Hockey teams are often named after intimidating natural phenomena, such as the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Colorado Avalanche, and the Tuscaloosa Puberty. Experience the fury with today’s GrouponLive deal: for $59, you get tickets for two people to see five Charlotte Checkers hockey games at Time Warner Cable Arena (a $120 value). The package gets you two corner seat tickets to each of the following games:
- Against the Hershey Bears on Thursday, January 12, at 7 p.m.
- Against the Norfolk Admirals on Sunday, February 12, at 6 p.m.
- Against the Oklahoma City Barons on Friday, February 24, at 7 p.m.
- Against the Norfolk Admirals on Friday, March 16, at 7 p.m.
- Against the Abbotsford Heat on Friday, April 6, at 7 p.m.<p>
In their second season as Charlotte’s hometown hockey team, the Checkers seek to establish themselves as a perennial playoff contender by deking past AHL rivals. As an affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes, the Checkers feature a star-studded roster of potential NHL stars and have glided to an early-season second-place spot in the Midwest Division. Through 16 games, center Jon Matsumoto skates among the league’s most potent scorers with 15 points, and goalie Mike Murphy allows no puck to pass without first conducting a thorough search with a metal detector.
With a five-game pass, fans cheer on the Checkers through the meat of the season, watching as skaters wiggle out of the formidable hugs of the Hershey Bears and accelerate away from thawing ice versus the Abbotsford Heat. Eyes track pucks during two matches against the Norfolk Admirals, an opponent that the Checkers have defeated in two of three games this season, and in one postgame round of musical chairs.
Charlotte Checkers
Though Charlotte Checkers history dates back nearly a half-century, today's Checkers made their AHL debut just recently in 2010. As the AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes, the team breeds young talent capable of performing in a professional environment while withstanding gale-force winds. Fans at Bojangles’ Coliseum lend their support by drawing up backwards plays on the fogged-up glass, and mascot Chubby entertains the crowd by dancing and riding four-wheelers on the ice at intermission.