CHARLOTTE, NC – Road games are always tough but when you have nine on the bounce it is even tougher. The Checkers final road game sweep took them to Oklahoma City to face the Barons for two games, then on to Houston where the Aeros proved a formidable opponent, even when your team is fresh. This was the longest road trip in the Checkers’ two-year history. At the end of it Charlotte were still top of the Midwest Division of the AHL.
Friday evening in Oklahoma was a match between the two goalies with Yann Danis of the Barons coming out on top. Danis had his second shutout of the season stopping 31 shots in Oklahoma’s 1-0 victory. The goal was scored by Gilbert Brule in 3.44 in the first period.
Checkers look forward to brief homestand this week. Photo by Tom Nelson
The Checkers came back strongly on Saturday night, this time they scored twice within the first eight minutes on Yann Danis. Jon Matsumoto beat Danis in 4.16 of the first period with Brian Sutter adding a second 2.57 later. Things were going Charlotte’s way when Justin Soryal tipped in a third goal in 6.33 of the second period to put the Checkers up 3-0.
The second period was almost over when Linus Omark scored for the Barons, and then Tyler Pitlick added a second at the start of the third period, after going solo, rounding Justin Peters. Peters who had his first back to back start this season stopped 29 of 31 shots. He has now stopped 84 of 88 shots since returning from injury, his teammates were outshot 12-6 in the third but Peters stood strong to give the Checkers the victory.
A tired Charlotte Checkers took the ice on Sunday against the Houston Aeros. It showed in the first period when two goals from the Houston Aeros Jon DiSalvatore and Drew Bagnall put them firmly in the driving seat. The Checkers, however, did come back stronger in the second period and scored through Matt Pistilli. The Aeros then clicked into gear scoring two more goals within the space of two minutes making the score 4-1 to Houston,
Matusmoto, with just over 12 minutes left in the game scored Checkers second goal. Then Charlie Wellman put the game out of reach of Charlotte with an empty net goal for the Aeros. This 5-2 loss ended the current road swing meaning that the Checkers have a 5-4-0 record to take from it.
Friday November 18 the Checkers are home to the Rockford Ice-Hogs for two games, the second of which is Sunday November 20 both at the Time Warner Cable Arena.
EddieMitchell@ProHockeyNews.com
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