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ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Weekly Update

February 26, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


Back to the "A": Gladiators forward Brad Schell was called up to the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League on Saturday. It is Schell's second call up of the season and the fourth call up of his career. Schell posted a goal and an assist for the Wolves during his first call up to the AHL this season while adding an assist for the Wolves in their 4-2 loss last night against Omaha.

We don't need no stinkin' shots! The Gwinnett Gladiators set a team record for fewest shots in a game in Saturday's 3-1 win over the South Carolina Stingrays. Gwinnett collected just 12 shots in the win Saturday as the Gladiators finished with 1 shot in the third period. The 12 shot output followed what was the Gladiators team record of 18 shots set Friday night in Florida. Entering the 2006-07 season, the team record was 21 shots set on January 9, 2004 while matched last year on March 30, 2006 vs. Augusta.

Looking for a career high! Gladiators forward Mike Vigilante is on pace to set a new career high for points in a season. Vigilante posted two goals for the Gladiators in last night's 4-1 win over the Pensacola Ice Pilots and now has 50 points in 55 games this season for Gwinnett. Vigilante is on pace to finish the season with 67 points surpassing his previous high of 57 set with the Gladiators during the 2004-05 season. He had an assist in Friday night's game to set a new career high for assists (30) in a season breaking the high of 27 he had during the 2004-05 campaign.

More to 20: Mike Vigilante collected two goals in last night's 4-1 win over Pensacola to become the fifth player to score 20 or more goals this season for Gwinnett. Vigilante joins Colton Fretter (35), Brad Schell (23) Jon Awe (21) and Scott Mifsud (21) with 20 or more goals this season. A host of other Gladiators are also within striking distance of 20 goals this season including Chad Painchaud (18), Jamie Milam (16) and Andy Contois (16). Joel Stepp and Jim Jackson each have 11 goals on the season for the Gladiators while Blue Bennefield has 12 tallies this year.

Looking for 100: Brad Schell is looking to become the first player to record 100 points in a season since Buddy Smith of the Arkansas RiverBlades notched 104 during the 2002-03 season. Schell currently has 98 points on the year and leads his line mate Scott Mifsud, who ranks second in the league in scoring, by 19 points.

On the Power Play: The power play continues to be good to the Gladiators this year as Gwinnett used two power play goals to get past the Florida Everblades Friday night while collecting power play goals in Saturday's win over South Carolina and Sunday's 4-1 win over Pensacola. Gwinnett now has 99 power play goals on the year and continue on pace to set a new ECHL record for power play goals in a season. Gwinnett is just 16 power play goals shy of tying the ECHL record of 115 currently held by the Nashville Knights set during the 1995-96 season. The Gladiators need to average 0.941 power play goals over their final 18 games to tie the ECHL record for power play goals in a season.

Last Week's Games:

February 20th, Pensacola 7, Gwinnett 3 - L

Scott Mifsud extended his scoring streak to 17 games with a goal and an assist in the 7-3 loss to the Ice Pilots. Gwinnett led 1-0 but Pensacola took a 2-1 lead to first intermission and never trailed in the contest. Gwinnett got goals from Jamie Milam and Jon Awe while Matt York finished with 2 assists in the loss. Dan Turple finished with 21 saves in the loss for the Gladiators as neither team scored on the power play in the contest.

February 21st, Florida 5, Gwinnett 2 - L

Gwinnett trailed 2-0 before Brad Schell and Andy Contois scored 22 seconds apart in the second period to tie the game up at two. Florida scored shorthanded early in the second period for the win as they added two more goals later in the third for the victory. Dave Caruso made 28 saves in the loss for the Gladaitors. Scott Mifsud collected an assist on Schell's power play goal to push his point scoring streak to a league leading 18 games. Jamie Milam, Jon Sitko and Jim Jackson also had assist in the loss for Gwinnett. The three straight regulation losses sets a season high for the Gladiators for consecutive regulation losses.

February 23rd, Gwinnett 4, Florida 2 - W

Matt York posted the game winner on the power play late in the second period to help the Gladiators past the Everblades. The Gladiators finished with two power play goals as Blue Bennefield collected a power play goal to tie the game at two earlier in the second period. Brad Schell posted his 23rd goal of the season for the Gladiators just 25 seconds into the second period to break a scoreless tie. Chad Painchaud added an insurance goal for Gwinnett at the 4:01 mark of the third period. Dan Turple finished with 38 saves for Gwinnett in the win helping the Gladiators snap a 3 game losing streak.

February 24th, Gwinnett 3, South Carolina 1 - W

Mike Vigilante and Jamie Milam each finished with two assists to help lead the Gladiators past the South Carolina Stingrays 3-1. Gwinnett managed just 12 shots but were able to make the most of them scoring on their first shot of the game on a goal by Blue Bennefield 71 seconds into the contest. Chad Panchaud scored what proved to be the game winner late in the first period after South Carolina tied the game at one with a shorthanded goal. Andy Contois collected his 16th goal of the season in the second period for an insurance marker for Gwinnett. Dave Caruso made 31 saves to help the Gladiators to their second win in as many nights.

February 25th, Gwinnett 4, Pensacola 1 - W

Mike Vigilante posted his 19th and 20th goals of the season to pace the Gladiators in the 4-1 win over Pensacola. Paul Flache broke a scoreless tie in the second period while Scott Mifsud rounded out the scoring with an empty net goal for the Gwinnett. Pensacola snapped Dan Turple's shutout bid late in the third period as the netminder finished with 30 saves for Gwinnett in the win. Gwinnett collected another power play goal in the win pushing their total to 99 on the season.

This Week's Games:

Friday, March 2nd, @ Columbia Inferno, 7:05 p.m. - wdun.com

Gwinnett leads the season series 5-1-0 and are a perfect 2-0-0 this season at the Carolina Coliseum. The Gladiators' Scott Mifsud has 12 points to lead all players in scoring in the season series while he shares first with Colton Fretter for most goals in the season series with 4 against the Inferno. Following this meeting, the Gladiators will face the Inferno three more times this season, once at home and two more times at the Carolina Coliseum.

The Gwinnett Gladiators continue their fourth season as a proud member of the ECHL on March 2nd as they travel to Columbia to take on the Inferno at 7:05 p.m. Season tickets 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 on the Your Best Rate Financial Home Ice 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.

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ECHL Stories from February 26, 2007


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