release


(Duluth, Georgia - Saturday, April 2) The Charlotte Checkers could not carry their performance from Friday night into Saturday night, as they were beaten by the Gwinnett Gladiators 6-4 at the Arena at the Gwinnett Center. Gwinnett jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead and the Checkers could never recover.

Kevin Doell scored twice for the Gladiators, while Kris Goodjohn, Joe Bourne, Mike Stathopoulos, and Mike Vigilante added single goals for Gwinnett. Juris Stals, Ryan Glenn, Bogdan Rudenko and Mike Wirll scored for the Checkers, while Charlotte goalie Kelly Guard took the loss with 37 saves. The Gladiators outshot Charlotte 42-36 for the game.

Trailing 4-0 entering the final period, the Checkers mounted a comeback with four, third-period goals. However, Gwinnett scored two third-period goals including an empty-net tally with just 38 seconds left for the 6-4 final.

"I'm very disappointed by our play tonight," commented Checkers Coach Derek Wilkinson. "We had several guys who didn't want to play, and by the time they decided to in the third period it was too late. If we weren't so close to the playoffs I'd release to several players."

Despite the discouragement, Wilkinson applauded a few of his players' efforts. "Stals (Juris) goal was a beautiful goal and Rudenko (Bogdan) gave him the room to launch that shot. Kelly (goalie Kelly Guard) I thought played great and gave us a chance to win."

The Gladiators opened the scoring at 6:47 of the first period as Bourne's shot from the point found its way past Guard for a 1-0 Gwinnett advantage. A melee broke out at 12:09 which featured 6'6" - 255-pound Steve MacIntyre fighting the Gladiators 6'9" - 258-pound Lane Manson. MacInytre was given an extra five minute match penalty for attempting to injure, which gave Gwinnett a man advantage for five minutes.

The Checkers penalty killers did well until the end of the five-minute major, when Doell broke through for his second goal of the game at 16:53 beating Guard from the short side. Gwinnett got a third goal with just 38 seconds left in the period when Kris Goodjohn rifled home his 21st goal of the campaign for a 3-0 Gladiators first-period lead.

The Gladiators had a whopping 24 first-period shots to the Checkers seven.

In the second period the Gladiators increased their lead to 4-0 as Stathopoulos converted a two-on-one break after taking a pass from Pascal Pelletier at 5:45. Charlotte outshot Gwinnett 12-8 in the second period but still couldn't score.

The Checkers began their comeback 1:29 into the third period as Stals blast from 35 feet found the back of the Gladiators net to cut the Gwinnett lead to 4-1. Ryan Glenn's shot from the point four minutes later eluded Gladiators goalie Sean Fields and Charlotte was within two at 4-2.

Three minutes later Vigilante gave Gwinnett its two-goal lead right back at 5-2. The Checkers weren't done however, as Rudenko pulled Charlotte back to within two goals at 10:16 with his seventh goal of the campaign.

With the Checkers one a power play and their goalie pulled for an extra attacker, Charlotte got to within one goal with 1:13 remaining in the game as Wirll poked one in by Fields to cut the Gladiators lead to 5-4. A subsequent five-minute match penalty against the Gladiators Libor Ustrunul gave Charlotte a power play for rest of the period.

Again with their goalie pulled, the Checkers had a six-on-four advantage in an attempt to tie the game. With the puck in the Gwinnett zone, Glenn fumbled the puck at the point. Doell poked the disc to center ice and then scored into the empty net to ice the game for the Gladiators at 6-4.

The Checkers record fell to 38-25-6 for 82 points, while the Gladiators pulled to within two points of Charlotte, raising their record to 36-24-8 for 80 points. With losses in regulation Saturday night by Charlotte, Columbia and Mississippi, and an overtime loss by South Carolina, the Checkers slipped back to the sixth seed in the ECHL's American Conference playoff seeding.

The Checkers will close out their regular season road game schedule Tuesday when they come right back to Gwinnett to face the Gladiators at 7:00 p.m. Following the five-game road trip, Charlotte will return home for two, final, regular-season games at Cricket Arena. On Friday, April 8, the Checkers will host the Greenville Grrrowl, with South Carolina coming to the Queen City on Saturday, April 9. Both games will start at 7:00 p.m.

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