ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Fall In OT

Published on January 17, 2010 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


A strong performance from Gwinnett could not fend off the Stingrays as South Carolina won 5-4 in OT against the Gladiators on Sunday. Gwinnett fought back from a 2 goal deficit but surrendered a 2 goal lead of their own as the Stingrays forced overtime. Rob Ricci struck at the 2:02 mark in extra time to grant the Stingrays the win.

Gwinnett came out firing in the first period, but it was the Stingrays who would strike first in the game. Trevor Bruess picked up a puck on the leftwing half boards and was able to stickhandle his way around to the right side of the slot. Breuss fired a snap shot past Gwinnett netminder David Brown to put the Stingrays up 1-0 at the 2:30 mark. Picking up assists on the play were Rob Ricci and Matt Scherer.

David Brown stopped 15 or 16 shots thrown his way after one period of play, and helped the Gladiators kill off 1:53 of 5-on-3 hockey as well.

The Stingrays increased their lead to 2-0 with a goal early in the second period. Once again it was Trevor Bruess with the marker. The Stingrays cycled the puck in the right wing corner before Ricci found a passing lane to hit Bruess in the slot. Bruess one-timed a puck through Brown's five-hole and into the back of the net. Scherer also picked up an assist on the goal at 2:21 of the second period.

The Gladiators came storming right back with a goal from Matt Caruana just 49 seconds later. Drew Paris fired a shot from the point that was deflected just wide of the net by Matt Siddall. The puck bounced off the end boards and right back into the crease, where Caruana was waiting to jam it home. The goal put brought the Gladiators back to within one against the Stingrays.

Late period heroics for the second straight night allowed the Gladiators to tie the game at two heading into the second intermission. While on the Applebees power play, Tim Miller won a faceoff back to Aaron Brocklehurst at the left point. Brocklehurst fired a shot that was stopped by Parker Van Buskirk, but Jason Lawrence crashed the net hard and slapped the rebound past Van Buskirk to knot the score at two with just 11 seconds left in the period.

The Gladiators took their first lead of the game at the 8:13 mark of the third period. Chris Higgins received a pass from Pat Galivan into the left wing corner and fired a quick shot on goal. Higgins corralled his own rebound and rolled the puck past Van Buskirk for the goal.

Gwinnett added to their lead when Matt Siddall tipped home a pass from Matt Caruana. After Caruaana rang a shot off the post, All-Star Sam Roberts found the loose puck at the right point. Roberts moved the puck to Caruana who quickly tapped it over for Siddall to deposit into the empty net.

The Stingrays battled right back as Trevor Bruess collected his hat trick goal 57 seconds later. Bruess worked his way down the right wing boards, slid past the Gladiator defense, and knocked the puck past David Brown for the hat trick. Zack Jones and Grant Farrell picked up the assists.

South Carolina tied up the game less than two minutes later. A turnover in the neutral zone led to a quick rush for Michael Dubuc. Dubuc wound up and fired a shot past Brown to tie the game at 4.

Rob Ricci was the overtime hero for South Carolina, striking at the 2:02 mark of the overtime period. Ricci walked in along the leftwing boards and snapped a wrist shot off the glove of Brown and into the net, giving South Carolina 5-4 OT victory.

The Gladiators were 2-4 on the Applebees power play while killing off all 5 chances against them. Gwinnett falls to 18-15-2-2 with loss while South Carolina improves to 28-9-2-4.

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ECHL Stories from January 17, 2010


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