DULUTH - Goals by Matt Siddall and Dirk Southern were not enough to beat the Charlotte Checkers as the Gladiators lost by the score of 4-3 on Friday night in front of 4,321 fans at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. The Gladiators came from behind twice, but were not able to do it a third and final time.
The two teams skated to what looked like a scoreless first period. With just seconds left, Charlotte center David Rutherford drove into the right wing corner and passed across the crease to Mike Bayrack who scored with :01 second left on the clock to make the score 1-0. Brad Ralph tallied the second assist on Rutherford's 12th goal of the season.
The Gladiators answered back :47 seconds into the second stanza on a goal by Matt Siddall, his 9th of the season. Jordan Fox dropped a pass from the right corner to Siddall, who fired a shot from the faceoff dot. Defenseman Brennan Turner picked up the other assist.
The visiting Checkers retook the lead 2:35 into the period. Mike Taylor and Chris Murray worked the give-and-go to perfection, and Taylor put the puck past netminder Josh Johnson to make the score 2-1.
Dan Sullivan and Cedrick Bernier dropped the gloves midway through the second. The fight, one of the longest of the year, saw a flurry of haymakers from both sides in the heavyweight bout.
The Gladiators again tied the game 8:53 into the final period. Pat Bateman skated the puck through the middle, and hit Dirk Southern flying down the right wing. The goal was Southern's 3rd of the season. Tom Zanoski tallied an assist.
Charlotte took the lead for good about 4 minutes later. A shot by David Rutherford hit the crossbar, bounced down, and then sneaked across the goal line for the game winning goal. Julien Brouillette and Brad Ralph assisted on the winner.
Both teams went 0-for-3 on the power play. Charlotte outshot the Gladiators by a 32-29 margin.
With the loss, Gwinnett falls to 18-19-0-4, missing out on the chance to go above .500 in over a month. Charlotte improves to 22-17-1-1.
The Gladiators return to action tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. when the league leading Florida Everblades make another trip to Gwinnett.
Prior to the game, the Gladiators announced that they have acquired forward Tom Zanoski from the Dayton Bombers in exchange for future considerations.
The Brampton, Ontario native played in 3 games with the Stockton Thunder early in the season, where he tallied 1 assist and 6 penalty minutes. The Bombers claimed Zanoski off waivers October 31. In 3 games with Dayton, the forward scored 1 goal and 2 penalty minutes.
Prior to this season, Zanoski played 5 seasons in the OHL, skating with Owen Sound and Mississauga. He also played 3 seasons with Dalhousie University.
In his first professional season with Stockton, Zanoski saw time in 42 games, scoring 12 goals and 8 assists.
Zanoski tallied 1 assist and was a plus-1 in his first game with Gwinnett.
The Gladiators continue the 2008-09 season on the road Friday, January 23rd at 7:30 p.m. as they take on the Florida Everblades in Estero, Florida.
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 21 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.
Monday
May 5th, 2025
1:19AM
