GWINNETT, Ga – In front of a crowd of 8,526 at the Gwinnett Center, the South Carolina Stingrays dominated the Gladiators in a 4-2 loss. The Gladiators, still reeling from a 7-1 beat down issued by the Greenville Road Warriors the night before, looked like a heavyweight fighter that had taken one too many punches as they tried to keep up with the Stingrays. Poor passing, a lackadaisical effort and a total lack of communication was prevalent as the Glads were outshot 40-30 by the Rays in the losing effort. Matt Krug tallied a power play goal at the 12:47 mark in the first period to give the Glads an early lead. Justin Milo tied the contest with his first professional goal with 24 seconds remaining in the first to tie the contest. Josh Godfrey’s unassisted goal in the second period gave the Rays their first lead of the game and they never looked back after Matt Scherer put a high shot over ECHL Goalie of the Week, Billy Sauer in the third period. It looked like Danick Paquette’s power play goal in the midway through the third period might spark a Gladiator comeback, but that spark was quickly extinguished a couple of minutes later when Scherer squeaked the puck past Sauer for his fourth goal of the season. Stingray goalie Jared DeMichiel stopped 28 shots to improve to 5-4-0-0 in route to earning 1st Star of the Game honors, while Sauer dropped to 5-3-0-1 on the season. With the loss, the Gladiators fall to 12-6-0-4 on the season, while South Carolina improved to 8-10-1-0. The Gladiators will get a day to regroup before facing Greenville at home in a Sunday matinee game that will give them a chance to get some revenge for Thursday night’s lost and the opportunity to regain the division lead. Contact David.Stewart@prohockeynews.com
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