Gladiators Sign Defenseman Engel
August 20, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release
The Gwinnett Gladiators announced today that they have signed rookie defenseman Josh Engel for the 2008-09 season.
Engel joins the Gladiators for his first full professional season after a four year collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin. He collected a career best 8 points off of 3 goals and 5 assists in 35 games last season for the Badgers.
The Rice Lake, Wisconsin native also appeared in three games and one Calder Cup Playoff game with the Albany River Rats of the American Hockey League after the conclusion of his senior season last year. He notched an assist during the regular season while with Albany.
Engel finished his collegiate career with 3 goals and 13 assists for 16 points in 98 games. He played three seasons from 2004-05 to 2006-07 at the University of Wisconsin with Gladiators assistant captain Andy Brandt.
Engel recorded the only assist on the 1-0 triple OT game winning goal against Cornell in the 2006 NCAA Midwest Regional Finals as the Badgers went on to win the 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Hockey Championship with a 2-1 win over Boston College.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound defenseman played one year of junior hockey with the Green Bay Gamblers during the 2003-04 season. Engel finished with 4 goals and 12 assists for 16 points in 60 games in the United States Hockey League.
Began in 1988-89 with five teams playing in four states, the Premier AA' Hockey League has grown into a coast-to-coast league that will have 23 teams in 16 states and British Columbia playing 864 games from Oct. 17, 2008 to Apr. 4, 2009. Eighteen of the 23 teams have played at least five years in their current city.
The third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League, the ECHL averaged 4,174 per game last season, marking the fourth year in row and the 16th time in the last 18 years that the league has averaged over 4,000 fans. The league has drawn over four million fans each of the last five years and 11 times in the past 12 seasons.
The Gwinnett Gladiators open their sixth season as a proud member of the ECHL in October of 2008 - season ticket packages are on sale now. In addition, the Gladiators offer several unique multi-game ticket packages as well as discounted group rates, suite rentals, and birthday parties. For more information call 770-497-5100 or log on to gwinnettgladiators.com.
The Gladiators are the AA affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers and play all home games at the spectacular 11,355-seat Arena at Gwinnett Center, located just off I-85 on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth, where parking is always free.
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ECHL Stories from August 20, 2008
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