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ECHL Florida Everblades

Everblades fall to Gladiators 5-3

October 16, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (1-1-0) dropped a 5-3 decision to the Gwinnett Gladiators (1-0-1) on Saturday night at Germain Arena in front of a crowd of 6,424.

From the start the Gladiators played a solid road hockey game not allowing the Everblades to establish a lot of sustained pressure. Offensively Gwinnett jumped out with the game's first two goals the first coming on the power play at 7:54 when Andy Brandt took a quick cross-ice pass from Matt Francis at the right side of the crease where he tapped in his second goal of the season.

The Gladiators added to their lead at 13:24 when Tim Miller cashed in on a breakaway. Miller, who was in the penalty box, jumped back onto the ice after his penalty expired and took a lead pass from Tim Filangieri at center ice and broke in alone on Everblades goaltender Bobby Goepfert before wristing a shot low on the stick side and into the net for the 2-0 lead.

The Everblades answered quickly however to cut the lead back down to one goal. Just 43 seconds after Miller's goal, Francis Lemieux tallied his first goal of the season after taking a nice pass from Mathieu Roy from the left corner before letting a quick shot fly from the top of the left circle that found its way past Gladiators net-minder Billy Sauer. Alex Imbeaut also chipped in an assist on the play.

With the score remaining 2-1 heading into the second period, Gwinnett control the play throughout the second period, outshooting the Everblades 19-8. The game remained a one-goal contest however until the late stages of the period when Gwinnett popped home a couple more goals.

The first goal came on the power play when Dan Kissel slammed home his first goal of the season at 14:51 to open a 3-1 lead. The Gladiators then opened a three-goal advantage after a turnover in the neutral zone by the Everblades led to a breakaway for Ryan Garbutt who slipped the puck between the pads of Goepfert while cutting across the front of the net from left to right with 23 seconds remaining in the frame.

Gwinnett extended their lead to 5-1 early in the third period on a shorthanded goal by Aaron Bendickson at 2:34. Bendickson blocked a shot inside his own blueline before chasing the loose puck down and breaking in on Goepfert. Bendickson's initial shot missed the net, but he chased down his own rebound in the corner and charged the net a second time before muscling the puck in for this second goal of the year.

Late in the third period the Everblades made a charge picking up a power play goal by Matt Pistilli at the left side of the net, completing a beautiful passing play that saw Mike McKenzie and Cedric McNicoll pick up the assists at 18:17.

McNicoll then cut the lead to 5-3 with ten seconds remaining in the game after batting a rebound from Sauer out of the air and into the net at the right side of the net. McKenzie and Phil Paquet added the helpers on McNicoll's second goal of the year.

In goal Goepfert played well, but took the loss allowing the five goals on 35 shots to drop his record to 1-1-0. Sauer notched the win for the Gladiators stopping 25 of 28 shots in his first action of the season.

On the power play, the Everblades finished the night 1-of-4, while Gwinnett closed out the game 2-of-6.

2010-11 Florida Everblades season ticket packages are available now! For just $66 you can get your piece of the action for next season! Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

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