ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

2013-14 Gwinnett Gladiators Season in Review

Published on April 14, 2014 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


DULUTH, Ga. - The Gwinnett Gladiators finished out the first year of the Rick Emmett era with an impressive 7-0 win over the Elmira Jackals on Saturday, which also closed out an improved second half of the season. After going 10-18-0-2 in 2013, the Gladiators hovered around .500 in 2014, going 19-20-3-0 since January 2nd. The team was also 9-8-1-0 over the last month and a half of the season.

Looking Back - Notable Games

Wednesday, October 30 - Orlando 3, @ Gwinnett 4 - First Win of the Season Decided in the Shootout Just a few hours after receiving Sacha Guimond from the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League to help out with the defense, it was Guimond's offense that gave the Gwinnett Gladiators their first win of the season. After a back and forth 65 minutes of play, the Gladiators and the Solar Bears, who had beaten Gwinnett in the two games played over the weekend, found themselves tied at three heading to the shootout.

Mathew Sisca put the Gladiators on the ropes after scoring in the third round, but it was Evan Bloodoff who kept the shootout alive by beating Christopher Gibson in the fifth, and potentially final, round. Two rounds later, Guimond pulled a couple quick dekes and tucked the puck around Gibson, giving the Gladiators their first win under new head coach Rick Emmett.

Thursday, November 28 - Evansville 0, @ Gwinnett 3 - Shutout Win on Thanksgiving Facing an opponent outside the familiar confines of the South Division for the first time in 2013-14, the Gladiators defeated former coach Jeff Pyle and the IceMen, 3-0 on Thanksgiving. Goaltender Louis Domingue picked up his first ECHL win of the season with the shutout, making 39 saves.

Jeremie Malouin, Kurtis Bartliff, and Evan Bloodoff scored for the Gladiators. Both sides weren't as thankful for each other after the final whistle, as the two teams brawled while Gwinnett was trying to celebrate on the ice. No game misconducts were called for the fracas.

Sunday, December 29 - Gwinnett 3, @ Fort Wayne 2 - Final Win of 2013 Caps Three-Game Win Streak Brad Phillips made 34 saves to backstop the Gladiators to their third win in a row, a 3-2 win over the Fort Wayne Komets at Allen County Memorial Coliseum.

Bobby Hughes chipped in two assists against his old team for the Gladiators, with Maxime Legault burying the winner in the third. The victory was also Gwinnett's first on a Saturday or Sunday in 2013-14.

Saturday, January 4 - Florida 1, @ Gwinnett 8 - Glads Wallop Blades in Biggest Win of the Season Gwinnett scored early and often that Saturday night, crushing the, Everblades 8-1. It was a season-high in goals for a Gwinnett team that won five of its last seven games to that point.

Josh Currie scored two goals and added an assist, while Dirk Southern had a goal and three assists. Paul Karpowich was stout between the pipes for Gwinnett, stopping 36 of 37 shots, while Lightning first round pick Riku Helenius gave up all eight goals on 37 shots.

Saturday, February 1 - Orlando 2, @ Gwinnett 3 - Glads Toss Bears on Teddy Bear Toss Night On the 11th annual Teddy Bear Toss Night, the Gwinnett Gladiators downed the aptly named Orlando Solar Bears, 3-2. Maxime Legault had a goal and an assist, while Bobby Hughes had two helpers. With the win on the special night, the Gladiators have won four of their last five Teddy Bear Toss Nights.

The fur and fluff came flying early in the match when alternate captain Dirk Southern scored his sixth of the season at 10:29 of the first period, on assists from Legault and Justin Weller. The bears that were tossed on the ice were handed out by Joey Haddad, Dirk Southern, Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Matt Clune, Eric Springer, and Mark Guggenberger to young patients at the Children's Hospital of Atlanta in April.

Friday, February 7 - Gwinnett 6, @ Florida 5 - Gwinnett Comes From Behind to Take Wild OT Battle Daniel Spivak's slapper from the point found twine 1:41 into overtime to clinch a dramatic 6-5 win for the Gladiators over the Everblades at Germain Arena. Gwinnett trailed 4-1 in the second period, with Florida rallying for four straight goals before the Gladiators mounted their comeback. Bobby Hughes managed to cut the deficit to two on the power play late in the second, slapping a rebound under Florida goalie Connor Knapp at 18:01 off a point shot from Rob Kwiet.

In the third, Casey Pierro-Zabotel beat Knapp with a snapshot from the near circle just 1:20 into the period, with Marshall Everson assisting. Hughes then sprung Evan Bloodoff with an outlet pass, and the forward converted a shorthanded breakaway just under five minutes in, lifting a shot over Knapp's right shoulder from close-in to tie the game at 4-4. Jordan Henry put the Blades back on top at 9:49 on the power play, but Gwinnett wouldn't quit. With just 3:26 left in regulation Everson took a pass from Brenden Walker and slid a shot from the far circle under Knapp to again tie the game and force overtime.

