Quick Clicks: Charlotte Checkers stunning comeback

by Carolyn Christians on Apr 23, 2011 11:56 AM EDT in Charlotte Checkers

The crowd was filled with Hurricanes and Checkers fans in equal measure at Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena last night to watch the AHL prospects stage a shocking third period comeback to defeat the two-time Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears. While many were speechless, except for a loud chorus WOOHOOS!, there were a few who managed to pen some words and get the players to share their thoughts. Here ya go:

The Checkers' Official recap: WHAT A COMEBACK! CHECKERS WIN 5-3 CHECKERS SCORE FIVE STRAIGHT IN THRILLING COMEBACK TO WIN 5-3. Nick Dodge scores winner for second straight game; Checkers lead series 3-2 including stats. Gamesheet
Checkers vs. Hershey Bears 04.22.2011 - LTD's set on Flickr
The Cardiac Checkers strike: Checkers 5, Bears 3; Checkers up 3-2 in series - Canes Country The Cardiac Checkers score five unanswered to beat Hershey 5-3, go up 3-2 in their series.
Dodge Makes Unlikely Contribution - Paul Branecky In the postseason, big contributions tend to come from unlikely sources.
Amazing comeback puts Checkers up 3-2 in series with Bears - David Lee, Red & Black Hockey It would have been easy for the team to give up. Down 3-0 late in the second, they could have folded up the tents and mailed it in for the rest of the game. But they didn't.
Checkers Score 5 Straight In Comeback Over Hershey - WSOC Charlotte After falling behind 3-0 midway through the second period, the Charlotte Checkers scored five unanswered goals and shocked the Hershey Bears, 5-3, to take a 3-2 lead in the East Division Semifinals

After the jump, stories from Hershey and what happens next, if the Checkers hold on to take the series.

Hershey's Perspective

LATE ADD: Bears on the brink of elimination - Lebanon Daily News Hershey coughed up a 3-0 lead and now trails Charlotte 3-2 in the East Division Semifinal Series.
Charlotte Checkers shock Hershey Bears in Game 5 win | Tim Leone, PennLive.com Buried in a three-goal hole Friday night at Time Warner Cable Arena, the Charlotte Checkers used an immaculate deflection to fuel a stunning comeback in Game 5 of the East Division semifinals.
Sweetest Hockey on Earth: Third Period Effort Earns Checkers 5-3 Win vs Bears The story of this series against the Charlotte Checkers has been offense. Both teams are incredibly offensively talented and the score usually shows that. Tonight was no exception.
Morning after: Hershey Bears face elimination in Game 6 | PennLive.com "I'm definitely going to make sure everybody understands that Hershey doesn't give up," Oskar Osala said. "At home in the playoffs, they are not an easy team to beat. It's going to be a new game on Sunday.

Game 6 will be at 5pm Sunday afternoon in Hershey. If the Checkers succeed in their efforts to win one of the next 2 games taking the best-of-7 series, they would advance to play the winner of the other East Division semi-final between the Norfolk Admirals (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Baby Penguins. The top-ranked Pens dropped the first 2 games, but have since won 3 in a row, in Norfolk, to take the series home to Pennsylvania with a 3-2 series lead.

During the regular season, the Checkers were 1-6-1 vs the Penguins and 7-3-2 vs the Admirals.

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Comments

GOOD JOB CHECKERS!

YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD OF YOURSELVES!

by emmarose on Apr 23, 2011 2:39 PM EDT reply actions

Listened to the game last nite on AHL

The Checkers broadcaster does a good job. Seems to tell it like it is, plus I really enjoyed his excitement in the 3rd. It was catching. It was a good game.

by Canesfan1 on Apr 23, 2011 3:11 PM EDT reply actions

I was lucky enough to be there last night and it was awsome! My voice still hasn’t returned.

by Pfidget on Apr 23, 2011 4:27 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah great

So the AHL club is doing great in the post season b.c. the team is so stacked with talent and the NHL parent club is sitting at home watching the NHL postseason un fold. Great coaching, callups, etc… Maurice & Rutherford.

by Holty_Panthers_Fan on Apr 24, 2011 12:31 AM EDT reply actions

Yeah, for real. It’s not like the AHL is a different league or anything like that.

Phoblographer and Finn Aficionado
SISU

by Jamie Kellner on Apr 24, 2011 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions

The Penguins defeated the Admirals last night to take that series. That was 4 straight wins for WBS. They’ve announced Games 1 and 2 of the next round will be Thurs and Saturday in Wilkes-Barre. (WBS is top seed so holds home ice advantage no matter if it’s Hershey or Charlotte).

If Charlotte advances, that would mean games 3, 4, and 5 would be the week of May 2nd, perhaps going similarly to this past round, Tues, Wed, Fri…. Just guessing.

