Bruins Defeat Checkers on Teddy Bear Toss

The Checkers couldn’t muster up quite enough offense Saturday night, falling 4-1 to Providence on home ice.

In front of a packed house for the annual Teddy Bear Toss, it was Hunter Shinkaruk who triggered the event when he picked the top right corner on a rush just before the first intermission. That tally signaled the fans to throw stuffed animals onto the ice, which were then collected and will be donated to several local non-profits.

Unfortunately for the Checkers, the offense would dry up from there. After spending the majority of the second period deadlocked at one, former Checker Brendan Woods lit the lamp for his second goal of the night, pushing the lead back to the visitors.

The Checkers couldn’t garner any momentum offensively in the third, struggling to solve Providence netminder Max Lagace, and the Bruins would break things open with two tallies just over a minute apart and cruise from there to a road win.

QUOTES

Coach Ryan Warsofsky on the game
I liked our first, I liked our second. A couple of good shifts in the third, and then they make it 3-1 and we just stopped playing. That simple.

Warsofsky on allowing a goal in the final minute of the second period that made it 2-1
It’s not good. We hit a crossbar and they come down and score. You’ve got to have some mental toughness to go into the period and regroup. With adversity, we’ve got to start learning. I know I’ve said it a lot, but things are going to happen in a hockey game and things are going to happen in your life that you have to fight through. This group, we need to fight through that stuff, and there was just not enough there in the third period.

Warsofsky on missing power-play opportunities in the third period
Just making that next play. Even at five-on-five we weren’t winning enough 50/50 pucks and enough races like we were on Wednesday night. We’ve got to get back to that, and then our plays and seams will open up on the power play. We just didn’t do enough tonight.

Warsofsky on tomorrow’s rematch with Providence
Providence is a really good team and they’ve won a lot of games for a reason. They’ve got skill up and down their lineup, they’ve got good defense. They’re a really complete team and they play structured hockey. If you take a breath, they’ll make you pay. You’ve got to learn and understand that you have to play for 60 minutes every time we’re on the ice.

NOTES

The Checkers collected an estimated 2,000 bears that will now be donated to various nonprofits that support local children during the holidays … The Checkers have not won consecutive games since Oct. 19-25 … While playing for the Checkers from 2013-17, Woods scored the goal to set off the Checkers’ Teddy Bear Toss in two consecutive seasons … Shinkaruk has four points (2g, 2a) over a three-game point streak. Had no points in six games immediately prior to that … Dave Gust has assists in consecutive games after going 10 games without a point immediately prior to that … After starting the season with four straight wins, Anton Forsberg is winless in his last six (0-4-2) … The Checkers are now 0-6-2 when allowing the game’s first goal. They are 8-3-1 when scoring first … Forward Stelio Mattheos missed the game due to injury and forward Brian Gibbons missed the game due to personal reasons … Forward Terry Broadhurst and defensemen Cavan Fitzgerald and Derek Sheppard were healthy extras.