Saturday, March 8 - Gwinnett 4, @ Florida 2 - Gwinnett Takes 5 of 6 From Florida For the second straight night Mark Guggenberger confounded the Everblades, while Joey Haddad and Will MacDonald anchored the offense in a 4-2 Gladiators win at Germain Arena. Guggenberger made 30 saves to win his fourth start out of his first five games with Gwinnett, while Mac Carruth took his second loss in as many starts with Florida.

Haddad extended his league-high goal-scoring streak to seven games with two goals and an assist, while MacDonald haunted his former team with the game-winning goal and two assists. The Gladiators took five of six from Florida, who finished two points shy of the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.

Saturday, April 12 - Elmira 0, @ Gwinnett 7 - Glads Trounce Jackals in Final Game of 2013-14 The Gladiators ended 2013-14 on a high note, crushing the Elmira Jackals 7-0 in front of 6,179 fans at the Arena at Gwinnett Center in Game 72 of the season. Coyotes prospect Brenden Walker notched the hat trick, while Casey Pierro-Zabotel finished with two goals and two assists, and Mark Guggenberger pitched a 21-save shutout.

With Walker's hat trick, the Gladiators finally had their first hat trick of 13-14, after the team had a player finish a game with two goals 18 times. It was also the first home hat trick achieved by a Gladiator since October 22nd, 2010 by Derek Nesbitt. Gwinnett has won seven of 11 season finales now, winning Game 72 in back-to-back years after dropping their prior three.

Gladiators Leaders Italics no longer on Gladiators roster

Gladiators' Offensive Leaders - Goals

1. Brenden Walker - 22

2. Marshall Everson - 21

3. Joey Haddad - 18

4. Maxime Legault - 17 4. Evan Bloodoff - 17

Gladiators' Offensive Leaders - Assists

1. Maxime Legault - 25

2. Joey Haddad - 24

3. Dirk Southern - 23

4. Marshall Everson - 22

5. Casey Pierro-Zabotel - 21

Gladiators' Offensive Leaders - Points

1. Marshall Everson - 43

2. Maxime Legault - 42 2. Joey Haddad - 42 4. Dirk Southern - 39 5. Brenden Walker - 36

Gladiators' Offensive Leaders - Rookie Scoring

1. Marshall Everson - 21/22/43

2. Brenden Walker - 22/14/36

3. Josh Currie - 15/16/31

4. Kurtis Bartliff - 14/9/23

5. Jonathan Narbonne - 2/15/17

Gladiators' Offensive Leaders - +/- 1. Daniel Spivak - +14

2. Eric Springer - +13

3. Marshall Everson - +9

4. Mike Merrifield - +7

5. Bobby Hughes - +4

Gladiators' Offensive Leaders - PIM

1. Brenden Walker - 69

2. Brett Lyon - 68

3. Joey Haddad - 65

4. Maxime Legault - 58

5. Evan Bloodoff - 52

Gladiators' Goaltending Leaders - Minutes

1. Mark Guggenberger - 938

2. Brad Phillips - 670

3. Peter Delmas - 562

4. Louis Domingue - 388

5. Paul Karpowich - 357

Gladiators' Goaltending Leaders - Wins

1. Mark Guggenberger - 10

2. Brad Phillips - 6

3. Peter Delmas - 3

4. Mathieu Corbeil - 2 4. Paul Karpowich - 2

Gladiators' Goaltending Leaders - Shutouts

1. Mark Guggenberger - 1

1. Brad Phillips - 1

1. Louis Domingue - 1

Gladiators' Goaltending Leaders - GAA (minimum 2 GP)

1. Louis Domingue - 2.01

2. Peter Delmas - 2.67

3. Mark Guggenberger - 2.75

4. Brad Phillips - 2.78

5. Andrew Loewen - 3.11

Gladiators' Goaltending Leaders - SV% (minimum 2 GP)

1. Louis Domingue - .939

2. Peter Delmas - .922

3. Brad Phillips - .916

4. Mark Guggenberger - .913

5. Andrew Loewen - .896

Glads Notes

Walk in the Park: Phoenix Coyotes prospect Brenden Walker fittingly bookended the season, scoring the team's first goal of the season in Gwinnett's 5-3 loss to Greenville on October 18th, and the last one - team goal number 199 - in the Gladiators' 7-0 win over Elmira on April 12th. That last goal was also Walker's third of the game, good for Gwinnett's first hat trick of the season. Walker finished 2014 strong, scoring at least one goal in seven of his last 11 games, totaling ten goals, four assists, and a +9 rating. Walker also finished the season with the team high in goals, with 22 overall.

Elite Everson: Fellow rookie Marshall Everson was leading the team in goals down the stretch until the final game of the season. Everson thrust himself into the lead by scoring goals in four of his last eight games, to go along with five assists.

Oh Captain, My Captain: Injuries hampered Gladiators captain Joey Haddad in the last month of the season, as he missed five of the team's last seven games. Before that stretch, Haddad was on a tear: from 2/23 to 3/19, Haddad had a goal in seven straight games, a league high, had a point in nine straight games, and had ten goals, eight assists, and five multi-point games. Fittingly, Haddad was awarded the Sher Wood Hockey ECHL Player of the Week Award for 2/24-3/2.

