Playoff Notebook: Preparing To Bounce Back – Charlotte Checkers Hockey

The Checkers hit the ice in Springfield on Tuesday for the first time since their Game 1 loss.

The focus for the skate was a simple one: preparing to bounce back.

“I think it’s just collectively rebounding from not the effort that we wanted,” said team captain Zac Dalpe.

“We’re working on some stuff that we can do better tomorrow,” said forward Alexander True.

With a few days to digest the tough 6-0 defeat, it was a dialed-in group on the ice for the midweek practice.

“There’s some stuff that we can clean up,” said True. “That wasn’t our best game, I think we just look at our own game and see what we can do better and go from there.”

Proceeding on from a loss like that presents the question of whether to cherry pick some things that went right versus simply moving on – or a combination of the two schools of thought.

“I think a bit of both,” said Dalpe. “There were obviously some positives – I thought we were right there in the first period. Second period there was special teams and then a few shifts got away from us in the third. But that being said it was 6-0 so you have to turn the page a bit.”

At its core though, Tuesday’s practice boiled down to the key points that the coaching staff has hammered home all season long.

“Just to be clean and make sure that we’re connected as a five-man unit,” said rookie forward Cole Schwindt. “Just put that game behind us and get ready for the next one.”

GETTING AWAY

The Atlantic Division Finals have a unique quirk in their scheduling, as both teams get two full days off between Games 1 and 2.

For the Checkers, that gave them the chance to do some bonding.

“We got away from the city of Springfield for a bit yesterday and went to Boston,” said Dalpe. “I think it brings everybody’s spirits up a little bit. Obviously you spend a lot of time with one another, but in a different setting, in a different city without having to be at the rink, I think it’s good for the…