Charlotte Checkers still have some of the strongest fan attendance figures in the AHL

The Charlotte Checkers appear to have skated through any potential attendance-related problems due to mask-wearing and concerns about COVID-19’s highly contagious omicron variant.

Two-thirds of the way through their 2021-22 American Hockey League home schedule, Checkers’ attendance at Bojangles Coliseum is not far below the 2019-20 mark.

The Checkers, who wrap up a six-game homestand by hosting the Cleveland Monsters on Saturday night and Sunday, are drawing an average of 6,086 fans in 24 home dates this season. If you eliminate the Jan. 16 game, which drew only 449 fans, their average attendance is 6,331.

The Jan. 16 contest was played on a Sunday when snow, sleet and freezing rain left Charlotte roadways in treacherous condition.

In the 2019-20 season, which ended prematurely due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Checkers averaged 6,568 fans per home game.

The Checkers were among a handful of AHL teams that did not play during the 2020-21 season.

Checkers’ Chief Operating Officer Tera Black said before the season that she hoped fans would feel safe enough with COVID vaccinations and masking rules to attend home hockey games.

That, for the most part, has been the case.

Charlotte drew a sellout crowd of 8,309 for Fifties Night on Jan. 18 and has been near or above the 8,000 mark five times.

Per-game attendance this season is down 8 percent in Charlotte compared to 2019-20. That is better than the decrease experienced by the five top-drawing AHL teams last year.

The dropoff has been pronounced in some markets. The Ontario Reign, in southern California, are down 35 percent per contest. And attendance is down even more among the AHL’s Canadian franchises, where authorities prohibited fans or installed strict limits in December and January, as the omicron variant caused rapid spikes in the number of COVID cases.

Attendance equals a stronger performance on the ice, according to Checkers’ head coach Geordie Kinnear.

“We want to play fast, and this building, with the fans, will allow us to do that,” Kinnear said earlier in the season “There’s a lot of momentum they (fans) can create for our group.”

Taking stock

The 2021-22 Charlotte Checkers were an unknown commodity.

This is the first season that the franchise is a farm team of the Florida Panthers. The former parent club, the Carolina Hurricanes, switched their AHL affiliation to Chicago last season. The Panthers are Charlotte’s primary parent team, although some players from the new Seattle Kraken also are assigned to the Checkers.

What do we know about the team at the 2/3 mark?

▪ Charlotte is battling for a playoff berth. The Checkers sit fifth in the AHL’s Atlantic Division, with the top four teams making the playoffs. Charlotte is third in points, but the Checkers have played seven more games than Providence. The AHL standings show teams according to average number of points earned per game. By that standard, the Checkers are fifth.

▪ The Checkers are among the league’s highest-scoring teams, averaging 3.4 goals per game.

▪ Charlotte doesn’t have anyone among the AHL’s top 20 scorers. Left-winger Scott Wilson leads the team with 30 points. The league leader is Chicago’s Andrew Poturalski (who played in Charlotte before the Hurricanes moved the team), with 60.

▪ The Checkers’ No. 2 scorer, right-winger Kole Lind, is third in the league in penalty minutes.

▪ The Checkers face Cleveland at 6 p.m. Saturday and then at 1 p.m. Sunday. After that, they’re on the road for eight games before returning March 11 for a five-game homestand.

AHL attendance

In this first full season after the outbreak of COVID-19, here’s how the 2019-20 season’s attendance leaders are faring in 2021-22: