ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Blanked by Checkers 1-0

November 23, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


The Charlotte Checkers scored the only goal of the game late in the first period on the power play and held on for a 1-0 win over the Gwinnett Gladaitors on Sunday aftenoon at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, NC. With the loss, the Gladiators fall to 6-5-3 on the season.

Charlotte took a 1-0 lead on the Gladiators in the first period on the power play. With just four seconds left on a power play, Mike Taylor was able to rip a slapshot from the left wing point over the shouler of Gladaitors netminder Josh Johnson for the goal. Jared Nightingale and Peter Tsimikalis had the assist on the only goal of the contest for the Checkers at 16:17 of the first period.

In the second, the Gladiators and the Checkers exchanged chances but the period ended as it began with Charlotte clinging to a 1-0 lead.

Charlotte clamped down defensively in the third period as Gwinnett mustered just 6 shots to the Checkers 3 helping presere the 1-0 lead and win. Gwinnett finished 0-for-7 on the power play while the only goal in the contest came on the man advantage by the Checkers as Charlotte went 1-for-6 on the power play.

Dirk Southern and Pat Bateman both had their point-scoring streaks snapped at five consecutive games in the loss as Bateman did not post a goal for the first time in five games while Southern was held without an assist for the first time in five games as well.

Johnson notched 22 saves for the Gladiators in the loss as the Gladiators have now gone 7 consecutive periods on the road without a goal.

The Gladiators are back in action on Tuesday, November 25th when they host the Florida Everblades at the Arena at Gwinnett Center at 7:05 p.m.

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



ECHL Stories from November 23, 2008


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