SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Atlanta Gladiators (15-14-3-1) were defeated by the Savannah Ghost Pirates (17-2-2-0) by a final score of 6-5 on Saturday night, at Enmarket Arena, in Savannah, Georgia.
Drew DeRidder got the nod in goal for the Gladiators, while Evan Cormier started for the Ghost Pirates.
At 6:10 of the first period, Keltie Jeri-Leon (7th) scored for the Ghost Pirates, giving the home team the early 1-0 advantage.
At 7:17, Patriks Marcinkevics (4th) weaved at the right circle, and lifted a wrist a shot over Cormier’s shoulder and into the net. Brenden Datema and Joey Cipollone assisted on the goal.
In the second, Savannah scored twice in the first 13 minutes, with Logan Drevitch (4th) and Ross Armour (10th, PPG) lighting the lamp to put the Ghost Pirates up two goals.
At 13:20, just 21 seconds after Savannah scored their third goal, Jackson Pierson (4th) cleaned up a scramble in front of the Ghost Pirate net, to bring the Glads within one.
At 15:03, while on the power play, Ghost Pirates captain Logan Drevitch (5th) potted his second goal of the night, wiring a wrist shot from the left circle.
At 17:48, Savannah forward Nick Granowicz (3rd) scored on a partial break, lifting the puck on the forehand over Drew DeRidder’s pad.
With 0.1 seconds on the clock, in his first game back with the Ghost Pirates, Pat Guay (8th) put Savannah up 6-2 heading into the second intermission.
In the third, Atlanta came on strong, scoring three times, as Ryan Cranford (4th), Blake Murray (8th), Joey Cipollone (9th), all found the net, bringing Atlanta within one.
Despite successfully setting up in the offensive zone with under a minute left and the goalie pulled, Savannah held on, winning a thriller by a final score of 6-5.
When asked to assess tonight’s game, here’s what head coach Derek Nesbitt said. “We need to play smarter and harder in certain areas, and manage the game better. I don’t think we did that early. As is our group though, we didn’t quit, we got to our game in the third, and we showed how we could be dangerous.”
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