| Texas Stars 8-10-0-1, 17 pts #12 Western Conference | at | Charlotte Checkers 13-6-1-1, 28 pts #3 Western Conference |
November 30th at 6:00 PM
Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC
The Texas Stars travel to the state of North Carolina for their first ever game against the Charlotte Checkers this evening. The Checkers are in their second year in the AHL and are playing in the Western Conference this year to accomodate the move of Manitoba to the East. Charlotte previously played in the ECHL since the 1993-94 season. Coach Pyle has played against this team often with Gwinnett and Travis Morin saw a few games against them in his time with the South Carolina Stingrays. Otherwise, they are unknowns.
The Checkers are a solid team. They are currently #3 in the conference and #1 in a division with the likes of Chicago and Milwaukee. They made the playoffs last year in their first season, defeating the Bears and Penguins before losing to eventual Calder Cup Champion, Binghamton, in the East Final.
Starting in goal, the Checkers have two solid players. Justin Peters has 10 games under his belt this season with a 6-2-1 record, 2.17 GAA and .932 SV%. Mike Murphy is 7-5-0 in 13 GP with 2.43 GAA and a .924 SV%. Leading scorers for the Checkers include Jerome Samson and Jon Matsumoto.
The Checkers are a strong team at home, going 7-1-0-1 in the TWC Arena. They also love playing from ahead, as do most teams, going 8-1-0-0 when scoring first. They do have a tendency to be outscored in the third with a 7 goal deficit in that period over the season. If Texas does get behind, there is a precedent for the team to catchup. Chasing Checkers notes that the team has had trouble playing a full 60 recently.
Their power play is midpack at home (#17 at 17.4%) but stellar overall (#5 at 20.4%). PK is also midpack at home (#13 at 82.4%) and overall (#18 at 81.4%). Expect a lot of shots in this game. Texas shoots a lot (#4 at 33.16 per game) and Charlotte allows a lot (#24 at 32.43).
In other notes, Checkers forward Chris Terry is on a 7 game scoring streak with 10 points in that time. The Checkers are on a 3 game home win streak as well.
Stars injury/call up report:
Larsen, Vincour, Bachman (callup)
Website: gocheckers.com
Checkers Social Media: Social Media
Blog (unofficial): Chasing Checkers
Twitter: @checkershockey
Twitter: @mikelappan (PR)
Give a follow to Paul Branecky, too. He does most of the writing for the Checkers and has a lot of great game day observations, etc. @PaulBranecky on twitter.
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