The Road To Raleigh: Three out of Four- Not too shabby

by C. Wilson Spiers on Nov 28, 2010 11:49 PM EST

(Jerome Samson against Norfolk, Via Gregg Forwerck)

The Checkers entered the week with a tough home and home series with Norfolk on the slate. After that, the Checkers would head to Worcester for their first look at the Sharks, and then walked in to a Sunday affair with the tough Hershey Bears.

Charlotte ended up where they wanted however. Taking six of the eight available points for the week is a nice looking accomplishment for the junior Canes.

The Checkers were still riding high going into this week. They faced a difficult stretch of games, with 3 out of the 4 on the road. Ironically, the Checkers three wins this week all came on the road. A night to forget in Time Warner Cable Arena on Monday was followed up with three strong performances.

Results: Attendance:

Mon. Nov. 22nd- vs. Norfolk L 3-7 3,839

Wed. Nov. 24th- @ Norfolk W 4-3 3,750

Sat. Nov. 27th- @ Worcester W 4-2 3,384

Sun. Nov. 28th- @ Hershey W 5-2 7,448

East Division Standings: (As of Nov. 28th 10:53 P.M.)

Rank	East Division	GP	W	L	OTL	SL	PTS	PCT	GF	GA	STK	P10	PIM
1	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins	21	17	4	0	0	34	0.810	66	48	2-0-0-0	7-3-0-0	351
2	Charlotte Checkers	24	13	8	1	2	29	0.604	78	72	3-0-0-0	8-2-0-0	400
3	Norfolk Admirals	22	12	6	3	1	28	0.636	85	64	0-1-0-0	5-3-2-0	368
4	Hershey Bears	22	12	9	0	1	25	0.568	82	61	0-1-0-0	5-5-0-0	407
5	Binghamton Senators	23	10	10	2	1	23	0.500	70	67	0-2-0-0	4-5-1-0	438
6	Albany Devils	20	9	11	0	0	18	0.450	53	68	1-0-0-0	3-7-0-0	472
7	Syracuse Crunch	21	7	10	1	3	18	0.429	47	63	1-0-0-0	2-7-0-1	457
8	Adirondack Phantoms	23	3	18	2	0	8	0.174	45	93	0-7-1-0	1-8-1-0	477

Hot/Not:

Bryan Rodney- D 3 G 2 A 4 GP

HOT- Rodney found his offensive stroke this week for sure. His five points in the four games this week led all Charlotte blueliners. Rodney's nice looking week included a two goal performance against Hershey on Sunday.

Zac Dalpe- C 3 G 2 A 4 GP

HOT- Dalpe stayed red hot. One of his three goals included a late dagger to the heart of Norfolk late in the game. His two goals that night came in the final minute within an 11 second span.

Jerome Samson- RW 1 G 5 A 4 GP

HOT- Talk about being a dish master. Samson dished the puck beautifully this week, picking up a team high five assists.

Riley Nash- C 1 G 3 A 4 GP

HOT- Nice looking week for Nash to be sure. It was good to see him find the score sheet again after being held off of it for some time.

Mike Murphy/ Justin Pogge- G

Despite the small implosion on Monday night against Norfolk, Checkers goaltenders rallied to come away with a very impressive looking road trip. Pogge saw back to back starts on the road against Norfolk and Worcester. Against the Admirals he stopped 28 of 31 shots, and he followed that up with a 42 out of 44 save performance against the Sharks. Murphy closed things off by shutting down the high octane Hershey Bears. Stopping 38 of 40 Bear's shots put the lid on a nice looking week of Charlotte goaltending.

Future Watch:

As previously mentioned, Dalpe showed great maturity and resolve late in the game against Norfolk. His five points looked nice this week- he continues to be a very, very bright spot on this team. Jerome Samson dished the puck extremely well. Samson's five assists were complemented with a goal to boot. Riley Nash showed point production this week, a good thing to see. Zach Boychuk notched three goals and two assists. Drayson Bowman added a goal and three assists. The Checkers have these young guns working very well in harmony.

Roster Moves:

Newly acquired Brett Sutter was the big story this week for the Checkers team. In his debut on Monday night, Sutter picked up a game misconduct penalty for boarding, and also got into a fight. Sutter accumulated 20 penalty minutes this week- by far tops on the team. Gritty may be an understatement. The Checkers saw Stefan Chaput and Matt Kennedy leave in the Bodie/Carter trade. Both Chaput and Kennedy however had minimal production when they weren't healthy scratches. Jon Matsumoto was obviously back in the Checkers lineup- he grabbed a goal in his first game back. Kyle Lawson and Ethan Graham were added from ECHL Florida to compensate for injuries along the blueline.

Next?:

The Checkers have a quiet week this week. A VERY quiet week. Their only game is a Sunday affair on December 5th against the Syracuse Crunch. This 3 P.M game is the only one for the Checkers this week. The Checkers will meet the Crunch again the next day at 7 o clock- another game in Time Warner Cable Arena.

