Charlotte Checkers sweep Hershey Bears to reach AHL Eastern Conference Final

The Charlotte Checkers are headed to the American Hockey League’s final four.

The Checkers recovered from early problems Wednesday night and trounced the host Hershey Bears 6-3, sweeping their best-of-five Atlantic Division Final series.

That means there’ll be Charlotte hockey in June, with the Checkers advancing to the AHL’s Eastern Conference Final, a best-of-seven series.

Their opponent will be either Laval or Rochester, who are battling for the Northern Division championship.

The series is expected to begin in the middle or end of next week.

The Eastern winner then faces the Western Conference winner in the best-of-seven Calder Cup Final.

The last time the Checkers reached the AHL’s Eastern Conference Final was in 2019, when they went on to win the Calder Cup. Their only other conference finals appearance was in 2011, when they lost to eventual AHL champ Binghamton.

After winning the first two games of the series last weekend in Charlotte, Checkers’ coach Geordie Kinnear said he expected a tough time from Hershey when the teams played in Pennsylvania.

“In the first period, we knew what we would get from Hershey, the defending champs, in their building,” Kinnear said. “It was electric.”

Hershey scored two goals in a span of three minutes, making it 1-0 with 55 seconds left in the first period on a Bogdon Trineyev goal, then adding a score just 2:05 into the second period on a Mike Vecchione goal.

But the Checkers responded quickly, with Brett Chorske scoring at the 3:50 mark.

“That was a big goal,” Kinnear said. “It gave us life.”

Charlotte tied it at the 6:42 mark on a Michael Benning goal, then went ahead 3-2 when John Leonard scored at the 11:14 mark.

The Checkers opened the margin to 5-2 early in the third period, on goals by Will Lockwood and Kyle Criscuolo. The Bears cut the deficit to 5-3 with 14 minutes left on a goal by Ivan Miroshnichenko.

But when Hershey pulled goalkeeper Hunter Shepard with 2:45 left for an extra skater, the Checkers’ Rasmus Asplund broke around the defense and scored an empty-net goal.

Ticket sales

The Checkers said the majority of tickets will not go on sale until the full schedule is announced for the Eastern finals, but the team is selling $10 balcony tickets for the first two home games. That sale will last through Memorial Day.

For tickets, visit www.charlottecheckers.com