QUICK HITS
HOME SWEET HOME
For the first time in franchise history, the Checkers are beginning the season at home. Last season the Checkers were one of the league’s top teams on home ice, posting a 22-9-5-0 record at Bojangles Coliseum. In fact, Charlotte closed the regular season on a franchise-record 15-game point streak at home - its last regulation loss at home was Feb. 11.REUNION
Checkers Head Coach Geordie Kinnear, Assistant Coaches Bobby Sanguinetti and Jared Staal and forward Riley Nash were all previously together on the same bench with the Checkers from 2010-2013. Additionally, this marks the first time that Wolf Pack forward Julien Gauthier has returned to Charlotte as a member of the opposing team after spending three seasons with the Checkers from 2017-2020, including helping the team win the 2019 Calder Cup.EXPERIENCED GROUP
Charlotte’s roster has four players with at least 150 NHL games under their belts (Del Zotto, Nash, Tierney, Bitetto) and three players with over 550 NHL games (Del Zotto, Nash, Tierney).TAMING THE PACK
The Checkers went 5-0-1-0 in their six matchups with Hartford last season, with five of those contests being decided by one goal. Over the last five seasons the Checkers are 24-5-1-2 against Hartford and 16-0-1-0 in Charlotte.QUOTES
Checkers Head Coach Geordie Kinnear on his team coming into Opening Weekend"It’s tough because we have new guys every single day. It’s kind of like an extended training camp, we’re just trying to get up to speed as fast as possible without limiting the guys’ ability to play hockey. If you give them too much information, all of a sudden we’re playing slow and we don’t want that. We’re going to build this over time, we have an identity we want to get to and it’s going to take a lot of work to get there. But we’re excited about the group."
Kinnear on building his team's identity
"I believe that if you put the work in, put your head down and do the right things - over the course of time, the identity takes over. You can talk about it all day long, but you actually have to do it physically."
Kinnear on how he wants his team to start tonight
"The easy analogy is you don’t want to dip your toe into the swimming pool, you just want to jump in. We’re going to jump into it. It’s going to be a process, we’re going to make plenty of mistakes and we’re going to learn from it. As long as we have the mindset that we’re going to get better and we’re going to play hard and play fast, the rest is going to take care of itself."
Kinnear on finally getting the season started
"You can practice all day long, but we’re here for competition. There’s another team that’s saying all the same stuff over there, so it’ll be fun to play another team and let your competitive juices take over. That’s what it’s all about."
Forward Logan Hutsko on the team's focus
"We’re just trying to focus on playing our way. It’s early, we’re going to come a long way this year, you get better every week. We just need to work hard and take it from there."
Hutsko on starting the season at home
"We love playing here. It’s really exciting to be back in Bojangles"
COMING IN
CLT: 42-24-5-1 last seasonHFD: 32-32-6-2 last season
WHO TO WATCH
CLT
Anton Levtchi - 61 points in 55 Liiga games last seasonMichael Del Zotto - 27 points in 26 AHL games last season
Aleksi Heponiemi – 30 assists in 56 AHL games last season
HFD
Jonny Brodzinski - 39 points in 36 AHL games last seasonCJ Smith - 58 points in 60 AHL games last season
Will Cuylle - 80 points in 59 OHL games last season
SEE YOU THERE!
CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS TO FRIDAY'S GAME
CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS TO SATURDAY'S GAME
CLICK HERE TO BUY $5 KIDS TICKETS FOR SATURDAY'S GAME
TUNE IN
Tonight's game starts at 7 p.m. If you can't be at the Coliseum, you can tune in to every broadcast this season with a subscription to the league’s streaming platform AHLTV For the first two games of the season, though, the AHLTV broadcast will be free.As always, the radio broadcast will be available via the Checkers app on iPhone or Android.
