Checkers Recall Mitchell Heard from Florida
The Checkers recalled Mitchell Heard on Saturday, marking the second consecutive day that they brought a player in from their ECHL affiliate in Florida.

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Heading into tonight’s rematch at Lehigh Valley, Heard will be in line to replace Sergey Tolchinsky, who left Friday night’s 3-1 loss after being hit with a shot in the second period and did not return. Prior to that game, the Checkers had brought rookie Steven Lorentz in from the Everblades to provide insurance after Lucas Wallmark headed to the NHL with Carolina and Valentin Zykov came down with an illness. Lorentz did not play Friday and awaits his AHL debut.

The recent recalls of Lorentz and Heard mark the only times this season that the Checkers, who had three extra forwards on their roster as recently as last week, have required ECHL reinforcements at the position.

Heard, a 25-year-old forward who registered four assists and 53 penalty minutes in 36 games with the Checkers last season, has spent the entirety of the present campaign with the Everblades. There, he ranks tied for second on the team with 27 points in 29 games, leads the team with 71 penalty minutes and is tied for the team lead with a plus-13 rating.

Tonight’s game concludes a three-game, post-Christmas road trip for the Checkers, who will tonight try to avoid losing three consecutive games for the first time since suffering a four-game slide from Nov. 11-18.