ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Drop 4-3 Decision to Stingrays

December 26, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


The Gwinnett Gladiators could not halt their three-game losing streak tonight as they fell to the South Carolina Stingrays 4-3 at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. Maxime Lacroix started the scoring for the South Carolina Stingrays when he slid the puck in through Kevin Nastiuk's five-hole. Lacroix's marker came on South Carolina's first power play of the evening.

Keith Johnson upped the lead to two for the Stingrays at 17:37 of the first when his puck hit the right post, danced down the line, and then bounced off the left post and trickled into the goal.

Travis Fuller cut the Stingrays' lead in half when he scored at 4:07 of the second. It was Fuller's first goal as a Gladiator after being acquired from the Augusta Lynx earlier in December.

Daniel Sullivan finally tied up the game for the Gladiators at 11:34 of the third period with a slap shot from the blue line. But just 17 seconds later, Michael Dubuc re-took the lead for the Stingrays on the power play with a backhanded shot in front of the net making the score 3-2.

Travis Morin pushed South Carolina's lead to four with a short-handed goal at 18:34 of the final period. Gwinnett's Scott Marchesi scored 30 seconds later, but it was too little too late for the Gladiators and they extended their losing streak to four with the loss.

The Gladiators take the ice against the Florida Everblades on Saturday, December 27th at 7:05 p.m. at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.

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.

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ECHL Stories from December 26, 2008


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