Jacksonville, FL. The Atlanta Gladiators (8-0-0-0) built themselves a three-goal lead, and Tyler Harmon made another strong start for the second night in a row as the Glads remain undefeated with a 5-2 win over the Jacksonville Icemen (4-3-1-0) Saturday evening at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
First Star: Mitch Fossier (ATL) - 1 goal, 2 assists, +3
Second Star: Reece Vitelli (ATL) - 1 goal, 2 assists, +3
Third Star: Anthony Petruzzelli (JAX) - 1 goal
The Gladiators opened the scoring just past the five-minute mark of the first period to go ahead 1-0 (5:50). Mitch Fossier kicked things off with his sixth goal of the season as he sped in on a breakaway with his team shorthanded, going backhand, forehand and roofing home the opening goal of the night.
Atlanta doubled the lead late in the first period to pull ahead 2-0 (17:25). Mitch Fossier dropped a between-the-legs pass to Reece Vitelli who hit a speeding Micah Miller in front of the net and Miller made no mistake scoring his sixth of the year.
The Gladiators extended their lead to 3-0 early in the second period courtesy of Reece Vitelli (5:06). Vitelli jumped on a juicy rebound in front of Jacksonville’s net and scored his fourth goal of the season.
The Icemen ended Tyler Harmon’s shutout bid early in the third period to make the score 3-1 (00:37).
Atlanta reclaimed their three-goal lead just five minutes later making the score 4-1 (5:38). Michael Marchesan found Ryan Cranford all alone in front of the Icemen goal and he netted his second goal of the campaign.
Jacksonville trimmed the Gladiators’ advantage to two as they cut Atlanta’s lead in half 4-2 (8:10).
The Gladiators added an empty net goal in the dying seconds of the game to pull ahead 5-2 (19:57). With time winding down Micah Miller sent the puck into the wide open Jacksonville net for his second goal of the night and seventh on the season, sealing the win for Atlanta.
Tyler Harmon made 31 saves on 33 shots in the win for Atlanta, meanwhile Michael Houser allowed four goals on 24 shots in the loss for Jacksonville.
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