ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Checkers Rout Gladiators

Published on February 21, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


The Gwinnett Gladiators failed to claim their third straight home victory, as the Charlotte Checkers came away with a 7-2 drubbing of the home team in front of 4,571 at the Arena at Gwinnett Center Sunday afternoon. Charlotte's Matt Schepke recorded his second hat trick of the season to lead all goal scorers, and Matt Francis chipped in two power play tallies for the Gladiators in Gwinnett's last home game for over two weeks.

Matt Schepke gave the Checkers a 3-0 lead at 4:55 of the second period with his 17th goal of the season, and his marker stood up as the game winner.

The Checkers would open up a 6-0 lead after 40 minutes, adding second period markers by Carroll, Tyler Doig, and two by Schepke, as the Gladiators were held scoreless for the fifth consecutive period.

The Gladiators got on the board at 2:25 of the third period with a power play goal after Charlotte's T.J. Reynolds went off for slashing. It took just five seconds with the man-advantage for Matt Francis to bury a rebound past Charlotte goaltender Ryan Munce off a Jason Lawrence shot from the point, cutting the Checkers' lead to 6-1.

Matt Schepke completed his hat trick at 6:57 of the third to make the score 7-1 before Matt Francis notched his second power play goal at 14:08, cutting the score to 7-2, when his dump-in attempt took an odd bounce off the boards and directly into an open net, as Munce was awaiting the puck behind the cage.

Charlotte's Matt Stefanishion led all skaters with four assists, while Schepke had a three-goal hat trick. Michel Levielle, Andrew Carroll, Julien Brouillette, and Tyler Doig each chipped in two points for the Checkers, while Jason Lawrence, Chad Denny, and Mike McLean complimented Francis' two power play goals with an assist each.

Danny Taylor replaced David Brown in the Gwinnett net after the second period and made two saves on three shots after Brown allowed six goals on 18 shots through the first 40 minutes. Ryan Munce had 24 saves for his 14th victory of the season.

Each team finished with two power play goals, as the Gladiators drop to 25-23-3-32 on the season, while the Checkers improve to 29-17-3-3.

The Gladiators play nine of their next ten games on the road, and take off on a six-game road trip early this week before returning home on March 8th for the one and only match up with the Cincinnati Cyclones this season.

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ECHL Stories from February 21, 2010


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