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ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Glads Head into Fourth Meeting with Solar Bears

December 10, 2021 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


DULUTH, Ga. - The Atlanta Gladiators (8-8-2-0) welcome the Orlando Solar Bears (11-7-1-0) to Gas South Arena and the Ortho Sport & Spine Physicians Home Ice tonight for the second game in a three-game home stretch for the Glads. Atlanta will play the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (8-7-1-1) at home tomorrow night. Tonight is the fourth of six meetings between the Glads and the Bears. Atlanta is 1-1-1-0 against Orlando throughout the previous three encounters.

Scouting the Solar Bears

The Solar Bears currently sit in first in the South Division with 23 points. After a slow start to the season, Orlando has been red hot winning seven of their last ten games to claim the top spot in the south. The Solar Bears are led by Tyler Bird (6G-3A) and Canon Pieper (4G-5A) on the front line with 9 points a piece. Defensemen Michael Brodzinski has been phenomenal for the Solar Bears adding 15 points (4G-11A) from the back line. Brad Barone has been a wall in net for the Solar Bears with a record of 7-3-0-0, a 1.93 goals-against average, and a .947 save percentage.

Last Meeting

The most recent meeting between Atlanta and Orlando took place in Duluth on Nov. 23 and concluded with the Solar Bears claiming a 1-0 victory in overtime. Goaltender Tyler Parks was stellar throughout the game and stopped all 26 shots in regulation. Luke Boka scored the game-winner in overtime for the Solar Bears.

Last Time Out

The Gladiators tripped over the Icemen on Wednesday in a 3-1 loss at home. Jacksonville took an early 1-0 lead in the first period when Luke Lynch scored from the low slot. In the middle of the first, Jacksonville's Vladislav Mikhalchuk was assessed a five-minute boarding major and a 10-minute game misconduct for a hit on Luke Nogard. Atlanta failed to gain any momentum on the ensuing five-minute power play, and the game remained at 1-0 until late in the frame. With just under a minute-and-a-half remaining in the first, Hugo Roy stole a puck at center ice shorthanded and scored to tie the contest at 1-1. Jake Elmer scored the go-ahead goal on the power play for Jacksonville late in the third. Craig Martin added the empty-netter with 12 seconds left in regulation. Goaltender Kevin Mandolese ended up with 25 saves on 27 shots for Atlanta.

Red Hot Roy

After a marker in Wednesday's loss to Jacksonville, Glads forward Hugo Roy now has scored goals in his last five games, and he has seven tallies in his last seven contests. Roy's 11 goals on the season leads the Gladiators and ranks as the fourth-highest goal total in the ECHL this season. The Atlanta forward holds the best goals-to-games played ratio of any ECHL player with at least 10 goals this season. Roy's multi-goal efforts this season came on Oct. 29 vs Orlando and Nov. 25 vs Greenville. The five-game goal streak for Roy is tied for the longest active goal streak in the league. Roy also is tied for the league lead with three shorthanded goals.

Mandolese Recalled to Belleville

Goaltender Kevin Mandolese was recalled to the Belleville Senators in the AHL on Thursday. Despite a 0-3-0-0 record, Mandolese posted solid numbers with a 2.69 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. The 6-foot-4 netminder was originally assigned to Atlanta on Nov. 29.

Shots Shots Shots

The Gladiators rank second in the ECHL with 34.33 shots per game. Only Trois-Rivieres averages more. Atlanta peppered 128 shots on goal over three games in Norfolk last week, averaging 42.67 shots per game in that span. Gladiators shooters are most active in the second period where Atlanta takes 37.4% of its shots. The Glads have outshot the opposition 618 to 515 through 18 games.

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WHEN: Friday, Dec. 10 at 7:30 PM ET

WHERE: Gas South Arena - Duluth, Ga.

WHO: Atlanta Gladiators vs Orlando Solar Bears

BROADCAST: All Atlanta Gladiators games are broadcast live on the Gladiators Broadcast Network. Listen to the game online at Mixlr.com, or watch the game on FloHockey.TV.

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ECHL Stories from December 10, 2021


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