ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Fall to Checkers 4-1

March 10, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


Charlotte, NC - The Charlotte Checkers used two first period power play goals to cruise to a 4-1 win over the Gwinnett Gladiators on Tuesday night at the Time Warner Cable Arena. Gwinnett falls to 26-26-6 on the season with the loss to the Checkers.

Charlotte got both power play goals from Matt Ford to jump on top of Gwinnett in the opening period. Ford's first came at 13:41 of the first period as he was able to find a loose puck in the slot and slip it past Gwinnett netminder Josh Johnson for the goal. Mike Bayrack and Ethan Graham had the assists on the tally for the Checkers.

Ford's second goal came with 18 seconds left in the first period, again on the power play. Parked all alone in the slot, Ford took a pass out of the corner before ripping a snapshot past Johnson from point blank range for the marker. Marty Guerin had the assist on the goal for the Checkers.

After a scoreless second period, Tom Zanoski got the Gladiators on the board at 4:36 of the third period. Zanoski found a loose puck in a scrum in the slot and flicked it past Charlotte netminder Jeff Jakaitis for the goal for Gwinnett. Andy Brandt and Pat Bateman collected the assists on the marker.

Ryan Murphy got the marker back giving the Checkers a 3-1 lead at 11:00 of the third period. Parked in the slot all alone, Murphy took a centering feed from Peter-James Corsi and beat Johnson from point blank range for the goal.

Charlotte iced the contest at 17:23 of the third period on a goal by Guerin. Working in on a 2-on-1 break, Guerin finished the play beating Johnson off a feed from Chris Murry for the goal to give the Checkers a 4-1 lead.

Johnson finished with 28 saves in the losing effort for Gwinnett. Gwinnett gave up two power play goals in the loss on 3 shorthanded situations while the Gladiators went 0-for-4 on the power play in the loss.

The Gladiators continue the 2008-09 season on Friday, March 13th as they travel to Charleston to take on the South Carolina Stingrays at 7:05 p.m. Catch all the play by play action in Friday's game on WDUN, News Talk 550.

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 21 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 March 10, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central