Charlotte Checkers: Top 5 Checkers Playoff Moments

The Charlotte Checkers have won the Calder Cup and brought the Cup back to Charlotte for the whole city to celebrate. Lots of moments brought the Checkers here, but what were the best?

The Carolina Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers are Champions of the AHL. There is a lot to enjoy about that. Another Cup brought into the Hurricanes family and plenty of championship experience to take with them to the NHL for those who will be moving up. But they weren’t just cup champions.

The Checkers had a 57-17-7 record for the 2018-19 American Hockey League regular season, with 110 points. They won .724% of their games. That’s almost three-fourths of the time, the Checkers would go out on the ice and bring a victory.

This team was dominant in the regular season and when they showed up in the Calder Cup Playoffs, their momentum didn’t stop. Most wins in the regular season, most wins in the playoffs, and your Calder Cup champions.

The Checkers started their playoff journey on April 20th and ended it on June 8th. Some of the best moments may be agreed on, some may have some dispute, but these are what we believe to be the best playoff moments for the Checkers season.

4. Checkers Sweep Bears

Although it wasn’t a close series at all. None of these games were that close, except maybe Game 3 where it was a 3-1 Checkers win, but Game 1 was 4-1 Checkers, Game 2 was 7-3 Checkers, and the Checkers finished it with a 5-2 win in Game 4.

Like Hurricane, like Checker. The Carolina Hurricanes eliminate the Washington Capitals, the affiliates of both teams battle it out in the American Hockey League too, with the Checkers sweeping them.

Aleksi Saarela led the way for the Checkers Game 4, as he recorded the first ever hat trick in the postseason in Checkers franchise history. With Game 4 won, the Checkers were moving on, thanks to Saarela.

Without needing it to be close to be one of the best moments in the Checkers playoff adventure, the Checkers sweeping the Hershey Bears showed not just Checkers fans, but everyone who watches the AHL, that the Checkers will have a good amount of rest and momentum going into the Eastern Conference Finals.

3. Checkers Comeback vs. Marlies in Game 2

In the first period, Jeremy Bracco and Colin Greening scored for the Toronto Marlies to give an early lead. Early in the second period, Adam Brooks gave the Marlies a 3-0 lead. By this point, it’s over, right? Nah.

Tomas Jurco would strike late in the second period to give the Checkers life. Maybe something was said in the lockerroom during intermission, but the break had the gears rolling.

Nicolas Roy, from Jurco, cutting the deficit to one early in the third period. Jesper Sellgren tying the game in the third. With little time left, Poturalski with the game-winning goal. For insurance purposes (not the State Farm kind), Patrick Brown scored the empty-netter to put the cherry on top.

With the Marlies taking Game 1 in Charlotte, if the Checkers lost Game 2 as well, they may just never clicked and lost this series, maybe even get swept. Instead, with such a big win like this, how do you lose? The Checkers end up… well, that’s next.

2. Checkers Dethrone Champions

In Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Charlotte Checkers in a critical game where they could eliminate the reigning Calder Cup champions. Brown put the Checkers up late in the first period.

In the second period, Clark Bishop scored shorthanded, as the Checkers have done all season. A 2-0 Checkers lead, but that lead faded very quickly as the Toronto Marlies would score three in a row.

Brown would score again, but on the powerplay this time, to tie the game. The third period went empty, no goals at all. Same for the first overtime, until the second time, when Geekie scored the series-winning goal, off of a Steven Lorentz rebound.

Despite the phantom officiating calls, despite the Marlies leading shots on goal 46-36, despite the Marlies having six more powerplays than the Checkers, the Checkers still pulled it off. At this point, you know the Checkers who punch their ticket to the Calder Cup Finals for the first time ever, will probably be the champions.

1. Checkers Win Calder Cup

Despite losing Game 1 of the Calder Cup Finals in the worst way possible. Everyone excited in Charlotte to see a win and they see a comeback loss, with the Chicago Wolves leaving with a victory.

The underrated feature of this Charlotte Checkers roster is their composure, they didn’t let it phase them, they bounced back in Game 2. Their next sight was a long Chicago road trip.

In all three games, the Charlotte Checkers took all three, how does a home team bounce back with loss after loss? Four wins in a row, three in a row in Chicago.

With the entire campaign of this season on the line in this series, this is definitely the best playoff moment for the Charlotte Checkers this season. The moment they were waiting for all season, the moment they worked for all season, to raise the Calder Cup above their heads.

Question for Cardiac Cane Readers: What would you change on this list?