After a big weekend in Florida, Justin Shugg is set for another crack at the AHL.
The Checkers have recalled Shugg, a 20-year-old forward who spent roughly half of his rookie year with the team last season, from the ECHL’s Everblades. Simultaneously, Checkers forward A.J. Jenks, who only returned from a two-game stint with the Everblades last week, is headed back to the ECHL.
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Highlights
- • Was one of two 19-year-olds to play for the Checkers during the season (Justin Faulk)
- • Tied for the Checkers' rookie scoring lead with 13 points (5g, 8a) in 33 games
- • Ranked second on the team with a plus-5 rating
- • Two of his five goals were game-winners
- • Tied for third on the team with three shootout goals in just five attempts
Shugg, the Carolina Hurricanes’ fourth-round draft pick in 2010, scored five goals in two games for Florida over the weekend, including his first professional hat trick at Wheeling on Saturday. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound winger has eight points (6g, 2a) during an active four-game point streak, giving him 22 points (11g, 11a) in 19 games to rank third on the team in scoring.
Shugg is expected to be available for the Checkers’ next game against Milwaukee on Tuesday at Time Warner Cable Arena.
In his first 33 AHL games with Charlotte last season, Shugg posted 13 points, eight of which came during a nine-game stretch after he returned from injury mid-season. With the Everblades, he scored 12 points in 11 regular-season games, capturing the league’s Player of the Week Award in October, before helping to lead the team to a Kelly Cup Championship with 12 points in 11 postseason games.
The championship was Shugg’s third in four seasons, as he captured back-to-back Memorial Cups with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires in 2009 and 2010, narrowly missing a three-peat when his Mississauga team lost in the 2011 final.
Jenks, who was scoreless in his two ECHL games last week, played one of the Checkers’ next three games, serving as a healthy scratch for the last two. The third-year forward has one assist in seven AHL games this season.
