On Friday, the Atlanta Gladiators won a hard-fought 5-3 battle against the Jacksonville Icemen.
Under new head coach Derek Nesbitt, the Gladiators have a chance to tie or break their franchise-best start of 7-0-0. To the shock of no one, Jacksonville is not trying to hear any of that. They come out onto the ice firing and score a goal in under 2 minutes. Welp. Atlanta responds with an attempt by defenseman Luke Propkop, but his shot is just wide. Brutal.
However, it’s Evan Dougherty to the rescue, with an assist from Reece Vitelli and Jacob Graves, to tie up the score at the 5:17 mark. Then, Micah Miller comes flying in like lightning at 7:50 with a beauty to put the Glads up 2-1.
Unfortunately, no matter what Atlanta tried after that quick start worked. Jacksonville evened up the score and forced the Glads into a half-ice defense for much of the period. Jacksonville is doing whatever they want, and Atlanta has no answer. Thankfully, it’s just 2-2 at the end of the period, much to the relief of Atlanta who probably needs a moment to catch its breath.
But, oh, baby. Atlanta is back from the break with much better energy. At the top of the period, Carson Gicewicz scores with a silky assist from Mitch Fossier and Cody Sylvester. It’s 3-2, and the Glads mildly look like themselves. Plus, goalie Tyler Harmon is doing fantastic work to keep Jacksonville from the goal, saving shot after shot. However, the Icemen finally break through Harmon’s defense and even up the score again, 3-3, at 19:07. With a blistering 15 shots in the period, they are riding high as the third period arrives.
Atlanta responds with a massive effort from Cody Sylvester, Fossier, and Miller. Harmon also does his part by blocking so many shots that his arms and legs should burn. Chris Janoric of Jacksonville is trying his hardest to break the game open. Then, Griffin Luce comes in with his attempt a shot, but even he misses his chance as the puck goes wide of the net – a big break for Jacksonville that helps them keep chipping away. They are leveling shots at Harmon before Vitelli and Dougherty break up the party.
Both sides continue a brutal back and forth before Aiden De la Gorgendiere cuts through the noise with a timely goal to put Atlanta up 4-3 at the 12:50 mark. That’s his first goal of the season. (Shoutout to Gicewicz and Prokop on the gigantic assist.)
That goal supercharges Atlanta, who activates their superpowers with the help of Michael Marchesan and Alex Whelan as time winds down. Whelan takes it upon himself to be a one-person wrecking crew and break up anything Jacksonville sets up. With time winding down, it’s Whelan who finds pay dirt. His goal is the knockout punch. The Glads win 5-3 and move to 5-0-0.
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