The Charlotte Checkers hosted the Springfield Thunderbirds on a sunny Sunday afternoon for St. Patrick’s Day. It was the last game of a two-game set between the Atlantic Division foes. Going into the game, the Checkers were tied for third place with 68 points. They were 11 points up on the Thunderbirds, who sit in 7th place and outside of the Calder Cup Playoffs. However, that number shrank when it is all said and done. In what looked like a game that Charlotte would win, Springfield had other plans to ruin the festivities.
Specials Teams Sting Checkers
This was a game that was heavily decided by the special teams for the Thunderbirds and the Checkers. Springfield had a total of eight power-plays and capitalized on three of them, once in each period. However, the Checkers did score on the power play as well. They’d only tally once but managed to net a goal shorthanded. Despite two goals on special teams for Charlotte, giving up three goals on the penalty kill cost them in this game.
The Checkers’ first special team goal came in the first period when Rasmus Asplund scored shorthanded after a spectacular snipe. Casey Fitzgerald sprung Asplund on a two-on-one going into the Thunderbirds’ zone who ended up going top shelf faking the pass in the process.
It was a spectacular goal for Asplund’s seventh tally of the season to make it 2-1 Charlotte at the time. Fitzgerald and Santtu Kinnunen both got their 16th assists of the season on the goal. Furthermore, it was Kinnunen’s second assist of the game after factoring in on the Zac Dalpe goal that opened the scoring. As mentioned earlier, the Thunderbirds in the middle of these markers scored a power-play goal by Ryan Suzuki, his eighth of the season. The goal was the first of three man-advantage tallies by Springfield.
Stay Hot Wilmer Skoog
What a rookie season Wilmer Skoog is having for the Checkers. In his first professional season, he has 15 goals and 23 assists in 37 games for Charlotte this season. The 24-year-old Stockholm, Sweden native is having a surging back half of the season that saw him see time in the ECHL earlier in the year.
Skoog saw 20 games with the Florida Everblades and tallied two goals and eight assists in that time. Once he came back up to Charlotte, he wanted to prove that he was too valuable to be reassigned.
Skoog scored his 15th goal of the season which put the Checkers up 3-2 at the time. The goal was his 5th point in almost 2 1/2 games. Uvis Balinskis (18) & Mackie Samoskevich (23) with the assists on the tally.
Head coach Geordie Kinnear after the game stated when asked by The Calder Times about Wilmer Skoog, “To be honest, I talk to the whole group all the time. At the start of the year, from development camp to rookie tournament, all that stuff, is respect the process. There’s a kid that’s respected the process. He was here at the start of the year, it didn’t go his way, he went down and worked on his game in the East Coast League, came up and has made the most of his opportunity. He continues to grow each game and he’s playing with some pretty good players, which helps. For me, we’ve moved on from being individuals and it’s all about the team now, but he’s done a great job.”
Gerry Mayhew scored on the power play just before the halfway mark of regulation to make it 4-2 Charlotte. The Checkers’ power play went one-for-five on the night.
It Falls Apart
After the Mayhew goal, it was all Thunderbirds. Springfield went on to score four unanswered goals which saw Suzuki score his second of the game in the second period. Dylan Coghlan got his 16th goal of the season that made the game 6-4 just a tad under halfway in the third period.
Jakub Vrana added his tenth of the season after assists from Coghlan (24) and Mikhail Abramov (15). Unfortunately for the Checkers, Coghland and Suzuki ran rampant in this game as both players accumulated two points each. It was a game the Thunderbirds needed to win to stay in the playoff hunt. They are now one point behind the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for the last Calder Cup Playoff spot in the Atlantic.
Time to Learn & Move On
For the Checkers, this is a game that Kinnear and Charlotte will want back after splitting the weekend set. Winning the day before in their comeback and then doing the verse is a mood and momentum killer with less than 15 games left into the regular season. Furthermore, to give up three power-play goals on eight chances will not help win games. It is one they will need to reflect on and forget as they now have 13 games remaining before the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs.
