Game 1 of the 2025 Calder Cup Finals ended in quite a controversial fashion on Friday night.
After the Charlotte Checkers and Abbotsford Canucks battled to double overtime deadlocked at three goals apiece, the Checkers seemingly found the game-winning tally just 3:39 into the period. Canucks center Ty Mueller won a faceoff in the team’s defensive zone so cleanly that he sent the puck into his own net.
The Checkers jumped onto the ice, celebrating what they believed to be a championship series-opening victory. But, the officials met at center ice and ultimately waved the goal off, explaining that goaltender Arturs Silovs was “not ready” for the draw.
“Just that the goalie wasn’t set, wasn’t ready for the faceoff,” Checkers head coach Gordie Kinnear told WBTV’s Cam Gaskins of the justification he was given. “A bit old school, but the centerman’s ready to take the faceoff, his job is to make sure everybody is ready before he gets his head over the circle. It is what it is. It’s playoff hockey; there are going to be mistakes both ways.”
The Canucks would take advantage of their good break, getting the official game-winning goal from Danila Klimovich minutes later.
Charlotte, the Florida Panthers’ AHL affiliate, was led to the final series by Capitals winger Ryan Leonard’s older brother, John Leonard. The elder Leonard leads the Checkers in postseason scoring with 10 points (6g, 4a) in 13 games.
Ryan was in attendance at Bojangles Coliseum to watch his brother’s controversial loss.
With the loss, the Checkers have turned home-ice advantage over to the Canucks. Game 2 is in Charlotte on Sunday.
The Canucks have never won a Calder Cup in their franchise history. The Checkers have won one, a 2019 victory over the Chicago Wolves.
