The Charlotte Checkers will be hosting their first-ever “What if? Night,” presented by The Independence Fund, on Saturday, Feb. 22.
For the 4 p.m. game against the Hershey Bears, the Checkers will wear “Charlotte River Rats” jerseys, as they might have if the AHL franchise had not rebranded to the Checkers after moving from Albany, NY, prior to the 2010-11 season.
The game-worn jerseys will be available via online auction on the day of the game. A package including a game ticket and limited-edition Charlotte River Rats t-shirt can be purchased now. Any leftover shirts not sold via the ticket package will be available at the team’s merchandise locations on the day of the game, as will a very limited amount of Charlotte River Rats souvenir pucks.
Though Charlotte’s professional hockey teams have been known as the Checkers since the late 1950s, the team’s move to the AHL was made possible when Michael Kahn purchased the Albany River Rats franchise and moved it to Charlotte. At that time, the franchise assumed the “Checkers” name that had been held by franchises in the ECHL, Eastern Hockey League and Southern Hockey League over the previous several decades.
Notable Albany River Rats alumni include current Checkers head coach Geordie Kinnear, who won a Calder Cup championship (1995) and played in two All-Star Classics (1996, 1998) over parts of seven seasons with the club. Kinnear went on serve another seven seasons as an assistant coach with Albany before moving with the team to Charlotte in 2010. Additionally, current Checkers captain Zac Dalpe played his first professional games as a River Rat at the conclusion of his college season in the spring of 2010.
