ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Fall in shootout to Columbia 5-4

Published on December 10, 2005 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


The Gwinnett Gladiators overcame a three goal third period deficit to send the game to overtime but could not down Columbia as the Inferno beat the Gwinnett 5-4 in an eight round shootout on Saturday night at the Carolina Coliseum.

Brad Schell opened the scoring in the contest with his 6th goal of the season. Taking a pass in the slot from Adam Smyth, Schell ripped a snapshot past Columbia netminder Chris Houle for the tally. Josh Bennett also had an assist on the goal at 7:38 of the first period.

Columbia tied the game at one goal apiece 50 seconds into the second period as John Longo was able to beat Gladiators netminder Sean Fields on a 2-on-1 break with a snap shot to the short side. Leon Hayward picked up an assist on the shorthanded tally.

Hayward was able to give the Inferno a 2-1 lead when he found a loose puck in the slot and beat Gladiators netminder Sean Fields 5:22 into the second period. Gary Gladue and Travis Lisabeth had the assists on the goal.

Columbia extended its lead to 3-1 when Mike Stathopoulos' centering feed out of the corner was deflected by a diving Gladiators defenseman past Fields for the tally. Chris Cava was credited with an assist on the goal at 14:44 of the second period.

Leon Hayward picked up his second goal of the game late in the second period. Open in the right win circle, the puck squirted out of a scrum in front of the net right to Hayward where he jammed it home. Lisabeth and Stathopoulos picked up the assists on the power play goal scored with just 1:45 left in the second period.

Gwinnett cut into the Columbia lead 14:07 into the third period when a Columbia defenseman put the puck off Houle's stick into the back of the net for the Gwinnett goal. Josh Bennett was credited with the goal as the last Gladiator to touch the puck before it was put into the net.

Steve Slaton got the Gladiators within a goal late in the third period. Jim Sharrow took a pass from Scott Mifsud and pulled the netminder Houle out the net and then fed Slaton behind the goaltender to set up the tally. Slaton pumped the puck into the empty net at 17:14 of the third period.

With Sean Fields pulled in favor of an extra attacker, the Gladiators tied the game up at four goal apiece with 25 seconds left in the third period. Jeff Campbell found the puck loose along the far post and flipped the puck past Houle for the tally. Guillaume Desbiens picked up an assist on the tally to extend his point scoring streak to eight consecutive games. Derek Nesbitt also had a helper on the tally for the Gladiators.

Scoreless through the overtime period, Columbia needed eight rounds to get past the Gladiators in the shootout. Derek Eastman had the game winning shootout goal for the Inferno.

Gwinnett went 0-for-7 on the power play while the Gladiators fall to 11-5-3 on the season. Sean Fields finished with 33 saves in the shootout loss.

The Gwinnett Gladiators continue the 2005-06 ECHL season at the Arena at Gwinnett Center on Friday, December 9th as they host the Trenton Titans at 7:35 p.m. The Gladiators offer several ticket packages for different needs as well as group outings, suites and birthday parties. For more information call 770-497-5100 or log on to gwinnettgladiators.com. The Gladiators play all 36 home games at the Arena at Gwinnett Center located on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth and are the AA affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers.

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