Beau Schmitz in a scrum around the Houston Aeros net. (Photo Credit: stat19/Tumblr)

Today the Charlotte Checkers announced that they have assigned Matt Beca and Beau Schmitz to the  South Carolina StingRays and Florida Everblades respectively.  The two are expected to re-join Charlotte once the All-Star festivities are done and over with.

Matt Beca has appeared in 7 games with the Checkers this season and has notched one assist.  He has also split time between the Everblades and StingRays in the ECHL, combining for a total of 36 games, 9 goals and 18 assists.

Beau Schmitz has appeared in 4 games with the Checkers and has also registered one assist. In 31 games with the Everblades, he has recorded just two helpers on the season.

The Charlotte Checkers return to action Thursday, January 31 against the Oklahoma City Barons for a start time of 8PM.

Nagle with Bears (Photo: Swamp Hockey)

I asked my pal and fellow tweep, Swamp Hockey, to do an interview with me on her team, the Florida Everblades. Caniacs, there is playoff hockey in the Hurricanes’ family, so enjoy an insider’s look at this ECHL team…

First, tell us a little about your Everblades fan status. How long have you followed the team?

The Blades arrived in 1998 and I went to games every once in a while but it wasn’t anything truly regular. Being a Florida native meant I didn’t really grow up around a lot of hockey. I started in the early 2000′s falling in love with the game. I refused to fall in hockey love with the Blades because I was under the impression that ECHL hockey was nowhere near as amazing as NHL hockey. About three or four years ago I started changing my tune. I had a friend who convinced me to start going to Blades games with her regularly. That season happened to be the season the Blades had one of their better squads. They earned the Brabham cup, the ECHL award given to the team with the best regular season record. I fell pretty hard for those guys, and by extension the Blades and their history.

The Everblades have had an amazing season. They currently sit first in the Eastern Conference in the pursuit for the 2012 Kelly Cup. What do you think has been the key to their success?

I think a big part of this squads success is quite a few things. The players seem to have made a commitment to each other, the fans and the system. We’ve been lucky to have two solid goalies who seem to feed off the competition they have with each other, every player on the team contributing to scoring, and very reliable defensive core. Obviously, I have to credit Coach Poss for instituting the system, demanding good conditioning and making tough roster decisions. (more…)