ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Beat Stingrays 5-2

Published on March 28, 2009 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


The Gwinnett Gladiators scored four power play goals to beat the South Carolina Stingrays by a score of 5-2 Saturday night in front of 8,123 fans at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. With the win, Gwinnett improves to 30-32-1-5, good for 66 points with four games remaining in the 2008-09 season.

The Stingrays got onto the board first 6:22 into the game on a goal by Maxime Lacroix. Gwinnett goalie Joe Fallon stopped a long shot from the point, but gave up a loose rebound to his left, where Lacroix was waiting for his 32nd of the season.

Gwinnett forward Dirk Southern tied it up at 15:03 in the first period. With the Gladiators on the power play, Jordan Fox fired a shot from high in the zone. South Carolina netminder Jonathan Boutin made the save, but Bateman grabbed the rebound and shot a pass to Southern on the right doorstep who put it in for his 12th of the season.

Adam Berti scored to give the Gladiators the lead 2:16 into the second stanza with a highlight reel goal. The forward took a pass in the neutral zone, and skated in on two defenders. Berti beat one Stingray, but got spun around by the second. With his back to the goal, he found the puck in front of him, shot between his legs, and beat Boutin for his 12th of the year to give the Gladiators a 2-1 lead. Brandon Kaleniecki and Scott Marchesi tallied the assists.

The Stingrays tied it up four minutes later on a power play goal by Pierre-Luc O'Brien. The South Carolina forward skated in through the slot, took a pass from behind the net, and walked around Fallon for his 17th of the year. Jeff Corey and Maxime Lacroix picked up assists on the goal.

Tom Zanoski scored the eventual game winner at 10:58 of the second period. Adam Berti passed it along to Zanoski, standing close to the goal line on the right wing side. With nowhere to go with the puck, the forward fired the low angle shot at Boutin's pads, and the puck sneaked in to give the Gladiators the 3-2 lead. Jean-Claude Sawyer tallied the second assist.

Brandon Kaleniecki added an insurance goal for the Gladiators 5:06 into the final period. Andy Brandt found Brennan Turner behind the net, who fired a pass to Kaleniecki slashing in on the left wing side to give Gwinnett the two goal lead. The goal was Kaleniecki's 10th of the season.

Jordan Fox put the game away with 1:25 left in the game on an unassisted breakaway goal to make the final score 5-2.

Joe Fallon made 15 saves in the winning effort, improving his record to 17-11-1-1.

Gwinnett was 4-for-7 on the power play, while South Carolina was 2-for-4 with the man advantage.

The Gladiators return to action this week on Tuesday and Wednesday as they take on the Florida Everblades in back to back games on the road.

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 continue their sixth season as a proud member of the ECHL - 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

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from March 28, 2009


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