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ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Gladiators Weekly Update

January 7, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


In the Shootout! Dan Turple notched his 4th shootout win of the season for the Gladiators in Friday night's 3-2 shootout win over the Pensacola Ice Pilots. With 4 shootout wins on the season, Turple shares first with Elmira's Joel Martin for most shootout wins this season in the ECHL. Two of Turple's four shootout wins came this past week as he also notched a 3-2 shootout win over Columbia on Wednesday.

More than Regulation: With Friday night's 3-2 shootout win over the Pensacola Ice Pilots, the Gladiators tied the team record for most consecutive overtime or shootout games with four consecutive games past regulation. The record of four straight games was set from October 23 to October 30, 2004 when Gwinnett played in four straight shootout games collecting one win and three shootout losses. Friday night's game eclipsed the team mark for most consecutive road games past regulation. The previous record was three set during the same stretch in October 2004. The league record for most consecutive games in shootout is nine set by the Huntington Blizzard from January 31 to February 20, 1998.

Special teams: Despite being held scoreless in Saturday's 1-0 loss to Mississippi, the Gladiators currently rank first on the power play with a power-play percentage of 25.3% on the season. Gwinnett's 87.2% penalty kill is also good for third in the ECHL. In addition, the Gladiators' 47 power play goals for is the most in the league and their 21 power play goals against is the fewest given up by any team in the league this year.

Climbing the leader board: With his 7 assists in the last six games, Jeff Campbell, who has 38 points on the year, has overtaken Derek Nesbitt for the number two spot in the league in assists with 31 and is only one point shy of taking over the team lead in scoring. Campbell is also poised to grab the top spot on the league's assists leader board as Nesbitt is currently on recall to the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL and league leader Yannick Tifu, who has 34 assists, is currently playing for AHL Albany. Campbell needs only three assists to take over the league lead in that category.

In the Show! Former Gwinnett Gladiators Colin Stuart and Kevin Doell made their NHL debuts over the past week, both with the Gladiators NHL affiliate Atlanta Thrashers. Stuart was called up on December 28th and posted an assist in his first NHL game on December 29th. Doell was held scoreless in his debut on January 4th with Atlanta. In 5 games with Atlanta, Stuart has notched two goals and two assists for four points while Doell is scoreless in two games with the Thrashers this year.

Leading the "D": Jamie Milam notched an assist for Gwinnett in Friday's 3-2 shootout win over Pensacola to move into first place in scoring among ECHL defensemen. Milam has posted 24 points this season off of 8 goals and 16 assists for Gwinnett in 31 games this season. He sits just one point ahead of four players who share second overall in the top spot among defensemen in the league.

Teddy Bear Toss! The Gladiators fifth annual Teddy Bear Toss night is Saturday, January 12th when the Gladiators host the Pensacola Ice Pilots at the Arena at Gwinnett Center at 7:35 p.m. The annual Teddy Bear Toss is presented by RaceTrac, Bowen Family Homes, Fox 5 Atlanta, Charter Communications, Star 94 and the AJC Gwinnett News. Fans are encouraged to bring a teddy bear to the game and toss it onto the ice following the Gladiators first goal. All the teddy bears collected will be donated to local children's charities.

Last Week's Games:

January 2nd, Gwinnett 3, Columbia 2 - SOW

Dan Turple set a new Gladiators team record and a new career high for saves in a game posting 49 helping Gwinnett to a 3-2 shootout win. Columbia scored first before Bryson Busniuk equalized the game at one with less than two minutes left in the second period. Gwinnett took a 2-1 lead on Mike Hamilton's 9th goal of the season just 2:08 into the third period. Columbia tied the game at two with four minutes left sending the game to overtime and then a shootout. In the shootout, it took 10 rounds before Gwinnett posted the shootout win. Andy Brandt had the game winning shootout goal for Gwinnett. Tomas Pospisil, Lou Dickenson, Matt Anderson and Jamie Milam notched assists in the win for Gwinnett.

January 4th, Gwinnett 3, Pensacola 2 - SOW

Gwinnett jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the Ice Pilots after two periods on a first period goal by Matt Anderson and a second period goal by Mike Hamilton. Pensacola scored twice in the third period to send the game to overtime and eventually a shootout. It was the third straight shootout for Gwinnett and the fourth straight game not decided in regulation. Gwinnett scored on their first three shootout chances by Tomas Pospisil, Lou Dickenson and Jeff Campbell while Dan Turple turned aside all three Pensacola shooters for the shootout win. Jamie Milam, Campbell and Stuart MacRae notched assists for Gwinnett in the win while Turple finished with 37 saves in the win for Gwinnett. The Gladiators finished 2-for-4 on the power play in the win.

January 5th, Mississippi 1, Gwinnett 0 - L

Mike Vigilante, Jim Jackson and Jon Sitko returned to the Gwinnett lineup and Dan Turple turned in 22 saves, but it wasn't enough as the Gladiators fell 1-0 to the Mississippi Sea Wolves Saturday night at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. The Gladiators skated to only their sixth 1-0 game since the team moved to Gwinnett from Mobile, AL. The loss dropped their record to 2-3-1 in 1-0 contests with the last one being a win in Augusta on December 9th of 2006. Mississippi broke the tie at the 14:15 mark of the third period on an even-strength marker for the game winner. Gwinnett was unable to answer the Mississippi goal in the final five minutes despite pulling Turple in favor of an extra attacker with less than two minutes to go and the Sea Wolves notched the win.

This Week's Games:

Friday, January 11th, vs. Pensacola Ice Pilots - 7:35 p.m. - AccessNorthGa.com

Saturday, January 12th, vs. Pensacola Ice Pilots - 7:35 p.m. - AccessNorthGa.com

The Gladiators lead the season series against the Ice Pilots with a 3-1-0 record after defeating Pensacola 3-2 in a shootout on January 4th. Jeff Campbell's 9 points, all assists, leads the Gladiators in scoring against Pensacola this season. Gwinnett is 10-of-27 on the power play this season against the Ice Pilots while Pensacola has scored just 4 power play goals on 25 chances against Gwinnett this season.

This Week's Practice Schedule:

Practices at the IceForum in Duluth are open to the general public. Arena at Gwinnett Center practices are not open to the general public. Media members wishing to attend practice at the Arena should contact the Gladiators PR staff at 770-497-5106 to facilitate building access.

Monday: 10:30 a.m. - noon, Arena at Gwinnett Center

Tuesday: 10:30 a.m. - noon, Arena at Gwinnett Center

Wednesday: 10:30 a.m. - noon, Arena at Gwinnett Center

Thursday: 10:30 a.m. - noon, Arena at Gwinnett Center

Friday: game vs. Pensacola

Saturday: game vs. Pensacola

Sunday: Day Off

The Gladiators continue their fifth anniversary season on Friday, January 11th as they host the Pensacola Ice Pilots at the Arena at Gwinnett Center at 7:35 p.m. Catch all the play-by-play action in Friday's game online via AccessNorthGa.com on Access radio streamming channel 3.

Celebrating its 20th Anniversary as the Premier 'AA' Hockey League in 2007-08, the ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in three states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league that has 25 teams in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08. The 25 teams includes the Mississippi (Biloxi) Sea Wolves, who return after missing two seasons in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the expansion Elmira (N.Y.) Jackals. The ECHL will play 900 games beginning Oct. 18 and concluding Apr. 5.

The Gwinnett Gladiators continue their fifth season as a proud member of the ECHL - 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.

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