By Brian LeBlanc
NCSportsTalk.com - Puck Drops
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When the Canes are in the midst of a two-week road trip and you're in the mood to check up on the Canes of the future, what do you do? Well, if you're the Puck Drops Mobile, you gas up and hit the road to Charlotte, which is where we come to you today as the Charlotte Checkers, the Canes' American Hockey League affiliate, face off against the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears, the AHL affiliate of Southeast Division rival Washington.
And it's largely a good time to visit. The Checkers were the hottest team in the AHL in November, and when they played Hershey on Friday night the Checkers lost in a shootout despite 48 saves from Justin Pogge. Since the AHL generally schedules two-game series for visiting teams, the Bears are looking for a sweep this afternoon.
The names you'll see in this afternoon's live blog will be somewhat familiar: Boychuk, Samson, Bowman, Borer, Pogge, and so forth. The Bears even have a former Hurricane of their own; one of their associate captains is Keith Aucoin, who spent three seasons in the Carolina system. The Checkers, of course, are also coached by a former Hurricane, retired forward and former assistant coach Jeff Daniels.
Never done an AHL live blog before, so apologies if it isn't what you expect. Honestly, I'm not sure what to expect either...
2:45 1st: It took a few minutes to get off the ground, as the Checkers spent most of the first minute on their heels in their own zone, but the fourth line of Brett Sutter, Riley Nash and Brad Herauf nearly scored with some great down-low pressure and a couple of huge hits behind the net.
3:31 1st: Checkers lead 1-0; Dalpe 11 (Boychuk, Micflikier) Well, if you were interested in seeing what Zach Boychuk and Zac Dalpe could do against lesser competition, a trip to Charlotte is in your best interests. The Bears' defense couldn't get back in time to keep Dalpe and Boychuk from creating a 2-on-1, and Dalpe converted with a perfectly placed one-timer off a Boychuk pass from the near circle.
6:32 1st: Should have been 2-0 if not for an amazing save by a Bears defenseman. Oskar Osala forced Bears goalie Braden Holtby to cough up the puck behind the net and centered to Riley Nash before Holtby could get back in the net, but Nash's bid at a wide-open net was denied by a last-gasp save from the Bears' Sean Collins to keep it a one-goal game.
8:47 1st: Checkers lead 3-0 after two goals in 13 seconds: Micflikier 12 (Boychuk, Dalpe) at 8:34, then Pistilli 1 (Matsumoto, Osala) at 8:47 The Bears are a good team, and the Checkers are just skating circles around them right now. First in line was a shot from Zach Boychuk that even fooled the guy with his hand on the goal horn trigger when the shot hit the post even though everyone in the building thought it was going in, but the puck bounced to Jacob Micflikier who roofed home the rebound to give the Checkers a 2-0 lead.
Then, thirteen seconds later, Matthew Pistilli scored his first AHL goal by cleaning up a broken play off a bad rebound from Holtby, who kicked the puck right to him. So far, so good if you're wearing red. Not so good for the guys in white, who called timeout after the Pistilli goal to calm the troops down.
12:47 1st: The Checkers really are bringing a mean forecheck today. They've already drawn two penalties from hard work deep in the Hershey zone, and they're really forcing Holtby to be back on his heels with good redirection bids and really crisp passing down low. Of course, a lot of that is on the Hershey defense, which is doing nothing to prevent those passes from connecting.
13:49 1st: Charlotte's lead cut to 3-1; Beagle 7 (Kane) (sh) And it looked similar to something we'd see the Hurricanes do: soft coverage in the defensive zone left goaltender Mike Murphy with no help. He made the first stop on Jay Beagle as Beagle and Boyd Kane gained the zone with speed, but he couldn't cover the rebound and Beagle roofed it over Murphy's glove.
End 1st: The Bears' timeout after the third Checkers goal came at a perfect time, as they played much more confidently toward the end of the period and they forced Murphy to make some big saves. The Checkers' defense, though, seems much more adaptable than the Bears, and they're doing a good job of getting their sticks in the passing lanes and denying the Bears open looks. Shots in the first period were 12-7 Checkers.
:45 2nd: Nice sequence by the Checkers defense, which kept the Bears off the board with a nice pressure deep in the zone. After Murphy made an initial save, the defense pushed Steve Pinizzotto off the puck just enough to prevent him from elevating the rebound over Murphy and into the net.
6:25 2nd: Jon Matsumoto nearly created a goal out of very literally nothing. He danced the puck around the Bears' Lawrence Nycholat, fired a shot high that Holtby batted down with his blocker, then nearly shoveled home the rebound. Great individual effort.
