GREENVILLE, S.C. – Keaton Mastrodonato notched a “Gordie Howe Hat Trick”, and Patrick Polino earned a goal and an assist, but the Atlanta Gladiators, led by Alex Young’s two goals and debut goals for Nolan Orzeck and Jack O’Brien, maintained separation and claimed a 7-4 win on Friday night.
Atlanta jumped out to a hot start and carried a two-goal lead into the intermission. Orzeck, in his debut off a trade with Iowa, got the Gladiators on the board first on the back-end of a double-minor power play, rifling a wrist shot from the left side of the blue line through traffic. The shot beat Swamp Rabbits net-minder Mattias Sholl, giving the Gladiators a 1-0 lead at 4:10 of the first (Jack Matier and Ryan Francis assisted). Just 3:11 later, Zach Yoder snuck in off the blue line and buried a cross ice pass from the right, doubling the lead to 2-0 at 7:21 (Peter Morgan assisted). The Swamp Rabbits cut the lead 2:26 later, with Cam Hausinger unleashing a full bore shot on a loose puck in the middle of the Gladiators zone. It rang off of Atlanta goalie Ethan Haider and Patrick Polino was there to tuck the rebound, cutting the deficit to 2-1 with 10:13 left in the first (Hausinger and Ryan O’Hara assisted). The Swamp Rabbits had the Gladiators pinned for an extended shift, but eventually, they escaped and came back on more more attack. With 7.4 second remaining, Brendan Less wired a shot from the blue line past Sholl’s shoulder, giving Atlanta breathing room at 3-1 entering the break (Mickey Burns and Ryan Nolan assisted).
Both teams traded six total goals back-and-forth in a wild second period, beginning with the Swamp Rabbits less than three minutes in. At 2:57, Josh Atkinson came in-zone as the trailer on the play and received a Patrick Polino pass. Atkinson didn’t hesitate, and fired a laser past Haider to bring the Swamp Rabbits within one at 3-2. However, 73 seconds later, Alex Young carried the puck over all three lines and sent a shot of his own whizzing by Sholl’s head, re-establishing the multi-goal lead at 4:03 to 4-2. Then 62 seconds after that, Carson Denomie pocketed a rebound off of Sholl’s blocker and pushed the Gladiators to a 5-2 lead at 5:05 (Joey Cipollone and Chad Nychuk assisted). Eventually, the Swamp Rabbits seized momentum and got back within one, beginning with Ryan O’Reilly 1:56 after Denomie’s marker. At 7:01, O’Reilly worked himself to the slot area and fired home a Keaton Mastrodonato pass from below the goal line, ringing it off the back bar to slash the Gladiators lead to 5-3 (Mastrodonato and Dante Sheriff assisted). With 5:24 to go in the second, Mastrodonato kept his name involved on the scoresheet, this time in the goal column, potting a rebound off of a Jake Murray blue line shot that again brought the Swamp Rabbits within one, trailing 5-4 (Murray and Brent Pedersen assisted). Less than a minute after his goal, Mastrodonato blasted Brendan Less in a fight, earning his “Gordie Howe Hat Trick”, but momentum shifted for the Gladiators after the fact. Jack O’Brien, also in his Gladiators debut on the prior deal with Iowa, slammed home a Joey Cipollone pass from behind the net, pushing the Gladiators to a 6-4 lead with 3:06 to play (Cipollone and Nolan Orzeck assisted). The Swamp Rabbits couldn’t muster a comeback in the third, and with Alex Young’s empty-netter with 2:08 to go, fell by a final of 7-4.
Mattias Sholl, making his first Swamp Rabbits start since December 13th, suffered the loss while stopping 23 of 29 shots.
The Swamp Rabbits head to the road for a brief two-game swing in Florida, taking on the Jacksonville Icemen tomorrow night, January 3rd. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 p.m. EST at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
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