It's officially hockey season again here in North Carolina. The Carolina Hurricanes and Charlotte Checkers have starter their 2019-20 NHL and AHL seasons, respectively. With the Canes first playoff appearance after a nine-season drought and the Checkers winning their first Calder Cup, it's obvious to point out that the expectations this year for the organization are quite high. Also, with the Fayetteville Marksmen making their first SPHL playoff appearance and the Carolina Thunderbirds winning the Commissioner's Cup, the state of North Carolina is at a fever pitch for good hockey.
Carolina Hurricanes (3-0-0)
Oct. 3- Win vs. Montreal; 4-3 (SO)
In front of a sold out crowd in PNC the Canes went the full regular season distance to start off the 2019-20 NHL with a W. Carolina struck first in the opening frame with Lucas Wallmark scoring the first goal of the new Hurricanes season. The Canes added a second tally in the second with a goal by Martin Necas, but Montreal came back strongly by adding three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead into the final period of regulation. Not to be outdone Erik Haula would score the game-tying goal for Carolina seven minutes into the third period and send the game to overtime. No one was able to score in OT which meant time for the shootout and it was the Canes that would come out on top with d-man Dougie Hamilton scoring the first and only goal by either team.
Oct. 5- Win at Washington; 3-2 (OT)
Off their first win in their first game of the season the Canes headed to DC to settle a score from the last game of the preseason against the Washington Capitals. James Reimer was given his first official start in goal as a Hurricane for this game. Things did not go the Canes way for the first two periods with the Caps scoring a goal in each period to have a 2-0 lead going into the third. With 20 minutes left in regulation Carolina were able to keep the Caps out of the net and in the process come from behind and tie the game with goals by Erik Haula and Jaccob Slavin to push the teams to overtime with a score of 2-2. During the OT period the Canes would survive a penalty killing spell and end up the victors with the game-winning-goal scored by newly acquired defenseman Jake Gardiner.
Oct. 6- Win vs. Tampa Bay; 4-3 (OT)
Three games, three wins, none in regulation. Also, each game was one by a member of the Canes defensive core; Hamilton against Montreal, Gardiner against Washington, and Jaccob Slavin with the mighty slapper against the Lightning. Carolina opened the game up with a Brett Pesce tally, but Tampa would respond with three unanswered goals to close out a four goal first period with a 3-1 lead. Erik Haula would respond for the Canes by notching his third goal in as many games in the second to make it a one goal game and Dougie Hamilton would score the game-tying goal in the third period (Haula's and Hamilton's goals were on the Power-play, too). As stated before, the Canes would score in OT with a goal by Slavin and the Canes would finish the first week of the new NHL season with six points out of six. Mrazek also got his second win of the season.
Games Next Week: 10/8 at Florida; 10/11 vs. New York Islanders; 10/12 vs. Columbus
Charlotte Checkers (1-1-0)
Oct. 5- Loss at Hartford; 3-5
The defending American Hockey League champs got their 2019-20 campaign underway on the wrong foot with a loss to the Hartford Wolf Pack. Janne Kuokkanen scored the first goal of the game as well as the first goal of the Checkers season. Hartford would storm back by scoring all five of their goals in response. Dave Gust would score afterwards to make it a three goal game and Canes preseason standout Julien Guthier would close out the scoring with a goal of his own bring the game to a close with a 5-3 loss.
Oct. 6- Win at Springfield; 4-2
Charlotte needed to bounce back after losing to Hartford the day before and they delivered with a 4-2 win against the Falcons. Morgan Geekie started things off with a powerplay goal followed by another first period tally from Stevie Lorentz and a second period goal by Anthony Louis. Springfield would score two goals to make it a one goal game, but Julien Gauthier would score his second goal in two goals to (like last game) bring the scoring to a close and give the Checkers their first win of the year.
Games Next Week: 10/11-12 vs. Bridgeport
Fayetteville Marksmen (0-0-0)
The Marksmen's Southern Professional Hockey League seasons starts on Saturday, October 12th at home against the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs. Team leading scorer Brian Bowen and SPHL Defensive Player of the Year Travis Jeke will be returning while their stalwart captain Jake Hauswirth announced his retirement during the offseason.
Games Next Week: 10/12 vs. Roanoke
Carolina Thunderbirds (0-0-0)
2018-19 Commissioner's Cup Champs start their 2019-20 FHL campaign at the end of this month away in Elmira, New York against the Enforcers. Last season the T-birds had to deal with only five other teams en route to their absolute dominance of the league. This year though, the Federal (Prospects) Hockey League expanded from six to ten teams. The new teams are the Columbus River Dragons, Delaware Thunder, Danbury Hat Tricks, and the Battle Creek Rumble Bees. Coach Andre Niec returns along with a good chunk of last year's squad with hopes of repeating the unprecedented success of last year.
Games Next Week: None
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