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ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Beat Checkers 4-1

February 7, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


Matt Siddall scored twice in the Gwinnett Gladiators' 4-1 victory over the Charlotte Checkers in front of 7,961 fans on at the Arena at Gwinnett Center on Saturday night. Pat Bateman notched the first goal of the evening on the Gladiators' first power play opportunity. Dirk Southern and Jordan Fox occupied Charlotte goalie Jeff Jakaitis behind the net and then passed it to Bateman who waited in front of a nearly empty net.

While Joe Fallon stopped all of Charlotte's seven shots during the second period, forward Matt Siddall increased Gwinnett's lead by one when he netted an unassisted goal on the power play at the 15:06 mark.

Defenseman Ethan Graham finally put the Checkers on the board in the third period, halting Fallon's shut-out attempt at 45 minutes, 59 seconds. However, the Gladiators answered just two minutes later with a second goal from Siddall. Siddall's eleventh goal of the season came with helpers from Travis Fuller and Andy Brandt.

With just 44 seconds left to go in the contest, Adam Berti tallied an empty-netter to push the final score to 4-1. Josh Engel and Siddall both notched an assist on the goal.

Gwinnett pushed their 2008-09 season record to an even 20-20-1-4 with their second consecutive victory over Charlotte.

The Gladiators next take the ice Tuesday February 10, 2009 on the road against the Mississippi Sea Wolves at 8:05 p.m. in Biloxi, Mississippi.

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 21 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.

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