9:10 2nd: Great play by Zack FitzGerald to block a shot from the point and pool-cue the puck out of the Charlotte zone, but it should have never gotten to that point. The Bears are really flying right now and they've forced the Checkers to play catch-up for most of this period.
13:20 2nd: Pistilli nearly had his second, and he deserved it, undressing Nycholat (who, despite what you've read here today, is actually a pretty good player) for the second time in seven minutes and surprising Holtby with a quick snap shot from just outside the crease.
16:10 2nd: FitzGerald gets into fisticuffs for the second time, this time with a two-punch takedown of Bears captain Steve Pinizzotto behind the Checkers' net. He earned a double-minor for roughing.
17:19 2nd: Bears pull to 3-2; Souray 1 (Nycholat) (pp) And after Casey Borer took a slashing penalty that he vehemently disagreed with, the Bears made them pay on the 5-on-3 with a wicked one-timer from Sheldon Souray at the top of the far circle that beat Murphy cleanly to the blocker side.
End 2nd: You can tell that these teams are getting rather annoyed with each other after five period of hockey over the last three days. There's a lot of chippiness out there, and just about every whistle late in the period resulted in a scrum behind the net. Shots in the period were 14-9 Hershey, who had by far the better scoring chances from start to finish.
3:10 3rd: One thing I've really been impressed with seeing is how physical Zach Boychuk has attempted to play tonight. I say "attempted" because, well, he's not exactly the biggest guy in the world (188 pounds soaking wet) and both guys he's attempted to level with a big hit have stayed completely upright and Boychuk has bounced off both of them like he was rubber. Points for effort, though.
7:00 3rd: The intermission looks like it did some good for the Checkers, who have kept the Bears safely away from Murphy for the most part. Of course, as I type that, the Bears spend a full minute in the Charlotte zone with the Checkers unable to clear. Shows what I know.
9:12 3rd: No surprise given his past, but Jeff Daniels looks like he's been to the Paul Maurice School of Power Play Design for a few classes. All night, he's used Zac Dalpe at the left point on the power play, and it almost paid off as Dalpe skated in unmolested and nearly caught Holtby cheating off the near post.
10:09 3rd: I'm not sure how the officials missed this, but the Bears blatantly had too many men on the ice and it took every member of the Checkers screaming at the officials for the linesman to make the call. Rather inexcusable.
10:46 3rd: Two goals in less than a minute again - this time 20 seconds apart! Rodney 5 (Boychuk, Matsumoto) (pp) at 10:26, then Micflikier 13 (Dalpe, Boychuk) (pp) at 10:46 Now this isn't something you see every day. First, Bryan Rodney converted a beautiful pass from Boychuk (notice a trend developing here?) as the Checkers picked apart the Bears' 5-on-3 defense, then Micflikier took advantage of a horrible puck-handling miscue by Holtby and he had all day to get through the Bears defense and find the back of the empty net. Holtby was some kind of upset with himself, slamming his stick to the ice in frustration.
18:11 3rd: Sheldon Souray gets a hooking penalty behind the Bears' net, then the fun begins with two separate altercations, one of which ended up with three 10-minute misconducts being handed out, two to the Checkers (Michal Jordan and Brad Herouf) and one to the Bears.
18:28 3rd: Bears cut it to 5-3; Nycholat (unassisted) Probably doesn't matter at this point, but Nycholat got it back to within two goals.
End 3rd: Indeed, it didn't matter. The Checkers won 5-3, improving their record against the two-time defending champs to 3-1-1 on the season. Shots in the third were 9-8 Charlotte, who really tilted the ice beginning with the 5-on-3 halfway through the period.
Postgame: Not to say that the Canes' locker room isn't tight -- it's obvious that it is -- but the Checkers locker room seems especially tightly-knit and the guys down here really enjoy playing. It could easily be a room full of guys who are bitter over the fact that they're here and not in the NHL, but it doesn't seem that way at all. Much more laid-back and the guys are really happy to be here playing.
That said, I got a couple of double-takes from guys who have seen me in the Canes' locker room and wondered if I got lost on my way to the RBC Center, but it's all in good fun. Right now the Checkers are rolling, and everyone's happy to be a part of it, even guys like Boychuk and Dalpe who have NHL experience under their belt.
Click for audio from Boychuk, Dalpe and coach Jeff Daniels. We'll definitely be back in the future - this was really a lot of fun.
If not before, we're back to more normal NHL surroundings on Saturday when the Canes return from their five-game road trip to welcome the Anaheim Ducks to Raleigh.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
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