Belated Notes at Noon: Checkers At Home Tonight, More Praise For Jeff Daniels

The Charlotte Checkers resume their series against the Wilkes/Barre-Scranton Penguins tonight at Time Warner Arena with their series all tied up at one game apiece.   Charlotte took game one, 3-2 while the "Baby Pens" shutout the Checkers, 3-0 in game two.

Zac Dalpe leads Charlotte in postseason scoring with a total of 9 points, (4G 5A) followed closely by Zach Boychuk with 8 points, (3G 5A).  Drayson Bowman, (2G 5A) and Brett Sutter, (2G 5A) are also contributing nicely on offensive as they have seven points each.

Mike Murphy has been solid in net and has a 4-2 postseason record with a GAA of 2.17 and save percentage of .929.

Newly signed defenseman Justin Faulk has made his presence known and has two assists in just five games so far in his short AHL career.

For more information, be sure to check out Hockeymom's Game Day Guide which has the latest and greatest stat info about the Checkers.  Feel free to print out the form and take it to the game as a reference if you like.  Another nice job by HM.

Canes Country's Game Guide: Checkers vs WBS Penguins

The Checkers will be at home for games on Wednesday and Friday nights as well.  Tickets are still available for all three home games.  (Friday night is "Free Cowbell Night".)  

For more info, check out GoCheckers.com.

Checkers head coach and general manager, Jeff Daniels, has been getting more and more attention, and rightfully so.  In this morning's News and Observer and Charlotte Observer,, Chip Alexander had a nice write up about the coach.

Jeff Daniels, Good Coach and Good Teacher

Daniels seems to be well-liked and respected by his players.  Obviously, having the ability to teach the game at that level is of paramount importance.  

"Jeff is so balanced," center Nick Dodge said. "You always feel very comfortable playing for him, knowing if that you make a mistake he's going to point it out but not rip into you. He's just a good teacher of the game."

Here are a couple more links related to this big series:

Penguins Insider " Game 2 Post-Game 4/30
They delivered several crushing hits — led by Joey Mormina flattening Brad Herauf and Tim Wallace running over Chris Terry — and got into countless post-whistle confrontations en route to a 3-0 victory. They might not be able to match Charlotte skill for skill, but they muck it up way better than the Checkers do. After the game, the Penguins said they weren’t trying to employ any kind of strategy or push any buttons. They said they were just playing the way they like to play. But I think it was part of a plan. I think the Penguins think Charlotte is lacking in the toughness department and they’re going to try to exploit that perceived weakness.