Duluth, GA – The Orlando Solar Bears defeated the Atlanta Gladiators 4-3 in overtime on Friday night in the final regular season home game at Gas South Arena this season. Dyllan Gill scored the overtime winner to foil the Gladiators plans at a comeback, after trailing 3-1 after the first period.

The Gladiators and the Solar Bears met for the seventh and final time this season on Friday night, with Atlanta holding a 5-1 record over Orlando entering the matchup. It was a duel of rookie goaltenders, as T.J Semptimphelter started in net for Atlanta, while Samuel Richard made his first professional start in net for Orlando. It was also Cody Sylvester’s final regular season home game after announcing his retirement from professional hockey following the conclusion of the season.

The first period belonged to the Solar Bears, as Orlando led Atlanta 3-1 by the end of the opening frame. Jarid Lukosevicius opened the scoring on the power play with his 9^th of the season from Anthony Bardaro and Aaron Luchuk 7:46 into the first period. Precise passing from Orlando culminated in the score from Lukosevicius who was waiting at the far post to put the puck in. The Gladiators in response tied the game with a power play goal of their own, as Mike McNamee scored his 7^th of the season from Ryan Francis and Ryan Conroy 9:36 into the game. McNamee cashed in with a shot from the slot off of a feed from below the goal line. The Solar Bears scored the next two goals to take the 1-1 tie and transform it into a 3-1 lead, with tallies from Dustin Geregach 15:34 into the period and Tyler Bird 17:28 in. After the opening frame, Orlando led 3-1 and had outshot Atlanta 14-9.

The Gladiators completely flipped the script in the second period and surged to a 3-3 tie. On the power play, Eric Neiley took a feed from Cody Sylvester and weaved his way to the slot, firing a backhand shot past Richard 8:26 into the middle frame to make it 3-2. Atlanta continued to press, dominating the time of possession and the shot count, eventually scoring off of a snap shot from Ryan Francis to tie the game at 3-3. Francis’ 7^th of the season came from McNamee and Brendan Less with 1:12 left in the second period. Atlanta made it a brand new game heading into the third after scoring twice and outshooting Orlando 18-3 in the second period.

In the third period, both teams looked to break the tie but the two rookie goaltenders kept the game knotted at 3-3. Orlando had two power play opportunities late in regulation, but the Gladiators were fantastic on the penalty kill and sent the game to overtime. In the extra frame, Dyllan Gill scored the overtime winner, as the Solar Bears crashed the crease and wrapped the puck around the net on a centering feed to Gill in the slot for the game winner. 

Semptimphelter stopped 22/26 in the loss, while Richard stopped 36/39 for Orlando. The Gladiators went 2/3 on the power play and 3/4 on the penalty kill. With the overtime loss, the Gladiators did pick up a point in the standings and now trail South Carolina, who lost to Florida in regulation, 89 points to 90 for the second place spot in the division. 

Atlanta finishes the 2025-26 campaign with a record of 24-9-2-1 at home and will spend the final three games of the season on the road, beginning in Jacksonville on Saturday night. Puck drop for the final meeting of the season between the Gladiators and the Icemen is set for 7:00 PM with coverage on the Gladiators Broadcast Network on FloHockey and YouTube beginning at 6:40 PM.