Twitter @HMof2

by Carolyn Christians on Apr 24, 2011 10:57 AM EDT reply actions

Best Game All Year

I was lucky enough to be there. Even when they went down 3-0, I never felt like they were out of it. When they scored the first, I knew we were at least going to make a game out of it.

Not the time for a coaching or system debate but there is a huge difference there. When the Checkers took the lead they kept attacking and daring Hershey to score. They did not go into any kind of shell and kept their dumping to a minimum.

Best hockey I have seen this year. Glad to be there. Wished there was a bigger crowd but holiday and all. The ones there had that place rocking.

Go Checkers!

by WStout on Apr 24, 2011 1:46 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

P.S.

Kudos to A Doug. He can spot em. Osala is going to be a beast.

Faulk is pretty darn good now too.

by WStout on Apr 24, 2011 2:15 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

When you call all of them you have to be right about some of them. :-D

Here we are now...entertain us.

by Elsker on Apr 24, 2011 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m still waiting for Bodie to morph into Ryan Malone.

Twitter @HMof2

by Carolyn Christians on Apr 24, 2011 9:42 PM EDT up reply actions

Bodie, Osala and Ryan Malone

Interestingly, Malone was much-maligned as has been Penner. For Bodie, he has much of what is needed to make the jump into the third line at right wing. First and foremost he has size and North/South skating speed. He also has the heart to succeed and is naturally aggressive. I think he has good eye hand coordination. His hands are reasonably soft and he has the ability to stay on his skates in front of the net. What he can do during this off-season is work on the nuances of handling the puck and deflecting shots. He doesn’t have iron hands but he also needs to work on softening up his hands. He also needs to work on lateral skating and acceleration.

This season Cole was vastly improved on his east/west skating and his offensive creativity was vastly better. Of course, Cole has always had jets on his skates and has always been a strong man; but this season he made a huge jump. The point is that power forwards are almost always a work in progress.

Osala also obviously has great size and has excellent North/South speed. Osala is a natural scorer and has been his entire hockey career. When Osala plays his game with conviction he is very difficult to handle. For Osala next season will be very much about this post-season’s conditioning. Osala has to make the commitment to be able to skate as hard at the end of a long shift as at the start of the shift. Skinner to me stands out as a player where you can’t tell how long a shift he’s been on by the way he skates. He has mental tenacity and physical conditioning to battle for the puck as hard at the end of shift as at the start. Osala has improved greatly since coming into the Hurricanes organization. If he puts in the time and gets the right conditioning coaching/training he can be a tremendous help for the Hurricanes. If one were to combine Osala’s skill sets with Bodie’s hunger and aggressiveness, yes, you’d have a Ryan Malone.

by abramsdoug on Apr 25, 2011 7:18 AM EDT up reply actions

Checkers up 1-0 in the 2nd Period against Hershey. The Sutter-Dalpe-Boychuk line has been on fire the past few games.

by JussiJuice on Apr 24, 2011 5:58 PM EDT reply actions

Dalpe/Boychuk

I think Dalpe and Boychuk are the two most NHL ready forwards the Hurricanes have. Individually they are excellent, but together on a line they are very difficult to stop. I also admire the way Daniels uses them. Sometimes he splits Boychuk and Dalpe, but when the game is on the line, more often than not, the puts them together. Together Dalpe and Boychuk combined for a total of 6 goals and 9 assists in six playoff games. 15 points in six playoff games is beyond excellent. Next season, I hope Maurice will figure out a way to put them on a line together; and I hope both of them pay their dues with the conditioning coach in the off-season to make it impossible for the Hurricanes not to keep them in the top six or top nine.

by abramsdoug on Apr 25, 2011 7:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Checkers won in OT. Blanchard from Dodge, 1:30 into the OT. 2-1 is your final.

WBS hosts Thurs and Sat. Announcement of rest of series to be made tomorrow.

Twitter @HMof2

by Carolyn Christians on Apr 24, 2011 8:11 PM EDT reply actions

Here’s the schedule, folks. M-W-F in Charlotte.

East Division Final – Series "J" (best-of-7)
E1-Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins vs. E3-Charlotte Checkers
Game 1 – Thu., Apr. 28 – Charlotte at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 30 – Charlotte at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
Game 3 – Mon., May 2 – W-B/Scranton at Charlotte, 7:00
Game 4 – Wed., May 4 – W-B/Scranton at Charlotte, 7:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 6 – W-B/Scranton at Charlotte, 7:00
*Game 6 – Sat., May 7 – Charlotte at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 7 – Mon., May 9 – Charlotte at W-B/Scranton, 7:05

Phoblographer and Finn Aficionado
SISU

by Jamie Kellner on Apr 24, 2011 9:15 PM EDT reply actions