Sun. Dec. 5th- vs. Syracuse 3 P.M

Checkers Trivia:

The Canes country readers showed off their intelligence last week. The only retired number for the old ECHL Checkers was number 4- worn by defenseman Kurt Seher. Dusty Jamieson was a fan favorite too, but didn't have his number retired. Dusty's picture however does hang proudly in the media catering room. Noren and Cairns were also great players to pass through Charlotte, but alas, did not have their number immortalized.

Poll

During their first two seasons in Charlotte, the Checkers won the Eastern Hockey League title. What was the trophy awarded to the league champion called back then?

Kelly Cup

36 votes

Walter Cup

6 votes

Rudolph Cup

5 votes

Walker Cup

10 votes

57 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

injured D?

Question – I had heard Sanguinetti was out hurt, but not sure of the extent. It looks like FitzGerald is also MIA. (hhich explains having both Ethan Graham and Kyle Lawson up in the AHL). I hadn’t seen anything official on the injuries – anyone have some info?

Twitter @HMof2

by Carolyn Christians on Nov 29, 2010 8:31 AM EST reply actions

Yeah I see Sanguinetti and Fitz out too. I find it hard to keep updated on AHL injuries. Even AHL.com doesn’t have really anything regarding injuries, just transactions.. If I figure out what exactly happened to them I will pass it on. Long week off for the team this week, unless it’s very serious, seeing them back against Syracuse looks good? I’ll let everyone know if they both come back, and if I can dig up any specifics on them I will certainly pass those along.

- C. Wilson, CC's resident Checkers analyst.

by C. Wilson Spiers on Nov 29, 2010 12:25 PM EST up reply actions

I saw Kennedy already had a fight for the new home crowd in Syracuse over the weekend. After some of the odd former teammates dropping gloves we’ve had so far (Conboy, now w/Portland, vs Blanchard most recently), I have to wonder if Matt will make his presence known this weekend when the Crunch comes to town.

Twitter @HMof2

by Carolyn Christians on Nov 29, 2010 5:39 PM EST up reply actions

Wilson - thanks for the info

what are the starting lines? on the game day they do not post the lines
and other than fighting how is Sutter playing and what line is he on.

by zippy8 on Nov 29, 2010 8:34 AM EST reply actions

It looks like for the latest game at Hershey, the Checkers went with Dodge, Sutter and Blanchard. That’s what AHL’s website is telling me, although Dodge and Sutter are both Centers I thought. Perhaps Dodge was moved to wing. Carson and Rodney were starting on D, which is an excellent shutdown pair.

As far as Sutter it’s very hard for me to say. In the home game last Monday, he picked up a game misconduct and wasn’t able to do much before leaving. In the away games, I see no points and a couple minuses, but I can’t speak for what he looked like on the ice- I don’t attend road games =/ , I speak simply off of highlight reels and stat sheets for away games, home games however I can deeply analyze. I will keep CC posted on Sutter when I see him live, until then STATISTICALLY, he has nothing quite yet.

- C. Wilson, CC's resident Checkers analyst.

by C. Wilson Spiers on Nov 29, 2010 12:20 PM EST up reply actions

AHLLIVE

I have watched all the games on AHLlive; but having somebody there at the games in person is far superior. As far as Sutter goes, last night he continued to be a presence every shift he was on the ice. Daniels seemed to shift his lines around a bit. I saw Boychuk/Dalpe/Osala some shifts. Boychuk and Nash were together for some other games. At the end of a period, I saw Boychuk/Dodge/Terry which Daniels will sometimes put together for scoring, it seems like. Boychuk/Dalpe seem to work quite well together.

by abramsdoug on Nov 29, 2010 12:46 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah I really like Boychuk with Dalpe… there’s magic there.

- C. Wilson, CC's resident Checkers analyst.

by C. Wilson Spiers on Nov 29, 2010 12:48 PM EST up reply actions

A somewhat Painless Way to Test out the Boychuk/Dalpe duo

If the Canes coaches were to think outside the box agtainst some of the smaller sized teams, they would healthy scratch Tlusty and Carter and run a fourth line of Boychuk/Dalpe/Bodie. As part of the experiment, they could double shift Staal, which they are inclined to do anyway; and they could see how Boychuk/Staal/Dalpe worked on some fourth line shifts. Given how well Boychuk/Dalpe/Osala have performed, I am guessing that Boychuk/Dalpe/Bodie would create some difficult match up problems for some teams’ fourth lines. The only way to tell about Boychuk/Dalpe is to get them on a line together at some point in the NHL.

by abramsdoug on Nov 29, 2010 12:53 PM EST up reply actions

Boychuk-Samson-Dalpe
Samson-Nash-Bowman

Seems like it has to be one of the best top-6 in the AHL. I know they aren’t in that order, just for example. I can’t wait for Dalpe to get his chance, would not be surprised at all to see a mini-Skinner type situation.

by JussiJuice on Nov 29, 2010 12:20 PM EST reply actions

Boychuk with Samson and Dalpe is a really nice line, you’re right. I too am excited about Dalpe’s future. Maybe Daniels went with a line of Sutter/Blanchard/ and Dodge in order to set an early physical, gritty tone on Sunday, that dynamite Samson line is excellent though.

