Canes and Jets entertain in preseason tilt

CHARLOTTE, NC – Although results really do not matterin the  pre-season it appears Paul Maurice, the head coach of the Hurricanes was not happy with his team’s performance against the Buffalo Sabres and Nashville Predators. Last Friday’s loss was the second of the pre-season, now against the Winnipeg Jets it was time to turn things around, they certainly did with a 4-0 victory.
 
Pre-game Eric Staal, the Canes captain said the team was going to put a show on for the fans in Charlotte, which they did. Improving their game especially applied to players who had performed for the Charlotte Checkers in the 2010/11 season. Zac Dalpe, Riley Nash and Jerome Samson allscored for the Canes. While Jon Matsumoto had a narrow miss from a breakaway. Brett Sutter who assisted the Checkers in reaching the Calder Cup playoffs was another former Checker on the ice.
 
The lead-up to the game on Sunday was the opening of the new Charlotte Checkers facility of offices and merchandise shop with a Fan Fest that took place on Saturday. In attendance were Hurricanes captain Eric Staal (team captain, Stanley Cup winner and Olympic Gold medalist), goaltender Cam Ward (Stanley Cup winner, Conn Smythe trophy winner for playoff MVP) and forward Jeff Skinner, who is reigning NHL Rookie of the Year.
 
In his first full start of the 2011-12 season goalie Cam Ward kept a clean sheet while making 35 saves. Ward was very solid between the pipes making a number of excellent saves including thwarting Randy Jones of theJets with a nice glove save.
 
Teenage defenders Ryan Murphy, a recent draft and Justin Faulk both had excellent games. Murphy had an assist while Faulk had several point shots and a secondary assist with the opening goal. Both players will be in the line-up Wednesday for the return game in Winnipeg.
 
Maurice said after the game that going in to training camp he felt it was at forward positions where all the competition was. Maybe by the end of camp that may have taken a complete reversal with the competition being in the defensive roles.
 
10,433 fans were in attendance at the Time Warner Cable Arena, they created a wonderful atmosphere, and this certainly bodes well for the future of ice-hockey in Charlotte. The Checkers, who moved from Albany, New York to compete in the AHL for the 2010-11 season face Lake EerieMonsters on Friday September 30 at 7pm and on Saturday October 1 at 1.00pm at the Extreme Ice Center in Indian Trail. The season opener is on Saturday October 15 against Peoria Rivermen.
 
The Hurricanes have assigned seven players to the Checkers, these are, Forwards Nicolas Blanchard, Mike McKenzie, Cedric McNicoll, Jared Staal and Justin Shugg. Defensemen Michal Jordan and Rasmus Rissanen.
Contact Eddie.Mitchell@p[rohockeynews.com Contact the photographer tom.nelson@prohockeynews.com