DULUTH, GA – Sunday marked the third meeting of the season between the Atlanta Gladiators and Jacksonville Icemen. However, the two previous meetings took place at the Icemen’s home arena. This was the first meeting of the season between the two clubs at the Gladiators’ Infinite Energy Arena home in Duluth, GA. The Gladiators (9-6-1-1) won the two previous meetings against the Icemen (3-10-1) by final scores of 6-5 on October 26th and 2-1 on November 24th.
Atlanta started the day with a record of 2-3-1-1 at home this seasonwhile Jacksonville started the game with a road record of 1-6. Jamie Philips (2-8-1, 3.31 goals against average) got the start for the Icemen while Dan Vladar (4-3-1, 2.98 goals against average) started for Atlanta.
It would take almost to the three-quarter mark of the first period before someone scored and it was Atlanta that accomplished that. Brady Vail beat Philips for his fifth goal of the season on the power play, with the assists going to Josh Atkinson and Ben Marshall.
A little over four minutes later, Atlanta would increase the lead to 2-0 when Ben Danford recorded his fourth of the season, on assists from Tanner Pond and Lindsay Sparks. There would be no more scoring in the first period, with it ending with the Gladiators leading 2-0. Atlanta dominated the first period, recording 13 shots on goal to Jacksonville’s 3. Atlanta was also called for only two minutes in penalties in the first, while Jacksonville got called for 22 – the major part of that being 12 minutes called on Emerson Clark at the end of the period, a minor for interference and a 10-minute major.
For the second period, Atlanta made a goalie change as Sean Bonar (3-0-0, 1.50 goals against average) replaced Vladar.
Atlanta would extend the lead further in the second at the 16:03 mark when Alex Gacek beat Philips. The only assist was given to Luke Sandler. That was the only scoring of the second period as Atlanta lead 3-0. Atlanta continued to dominate in shots on goal, with the Gladiators outshooting the Icemen 14-7 for the period. After two, Atlanta had outshot Jacksonville 27-10. The only penalty called in the period was a hooking call on Atlanta’s Atkinson.
Early in the third period, Jacksonville finally got on the board when Ryan Graham scored his second of the season off assists from Jimmy Lodge and Scott Savage at 2:46. At the 4:59 mark, Jacksonville pulled within one when Graham scored again, this time off assists from Lodge and Cameron Critchlow.
However, Atlanta would put a stop to the Jacksonville rally when, at the 14:28 mark, Derek Nesbitt recorded his fifth of the season, off assists from Darby Llewellyn and Taylor Selfishen. Jacksonville pulled Philips with 1:50 left but it did no good as Atlanta ended up winning the game 4-2.
Atlanta outshot Jacksonville in the third period 11-8 and 38-18 for the game. Once again, Atlanta had the only penalty called in the third, on Tanner Pond for elbowing. Jacksonville ended the game with 22 penalty minutes to Atlanta’s 6.
Icechips: Two of the three stars of the game were from Atlanta. First was Atlanta’s Alex Gacek, second was Ryan Graham of Jacksonville and third was Ben Danford of Atlanta… Attendance for the game was 1,771… Sean Bonar got the win in net for Atlanta… The Galdiators now lead the season series with Jacksonville 3-0. Game 4 of the series takes place December 6th in Atlanta… The Gladiators continue their five straight games against teams from the state of Florida when on Friday the 1st of December, they play host to the Florida Everblades in the first of a two game series… Jacksonville will return home to begin a three game homestand Tuesday night against the Orlando Solar Bears.
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