- C. Wilson, CC's resident Checkers analyst.

by C. Wilson Spiers on Nov 29, 2010 12:29 PM EST up reply actions

I have been a big fan of Dalpe’s since last season when I got to see some AHL games on the internet and he played very well. I would probably say that he is my 2nd favorite Cane behind Staal. I really expect big things from him and I was really disappointed that he didn’t get a lot of time to show his value in the NHL earlier this season. I truely believe that he will be a 20 to 30 goal scorer at the NHL level and a solid top 6 player. I think he is our best prospect (not including Skinner).

If Staal can play like he did in LA on a nightly basis, he will be the 100 point player we all expect him to be!

by PackPride17 on Nov 29, 2010 1:36 PM EST up reply actions

+1

He should be the next forward called up, and JR should be thinking of a way to get him up here. Easier said than done, for sure.
I wouldn’t say he has nothing left to benefit from being in the AHL, but his time to come up and stay up is here.

by Hockeydog on Nov 29, 2010 2:16 PM EST up reply actions

Thinking About Dalpe's Game

Dalpe: Generally, one can ask of a young forward, what is the players’ worst weakness and you can find one area that you say, well, even though he has blank weakness, he is still ready. With Dalpe, what is there not to like about his game:

1. He’s big: 6’1" 195 lbs;

2. He has great speed;

3. He has soft hands with the puck;

4. He loves the dirty ice and slashes through the crease very well;

5. He has excellent vision of the ice and makes good decisions with the puck;

6. He is a kid with poise and personal calm;

7. His hockey career is one of taking and making key shots or key passes during money time;

8. He has excelled at every level of hockey, even when he was the smallest guy on the team;

9. He has a great sense of humor and keeps things going in the locker room;

10. He doesn’t hesitate to get into the middle of the physical game

11. He is an excellent skater and has a good hockey brain for angles of pursuit;

12. He wins battles in the corner;

13. He had an excellent shot;

14. He doesn’t hesitate to take reasonable chances to win games;

I haven’t been able to see a part of Dalpe’s game where I go, he really, really needs to work on that part of his game. Anybody have an area of weakness that strikes them with regard to Dalpe?

by abramsdoug on Nov 29, 2010 3:03 PM EST up reply actions

Another thing I like about his game is that he is a “scorer” (at least at every level he’s been at so far) and he has one hell of a wrister.

If Staal can play like he did in LA on a nightly basis, he will be the 100 point player we all expect him to be!

by PackPride17 on Nov 29, 2010 3:24 PM EST up reply actions

Just like Samson— never mind

by hurricane9 on Nov 29, 2010 3:58 PM EST up reply actions

I think Samson is a nice player, but I don’t believe that Dalpe and him are at the same level. Just my opinion though.

If Staal can play like he did in LA on a nightly basis, he will be the 100 point player we all expect him to be!

by PackPride17 on Nov 29, 2010 4:49 PM EST up reply actions

Samson is a good player, but I see him as a 3rd liner at the NHL level. A nice 3rd liner who can grind and keep possession of the puck very well, and get off a good shot. Dalpe just has a higher ceiling.

by Hockeydog on Nov 29, 2010 4:52 PM EST up reply actions

Oops. I meant for that to be read as Samsonov.

by hurricane9 on Nov 29, 2010 5:08 PM EST up reply actions

I definitely don’t consider Samsonov a “scorer”. I think the Canes currently have 2 players that would be considered scorers and that is Staal & Skinner. Of course my definition is different from others. I consider Cole, Ruutu, and Sutter as power forwards; guys that like to drive the net. I consider Jussi a garbage man; someone who is good at cleaning up shots or getting in good position for rebounds or passes, but I don’t think he sets himself up very well. But again, this is just how I look at things.

If Staal can play like he did in LA on a nightly basis, he will be the 100 point player we all expect him to be!

by PackPride17 on Nov 29, 2010 6:05 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

Yup

Which is one thing Samsonov doesn’t have, and part of why he’s not the ideal linemate for Staal and Cole, or top line material in general. The opposition knows he’ll dangle and pass, and if he does shoot it is really not too threatening. Dalpe on the top line with Staal and Cole gives the team 3 bigger bodies, all with speed to back off the defense, two with nasty shots, and all 3 with the willingness and ability to score in the dark areas. Now Sammy is quick ( but not fast) and has great puck handling so he helps keep some pucks in the zone, but Dalpe is clearly the man in the organization who needs to be on the top line.

by Hockeydog on Nov 29, 2010 3:38 PM EST reply actions