Sports stats



ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Forard Southern Returns to Gwinnett

September 17, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


The Gwinnett Gladiators announced today that the team has re-signed forward Dirk Southern for the 2008-2009 season.

Southern will begin his third professional season and his second with the Gladiators after appearing in 23 games last season with Gwinnett. The forward missed a majority of the season with a leg injury sustained against Columbia on December 14th.

He compiled 5 goals, 7 assists and 14 penalty minutes with the Gladiators in just 23 games. He shared first on the Gladiators in game winning goals with 2 at the time of his injury and had a 9 game point scoring streak from October 20th through November 10th.

The 6-foot, 185-pound native of Winnipeg, Manitoba played his rookie season for the Augusta Lynx during the 2006-07 season. He recorded 10 goals and added 21 assists in 61 games for the Lynx.

Before turning pro, Southern played collegiate hockey at Northern Michigan University. With the Wildcats he tallied 122 points from 43 goals and 79 assists in 149 career collegiate games. As a senior, he was the recipient of the Bill Joyce Best Forward Award in 2006 and as a freshman was named the Don Waddell Best Freshman in 2003 while at Northern Michigan

Southern was drafted in the 7th round, 218th overall, by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the 2003 Entry Draft.

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.

Check out the Atlanta Gladiators Statistics

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...

ECHL Stories from September 17, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central