Gladiators snap losing streak, beat Florida

DULUTH - The Gwinnett Gladiators snapped their four-game losing streak Saturday with their 3-2 win over the Florida Everblades at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. Ryan Lang put Florida on the board first with a short-handed marker at 2:55 of the first period. Lang received the pass from Peter Metcalf and Colin Nicholson and then skated in alone past the Gladiators defence to tuck the puck in on goalie Josh Johnson's glove side.

Kevin Baker tallied another for the Everblades on what looked like an easy, top-shelf goal over Johnson's right shoulder. Baker's marker came at 9:19 of the second period with Nicholson's second assist of the night.

Daniel Sullivan notched his second goal in as many nights unassisted just two minutes later to cut Florida's lead in half. Sullivan's marker is his fifth on the season.

Chris Cava finally tied up the contest at two at 12:49 of the final period on the power play. Only 28 seconds later, Travis Fuller finally took the lead for the Gladiators with his second in as many nights and fourth of the season. Jordan Fox and Sullivan tallied assists on Fuller's game winning marker.

The Gladiators jump to 4-10-0 on the season when trailing after two periods.

The Gladiators face off against the Mississippi Sea Wolves on Monday, December 29th at 7:05 p.m. at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.

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 23 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.