Dalpe Leads Checkers To Top Seed In Atlantic Division

There's an old saying that "sometimes it's not how you start, but how you finish" and that sentiment couldn't ring truer for the Charlotte Checkers after their 2-1 win in Providence Saturday night. The victory - in Charlotte's regular season finale - clinched the Checkers the top seed in the Atlantic Division for the upcoming 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs.

"Without giving away too many secrets, we have a really close group," Checkers' captain Zac Dalpe told InsideAHLHockey.com earlier this month after a win in Wilkes-Barre. "[We're] just playing for each other, and we're all hungry to keep playing. It's not like these months come by and you're looking to go home. We're not. We're looking to stick around."

The Springfield Thunderbirds were in first place in the Atlantic Division for most of the season (128 days per AHL PR), but Charlotte got hot at the right time - finishing a remarkable 16-3-3 in their final 22 games to clinch the top seed in the division and home ice advantage through at least the Eastern Conference semi-final round.

"I think everybody's just doing their job. Everybody knows their job," Connor Bunnaman explained of the team's success. [Checkers head coach] Geordie [Kinnear] expects a lot from us, and he wants to produce and do everything right. And I think we're doing that right now."

Bunnaman joined the Checkers just prior to the trade deadline from the Philadelphia Flyers organization in the trade that sent Claude Giroux to the Florida Panthers. Bunnaman, along with German Rubtsov, was also acquired by Florida and assigned to Charlotte.

Charlotte also has several players from the Seattle Kraken organization on the team this season in what is a one-year dual affiliation before Seattle's new American Hockey League franchise - the Coachella Valley Firebirds - enter the AHL beginning next year with the 2022-23 season. While the history of dual affiliations - or two NHL teams sharing one AHL team - hasn't seen a lot of success in recent history, the Checkers have been one of the top teams in the league this season, and especially so down the stretch.

As Dalpe explained it, there's always that "inner-competition" on the AHL roster. Guys are competing against their opponent on any given night, but also competing within the team for more ice time, a larger role and ultimately to be first on the list when a call up to the NHL is needed.

While that competitiveness from within still exists in Charlotte, the team having players from two NHL organizations has provided a much friendlier environment according to the Checkers' captain.

"I'm following Seattle and I'm paid by Florida, and I'm looking at the box score [to see] how guys did for Seattle and how guys did for Florida," Dalpe said, adding, "I just feel like it has meshed well with guys more rooting for each other than that inner competitiveness of call ups and this and that, and whatever that brings."

While several players on the team referred to the start of the season being a little different with two teams combining into one, Dalpe's - and the other veteran players' - leadership helped ease that transition for everyone on the AHL roster, buying in and playing as one team.

"We've had a really good group, and I felt like at the start of the year my job was to kind of bring the guys together. Me, along with all the other older guys, have done that so it's been good," Dalpe quipped.

Unsurprisingly, there's added excitement at the tail end of the season this time around. The players are well aware, and especially those who were in the league the past two years, that the Calder Cup Playoffs will return this spring for the first time since 2019.

And, oddly enough, the Charlotte Checkers are still the defending champions - although with a different NHL affiliate as the Florida Panthers are now working with Charlotte.

"I think a lot of the young guys are pretty much over playing the same teams last year without playoffs, and then they're kind of getting a taste of a better hockey [this season]," Dalpe told InsideAHLHockey.com. "I feel like it's a better league this year," he added.

That better league, and better competition during the regular season should only help the younger players in Florida's prospect pipeline further develop their respective games. And while Dalpe, who recently competed in his 600th pro game earlier this month, still has NHL aspirations he's well-aware that helping to mentor the prospects is part of his job description as the team's captain and veteran leader in the locker room.

A recent game in Wilkes-Barre against the Penguins provided a moment where the captain had to speak up during the second intermission after a second period that wasn't up to par. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, but they didn't respond well to the Penguins' push back in the middle frame.

"I feel like the instance [April 13 against the Penguins] where you have a bad second period, you go into the dressing room up still 2-1 you're like, hey guys, we're still winning here. And obviously, we're gonna have a pushback from a desperate team. And if you get into a playoff series where you're up a few games, and it's an elimination game or something like that, you need to learn how to play through that," Dalpe explained, adding, "So I think you're just trying to learn lessons throughout the year to hopefully, [when] playoff time comes your callused a little bit, and you go from there."

Make no mistake, Dalpe can still play. He's much more than an older guy with experience. The Checkers' captain finished the regular season with 30 goals in 68 games, and is currently one of only 11 players in the AHL to reach the 30-goal plateau. To say he leads by example would be a bit of an understatement.

For Dalpe, the chance to make a run toward a championship isn't lost on him. It's why he - and all hockey players - play the game. To compete and play to win a championship at the highest level possible.

"Who doesn't want to play playoff hockey?" Dalpe asked rhetorically. "[I've always] felt like the more you win in this league, the more everyone gets rewarded, so yeah, hopefully we can go deep."