Southern Comfort: After an early season stretch of injuries, alternate captain Dirk Southern only missed three games in 2014 and showed no signs of slowing. Southern had a goal in five straight games from 3/23 to 4/5, and he registered a point in 13 of his last 18 games - five of which were multi-point games.

Hey Culligan Man!: Signed by the Gladiators on March 26th after a brief three-game stint with the AHL's Texas Stars, Chris Culligan was a revelation for his new team as he registered a point in five of his six games with the team, tallying three goals and three assists.

The Guggenburglar Strikes Again: As the Gladiators' 12th goaltender of the season, Mark Guggenberger provided some much needed stability in net for Gwinnett. Since joining the team in late February, Guggenberger played in all but three games, sporting a 10-5 record, a .913 save percentage, and a 2.75 GAA. Guggenberger finished the season on a high note, stopping all 21 shots he faced in the season finale against Elmira on 4/12 in his second shutout performance of the year. The next day, on 4/13, he signed a PTO with Rochester of the AHL, and that very night made 41 saves on 42 shots faced in a 2-1 shootout loss to Lake Erie in Cleveland.

Georgia's On His Mind: In his 13 games played with Gwinnett, Alpharetta native Will MacDonald had three goals and six assists.

Plenty of Merry to Go Around: Mike Merrifield, who was acquired at the ECHL trade deadline from Florida, impacted the offense in bursts. He contributed multi-point games four times since March 13th, with two two-point games and two three-point games. He upped his points per game from 0.56 with the Everblades to 0.79 since joining the Gladiators.

On the Plus Side: Defenseman Daniel Spivak (+14) finished with a minus in only 15 of his 65 games played this season, and never went below a minus-one. He led Gwinnett in plus/minus for the majority of the year, until the final weekend of the season, when fellow defenseman Eric Springer leapfrogged him with his +15 rating.

Home Sweet Home: One of the team goals down the home stretch was to reach the .500 mark at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. Thanks to winning seven of their last nine in Duluth, dating back to February 25th, the Gladiators hit that mark with an overall home record of 17-17-0-2.

Power Surge: Gwinnett's promising young offense took flight in the latter half of 2014, scoring three or more goals in every game from 3/23 until the end on 4/12. The team was undefeated when scoring five or more goals in a game (12-0), and they hit that mark six times in the last month and a half, between March 1st and the end of the season. From February 1st on, the team scored 95 of their 199 in 2013-14, averaging 3.28 goals per game over that time frame. The team was last shut out on February 8th at Florida.

Special Special Teams: The team finished the year as the second least penalized team in the ECHL with just 883 PIM, 44 penalty minutes behind Cincinnati for first; an average of 12.26 per game. When Gwinnett did commit a penalty, they shut down opponents on the PK, allowing only 28 PPGs on 254 chances (85%, 7th in the ECHL). They were especially lethal at home, allowing 15 PPGs on 122 PKs (87.7%, 3rd in the ECHL). The home power play wasn't too shabby either, converting 23 of 136 attempts (16.9%, 10th in the ECHL).

All-Americans: Gwinnett featured six American Hockey League-bound players in 2013-14, three of which went on to play with the team's AHL affiliate in Portland, Maine.

- Goaltender Louis Domingue was the first to make his way up to the "A," going on two different stints to Portland; first from 10/30 to 11/20, playing three times, and then from 12/7 until the present, playing in 33 of the team's games.

- The next call-up didn't happen until March 8th, when defenseman Justin Weller was recalled to Portland. The MeiGray 2013-14 Fantasy Player for the Gladiators played in three games for the Pirates.

- That same day, defenseman Jerome Gauthier-Leduc was reassigned to the Rochester Americans. Gauthier-Leduc was originally assigned from the Americans to the Gladiators by the Buffalo Sabres on February 20th.

- On March 25th, former Gladiator Chris Rawlings was reassigned from the CHL's Arizona Sundogs to Portland after former Gladiator Mark Visentin was recalled to Phoenix. Rawlings started the year with the Gladiators before getting assigned to the Coyotes' CHL affiliate in Prescott Valley on November 21st.

- The Gladiators' third defenseman to go to the AHL was Jonathan Narbonne on April 7th. Narbonne signed a PTO with the Hamilton Bulldogs, but has yet to play in a game for the Montreal Canadiens affiliate.

- Finally, goaltender Mark Guggenberger was signed to a PTO by the Rochester Americans on April 13th, one day after the end of the Gladiators regular season. Guggenberger was thrown into action that very night and made 41 saves on 42 shots in a 2-1 shootout loss in Cleveland.

We're Social: The Gladiators will start their 12th season in North Georgia in October, but stay up-to-date with everything team-related over the summer on social media! Check out the Gladiators on Facebook (Facebook.com/GwinnettGladiators) and on Twitter (Twitter.com/GWTGladiators) for all the latest news, contests, and more! Also download the team's FREE smartphone app for Apple and Android devices!

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ECHL Stories from April 14, 2014


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