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ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Fall To Checkers 6-4

January 18, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


The Gwinnett Gladiators squandered a two-goal lead for the second time in as many nights, and Andrew Carroll had two goals and two assists to lead the Charlotte Checkers over the Gladiators 6-4 in front of 5,385 at the Arena at Gwinnett Center on Monday afternoon. After scoring two shorthanded goals and one power play marker in the first period, the Gladiators would add just one more goal early in the second period before surrendering four unanswered goals to the Checkers and losing their 11th home game of the year.

The Gladiators opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal for the second home game in a row. Matt Caruana gained control of the puck in his own zone and initiated a 2-on-1 the other direction. Caruana carried the puck into the Charlotte zone and hit Adam Berti, who redirected a shot past Charlotte goaltender Ryan Munce's glove for the 1-0 lead.

Scott Marchesi and Michael Forney the manufactured an identical shorthanded goal just 3:17 later. Marchesi carried the puck into the zone on the right wing boards and hit a streaking Forney, who had snuck behind the Charlotte defense and deposited a shot through Munce's legs for the 2-0 lead.

The Checkers finally kept the Gladiators off the board and picked up a goal of their own on their third chance on the power play of the first period. Tyler Doig hit Julien Brouillette with a pass, whose shot charomed off the pads of Andrew Carroll in front of the net to cut the Gladiators' lead to 2-1 at 11:22 of the period.

Jason Lawrence put the Gladiators back up by two just 1:48 later, slamming home a rebound from the right hash marks. Munce was able to stop Aaron Brocklehurst's shot from the left face off dot, but the rebound kicked right to Lawrence, who was crashing the net, and he beat Munce, who couldn't recover in time to make the save.

Tyler Doig cut Gwinnett's lead back down to one at 18:28 of the period with the first even-strength goal of the game on assists from Andrew Carroll and Michel Levielle. Carroll's shot from the right corner was stopped by Gwinnett goaltender David Brown, but he couldn't hold on the rebound, and Doig dug it out from the crease and fired a shot high from the left side of the cage and over Brown, who was still down in the crease.

After 20 minutes of play, Charlotte had 13 shots, compared to Gwinnett's eight.

Chris Higgins tied a season-high of a four-game goal streak for the Gladiators just 50 seconds into the second period, putting the Gladiators up 4-2. Tom Zanoski forced a turnover in the neutral zone and turned it back the other way. Crossing into Checkers' zone, Zanoski centered a pass to a charging Higgins, and his backhand was deflected into the back of the gaping net off a Charlotte stick.

The Checkers again cut the Gladiators lead to one at 16:19 of the middle period. This time, Matt Schepke got the goal on a well-placed wrist shot from the right faceoff circle. Daniel Tkaczuk collected the puck in the right corner and sent a pass across the slot to Schepke, who had made himself open away from the play.

The Gladiators took the 4-3 advantage into the locker room after two periods despite trailing in shots 22-18.

Charlotte evened the score at four on the power play at 11:54 of the third period. David Marshall notched his eighth goal of the season, and Matt Schepke recorded his second point of the afternoon with the assist.

The Checkers then took the lead on their third power play goal of the game at 15:54 of the period. Andrew Carroll deflected Tyler Doig's shot from the point and into the net past Brown for the go-ahead goal.

The Gladiators pulled Brown with just over a minute left in regulation in favor of the extra skater, but couldn't get another one past Munce, and Daniel Tkaczuk slipped a shot from a bad angle inside the near post and into an empty net with just eight seconds remaining to ice the game for the Checkers and deny the Gladiators a three-game home winning streak.

The Gladiators drop to 18-15-3-2 on the season, while the Checkers improve to 21-13-3-2.

Aaron Brocklehurst extended his point streak to six games with an assist on Jason Lawrence's goal, while Chris Higgins also extended his point streak to six games and matched a team season high with a goal in his fourth straight game.

Charlotte's Andrew Carroll lead all skaters with two points and two assists, while Tyler Doig had a goal and two assists. Three others for the Checkers finished with two points, while no Gladiator had more than one.

The Gladiators continue their 7th season in the ECHL on Friday, January 22nd @ Florida at 7:30 p.m. The Gladiators are the AA affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers and Columbus Blue Jackets and play all home games at the 11,355-seat Arena at Gwinnett Center, located just off I-85 on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth.

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