Gladiators End Road Trip with 4-1 Loss to Stingrays
ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators End Road Trip with 4-1 Loss to Stingrays

Published on March 6, 2026 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


Atlanta Gladiators' T.J. Semptimphelter
Atlanta Gladiators' T.J. Semptimphelter
(Atlanta Gladiators)

North Charleston, SC - The South Carolina Stingrays defeated the Atlanta Gladiators 4-1 on Friday night at North Charleston Coliseum to end the Gladiators' four game road trip.

The Gladiators concluded a four-game road trip at North Charleston Coliseum with a big heavyweight matchup with the South Carolina Stingrays. Forward Max Grondin made his professional debut for the Gladiators, as T. J. Semptimphelter started in net for Atlanta and Seth Eisele for South Carolina.

Atlanta started the game off hot, getting pucks in deep and on goal and playing much of the first period in the South Carolina end. Dylan Carabia set the tone fighting South Carolina's Ben Hawerchuk 7:54 into the period. The Gladiators outshot the Stingrays 14-5 in the first period and scored the game's opening goal with 8:25 left in the first to take a 1-0 lead into the intermission. Joy Cipollone scored his 14th goal of the season from Ryan Francis and Max Grondin to give the Gladiators the lead. Grondin recorded his first professional point in his debut on the goal.

The Gladiators had another strong start to open the second period but did not find the back of the net. Ethan Scardina fought Stan Cooley in the opening moments of the period. Stingrays netminder Seth Eisele left the game with an apparent injury 5:43 into the second period and was replaced by backup goaltender Ty Taylor. On their first power play opportunity of the night the Stingrays cashed in, scoring with 3:35 left in the period on a redirect from Josh Wilkins. Kyler Kupka took the shot pass and found Wilkins back door for the tying score. Shots in the second period were even at 9-9 with the Gladiators leading 23-14 after two periods.

With the game tied 1-1 entering the third period, it was anyone's game and the Stingrays took command of it just 19 seconds in. They won the draw, dumped the puck in deep, and centered between the circles for Dean Loukus who scored the go-ahead goal. Loukus' 6th goal of the season came from Hawerchuk and Ryan Hofer and gave South Carolina a 2-1 lead. Things went from bad to worse for Atlanta as they surrendered a power play goal to Kupka 2:36 into the period to fall behind 3-1. The Gladiators had multiple chances to score on the power play but did not and ultimately lost 4-1 with Jordan Klimek scoring an empty netter with 24 seconds to play.

Semptimphelter stopped 17/20 in the loss. Taylor stopped 14/14 and ended up getting the win, while Eisele stopped 19/20 through the first 25:43 of the game. Atlanta went 0/5 on the power play and 1/2 on the penalty kill in the loss.

The Gladiators return home on Wednesday morning to begin a four game homestand with the final Education Day Game against the Florida Everblades. Puck drop is set for 10:30 AM at Gas South Arena.

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Atlanta Gladiators' T.J. Semptimphelter
Atlanta Gladiators' T.J. Semptimphelter
   



ECHL Stories from March 6, 2026


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