Any loss in the Calder Cup Finals would sting, but the Charlotte Checkers are going to be thinking about this Game 1 defeat for quite some time.
The Florida Panthers’ top minor-league affiliate fell in double overtime to the Abbotsford Canucks on Friday, but if you were to ask the home team, the series-opening victory should have been theirs.
Earlier in the second extra frame, the puck ended up behind Canucks goaltender Arturs Silovs by way of an own-goal off the faceoff, but as the Checkers celebrated on ice, the officials waved off the goal and ordered the players back to the faceoff circle.
The Canucks would score the game-winning dagger minutes later.
Checkers head coach Gordie Kinnear was asked post-game about the justification given to him by the on-ice officials.
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“Just that the goalie wasn’t set, wasn’t ready for the faceoff,” Kinnear told reporters, per WBTV’s Cam Gaskins. “A bit old school, but the centreman’s ready to take the faceoff, his job is to make sure everybody is ready before he gets his head over the circle. It is what it is. It’s playoff hockey, there are going to be mistakes both ways.
“Yeah I thought it was a goal, and then all of a sudden there was hesitation from the refs,” Kinnear continued. “Credit to (the refs). They got together and they made the call. Again, I just see it as the centreman’s responsible for making sure everyone on his team is ready. It looked like he was ready to play.”
Ty Mueller was the Canucks centre who took the draw, winning it so cleanly that he put the pack behind an unprepared Silovs, who appeared to be fixing his helmet as the faceoff started.
The players on the ice shared Kinnear’s confusion on the no-goal.
“It was a weird play, I don’t really know what was going on,” Checkers defenceman Trevor Carrick said, per Gaskins. “It just looked like the goalie was not ready. Typically their centre is, you know, he won’t line up until he knows that his guys are ready and he lined up and snapped it back into his own net.
“It was a weird play, I don’t really know the ruling. I thought we had the win there, but apparently not.”
There’s still plenty of hockey to play in this seven-game series to determine the Calder Cup champs, but with this loss, the Checkers have surrendered home-ice advantage to Abbotsford when the series shifts north next week.
Game 2 is in Charlotte on Sunday.
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