Sports - Charlotte Checkers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Charlotte Checkers played in their first shootout game of the season and were successful beating Gwinnett by a score of 4-3.

In the first period, the Gladiators struck first when forward Pat Bateman fired a one-timer past Checkers goalie Maxime Daigneault at 11:53 giving Gwinnett a 1-0 lead. The Gladiators would extend their lead after forward Jeff Fox snapped a bad angle shot off the shoulder of Daigneault and into the net at 14:45 putting Gwinnett up 2-0. The Checkers struck for a power play goal late when Matthew Ford fed Jeff Miles who blasted a shot past a sprawling Gwinnett netminder Kevin Nastiuk at 18:52.

In the second period, the Checkers tied things up with another power play tally when rookie David Rutherford found a loose puck in the crease and slammed it home at 7:33 locking the game at 2-2. Charlotte would get their first lead of the night and it would be another power play goal. This time a point shot was stopped by Nastiuk but the puck laid free in the blue paint before Andreas Jamtin scored putting up the Checkers 3-2 at 13:27. The Gladiators would score a power play goal of their own when Gwinnett defenseman Josh Engel skated in from the point and fired a wrist shot that fooled Daigneault at 17:10.

The Checkers killed off a late two-man advantage for the Gladiators in the third period then another penalty in overtime to take the game to a shootout. Ryan Hillier and Jeff Miles would score for Charlotte and Daigneault would stop the four shooters that came his way giving the Checkers a 4-3 victory.