Cooper Black stopped a career-high 40 in his home state of Michigan, knocking off the Grand Rapids Griffins (11-1-0-1), as the Checkers (9-4-1-0) secured a 2-1 win on Friday night at Van Andel Arena. The Alpena, MI, native locked in his seventh victory of the 2025-26 season as Charlotte extended their winning streak to five games.
Mike Benning notched his first goal of the season 1:28 into regulation, sending a blast from the deep slot that rang off the left post and in past Griffins goaltender Sebastian Cossa. Ben Steeves and Sandis Vilmanis recorded assists on Benning’s opening tally.
Colton Huard doubled Charlotte’s lead 9:34 into the second period, scoring his third goal of the season off a pass from Nolan Foote. Riese Gaber created a turnover behind the Griffins’ net, jarring the puck loose for Foote along the far corner.
Tyler Angle scored the lone goal for Grand Rapids, finally solving Black 7:06 into the third period. Charlotte closes out their four-game road trip with a rematch against the Griffins in Grand Rapids on Saturday, November 22.
Coverage of the game can be found on the Checkers social media channels, FloHockey and Mixlr.
NOTES
The loss ended Grand Rapids’ 12-game unbeaten streak in regulation, the longest to start the 2025-26 regular season in all of pro hockey Benning extended his point streak to three games with his first-period goal … Black improved to 4-0 in his last four starts … Charlotte’s penalty kill went 6-for-6 while their power play was 0-for-1 … Former Checkers forward John Leonard saw his 10-game point streak snapped … Ludvig Jansson, Kai Schwindt, Mitch Vande Sompel, Eamon Powell, Mikulas Hovorka, Liam McLinskey, Anton Lundmark, Tyler Motte and Jack Studnicka were scratched for Charlotte.