The Charlotte Checkers got off to great start, but couldn’t hold off the Abbotsford Canucks, who claimed their first Calder Cup title with a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers AHL affiliate in Game 6 at Bojangles Coliseum.
John Leonard opened the scoring 2:49 with his team-leading eighth of the postseason. The lone assist on the goal went to defenseman Matt Kiersted.
After notching his first professional goal in Game 4, top prospect Jack Devine collected his second at 13:14 from Eamon Powell and Oliver Okuliar to put the Checkers up by two.
Unfortunately, that would be the last goal that Artūrs Šilovs would yield and Abbotsford would reel off three straight to end the series.
Sammy Blais’ power-play marker would halve the deficit with 2:22 remaining in the first.
Danila Klimovich tied the tilt 3:44 into the second before Linus Karlsson beat Kaapo Kähkönen at 17:19 for his league-leading 14th goal to give the Canucks a lead they would not surrender.
The Checkers tested Šilovs 11 times in the third period to no avail. Šilovs was awarded Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player of the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs.
Charlotte’s inability to win on home ice, where they went 1-2 in the series, cost them the crown.
Although they had to settle for runner-up, hats off to the Checkers for a great season! Maybe next year…