ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Checkers Defeat Gladiators 9-4

January 13, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


Gwinnett held a one-goal lead twice throughout the game, but were unable to hold off the Charlotte checkers in a 9-4 loss on Wednesday night. After leading by one goal after the first period, the Gladiators surrendered 5 goals and added just one of their own to eventually fall 9-4 to the Checkers.

The first period opened up with a torrent of goals, the first which came off the stick of Aaron Slattengren from the Charlotte Checkers. The Gladiators turned a puck over in their own end after a poke check from Matt Schepke. Schepke moved the puck quickly to Slattengren on the left post, and he slammed it home putting the Checkers up 1-0.

Gwinnett would not trail for long, as Chris Higgins notched a marker of his own just :22 seconds later. Higgins received a pass from Jason Lawrence and slid a shot past Miika Wiikman to knot the game up at one.

Matt Siddall continued the flood of goals giving Gwinnett a lead :50 seconds after Higgins tied the game. Siddall worked the puck into the offensive end and fought off a few checks, eventually pushing the puck right between Wiikman,s pads for a 2-1 lead.

Julien Brouillette put the next goal on the board at the 14:09 mark to tie the game at 2. Brouillette found himself wide open at the top of the Gladiator slot, and ripped a slap shot into the top left corner of the net. Daniel Tkaczuk and Tysen Dowzak received assists on the goal.

The Gladiators were able to regain their advantage before the end of the period. As Scott Mifsud stepped out of the penalty box, Scott Marchesi found him with a long pass. Mifsud led a 2-on-1 rush with Tom Zanoski, and Tom Zanoski fired a laser into the top right corner putting Gwinnett up 3-2 after the first period.

Charlotte came out in the second period and took control of the game. Andrew Carroll struck on the power play at 2:21 with a nice deflection goal in front of the David Brown to knot the game up at 3. The Checkers struck again at the 8:01 mark to regain the lead in the game when Kevin Schaffer slid a shot past Brown from the right side of the net.

Chris Higgins found the back of the net once more for Gwinnett getting his second goal of the night and second of his professional career. While on the Applebees power play Higgins tried to feed a pass across the goal mouth. The Checkers deflected the pass right back to Higgins, and he buried a shot to tie the game back up at 4.

The Checkers carried the play for the remainder of the second period, adding 3 more goals before time would expire. Michel Leveille , Kenny Roache, and Daniel Tkaczuk all scored for Charlotte, who owned a comfortable 3 goal lead going into the second intermission.

Gwinnett was unable to work their way out of the 3 goal deficit in third. Matt Schepke added a goal for Charlotte at the 4:49 mark. Schepke found himself open in the left circle and one-timed a pass from Mike Harder past Brown and into the net. Slattengren picked up an assist on the play as well.

Tyler Doig added the final marker of the game with just under 3 minutes remaining in the third period. Leveille worked the puck into the Gwinnett zone and quickly moved the puck to Dowzak. Dowzak found Doig wide open on the right side, and Doig buried the puck past Brown to give Charlotte the 9-4 victory.

Charlotte and Gwinnett both finished 1-for-3 on the power play. David Brown stopped 31 shots on the night for Gwinnett while Miika Wiikman finished with 27. Gwinnett falls to 17-14-2-2 with the loss, and the Checkers improved to 19-13-3-1.

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