For the first time since the start of October, there will be a weekend without a Checkers game.
After powering through the grind of a 72-game season, the Checkers have earned this break by finishing second in the Atlantic Division and claiming a first-round bye in the Calder Cup Playoffs, which began on Tuesday.
The Checkers now find themselves with a significant chunk of time on their hands before the second round kicks off, but the mantra remains the same.
“The message is that we want to continue to build,” said head coach Geordie Kinnear. “We’ve done a great job all year of focusing on ourselves. That doesn’t change.”
How a team approaches this kind of break in the schedule at this time of year is a strategy in and of itself - taking into account both the need for rest and recovery after a long regular season and the need to prepare for the speed and intensity that come with playoff hockey.
For the Charlotte coaching staff, it’s about striking a balance.
“I always talk about three things - focus, work and energy,” said Kinnear. “We’re going to have the energy part, it’s the next two that we have to remain disciplined with what we’ve done all year. We want to make sure that we have the focus and intent in each practice. It’s not about the quantity of practices, it’s about the quality.”
In terms of the on-ice focus, Kinnear continues to hammer home the idea that he has all season - building every day and keeping the focus on his own team - while recognizing that playoff hockey is a different beast.
“What tweaks in the playoffs is the level of compete always goes up,” said Kinnear. “Sometimes you overcoach or have too many X’s and O’s. You’re lining up against the same guy over and over again, so those one-on-one battles with puck races, the execution is absolutely critical, and you have to be even keel. There’s going to be high moments, there’s going to be low moments, you just have to continue to focus on each shift because that could be a turning point in the series.”
Exactly who the Checkers will face in Round Two is still up in the air - they would face the highest seed remaining of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton - Lehigh Valley and Providence - Springfield first-round series, which could be decided as early as Friday - and while having an opponent will unlock prescouting opportunities, the work that Charlotte is putting in during this bye week is applicable to any team it comes across.
“Once you get an opponent there’s little tendencies that you want to make the group aware of,” said Kinnear. “But I’ve been proud of our group, we haven’t changed the way we played. It’s about us and how we execute and stick to our identity.”
Given the format of the AHL playoffs, that second-round series will have a unique format - with the Checkers starting the best-of-five series with Games 1 and 2 on the road.
“We don’t change how we play regardless of where it is,” said Kinnear. “Obviously part of playoff hockey is the energy in the building, so we’re going to have a little animosity when we get there. Embrace it, enjoy it, but you’re not there to put on a show, you’re there to get the job done.”
As the higher seed in the series, though, the Checkers will then have Game 3 at Bojangles Coliseum, as well as Games 4 and 5 if necessary - a significant boost for a team that had the fourth most home wins in the Eastern Conference during the regular season playing in front of consistently raucous crowds.
“The fans here, they really embrace the identity that the group has brought,” said Kinnear. “When you have fans that are so energetic and into the game, it really is contagious for the group. Home-ice advantage is absolutely critical - I know every coach says you want to be able to win on the road, but you have to be able to take care of your home set. Play well and use the momentum swings in the building to your advantage.”
The Checkers are using this bye week to keep adding to what they’ve built as a team all season - but as Kinnear mentioned, the on-ice work is only half the story.
“I played for a long period of time and this is the best time of year,” said Kinnear. “You’re playing playoff hockey, you get to hang out with your buddies, you get to go do things away from the rink - which is absolutely important. If you listen to the guys that win Stanley Cups or Calder Cups, they always say they care about their teammates so much, they’d go through a wall for them. So those bonding moments when you’re together away from the rink with some nice weather during playoff time, you’re watching the NHL, you’re watching the American League, there’s no better time for a hockey player than that time. Everyone relates spring to fishing and all that other stuff, I always relate it to playoff hockey.”
For this tight-knit Checkers team, everything is building toward the chance to make a run.
“Embrace it, enjoy it, because a lot of us aren’t going to be together again at the end of it,” said Kinnear. “Treat it like the last day of school with your buddies - you never want it to end.”
