Jacksonville, FL – The Atlanta Gladiators defeated the Jacksonville Icemen 5-4 in a shootout on Saturday night at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Rookie forward Kirklan Irey scored the first two goals of his professional career to help Atlanta to victory. With the win and South Carolina’s loss to Florida, the Gladiators moved into the second seed in the South Division.

The Gladiators and Icemen met for the thirteenth and final time on the season, with Atlanta looking to vault over South Carolina for second place in the division and Jacksonville fighting to keep its playoff hopes alive. Ethan Haider started in net for Atlanta, while Michael Bullion started in goal for Jacksonville.

Isak Walther opened the scoring with 4:40 left in the first period, redirecting a Ryan Conroy shot to give the Gladiators a 1-0 lead. Walther’s 23^rd goal of the season came from Conroy and Brendan Less, who extended his assist streak to three games. Atlanta was able to sneak in another before the period’s end, as Jack O’Brien found Brett Bulmer for a buzzer beater with 1.3 seconds on the clock. Bulmer’s first as a Gladiator made it 2-0 Atlanta after one period of play.

Jacksonville stormed back in the second to tie the game with two goals of their own. The first of which came after the Gladiators came up empty handed on a double minor penalty to Logan Cockerill. Fresh out of the box, Cockerill found Adam McMaster on a 2 on 1 5:18 into the second to make it a 2-1 game. Shortly afterward, Jed Pietila fired a shot that caromed off of a Gladiators defenseman and went into the net to tie the game at 2-2 with 8:02 gone by in the period. The Gladiators then killed off a 5v3 power play for the Icemen to keep the game tied. After two periods, Atlanta and Jacksonville entered the third period tied at 2-2.

Atlanta leapt back ahead 2:46 into the third, as Kirklan Irey buried the first goal of his professional career off of a sharp angle shot from beneath the far circle. Zach Yoder and Ryan Nolan factored in on the assists on Irey’s goal that made it 3-2. However, the Gladiators only had the lead for a brief moment, as 6:02 into the period, Logan Cockerill stormed to the goal on the power play and tucked in his 6^th of the season to make it a 3-3 tie. David Jankowski and Peter Tischke helped out with the assists. Cockerill wasn’t done yet, scoring his second of the night and 7^th of the season 2:18 later, on a floater of a shot from the left point through a screen. Cockerill’s second goal was assisted by Colby Ambrosio and Jack Babbage to give Jacksonville a 4-3 lead. Just like Cockerill, Irey wasn’t finished scoring either, batting in his second of the night 1:26 later to tie the game at 4-4. Ethan Scardina sent a wrap around feed off a stick into the air, where Irey whacked it across the goal line out of midair to tie the game. Ryan Nolan earned an assist on the goal as well. Jacksonville went to the power play twice before the end of regulation with a chance to pull ahead, but the Gladiators once again were able to kill off the penalties and send the game to overtime.

In overtime, the Gladiators penalty kill was put to the test, with two penalties called on the Gladiators at the same time (Interference to Alex Young and a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct), resulting in a two minute 5v3 power play for the Icemen. Ethan Haider and the Gladiators penalty kill saved the day and kept it a tie game, killing off both penalties and sending the game to a shootout.

In the shootout, the Gladiators prevailed. Jacksonville shot first, with neither McMaster or Young scoring in round one. Cockerill was denied by Haider, who made a fantastic save with his left pad, while Adam Eisele scored on Bullion in round two to give the Gladiators the advantage. Haider robbed Ambrosio at the top of the third round to win the game for the Gladiators and vault Atlanta into the second seed in the division, eliminating Jacksonville from postseason contention. Haider stopped 30/34 in the win and 3/3 in the shootout, while Bullion stopped 21/25 and 1/2 in the shootout for the Icemen. The Gladiators went an impressive 8/9 on the penalty kill and 0/2 on the power play in the win.

Two games remain in the 2025-26 regular season, and the Gladiators are now in the driver’s seat for home ice advantage in round one of the playoffs against the Stingrays. If the Gladiators win out, they will have home ice advantage in the opening round. Atlanta now heads to Savannah for a Sunday afternoon matchup with the Ghost Pirates, who clinched a berth in the 2026 Kelly Cup Playoffs as a byproduct of the Gladiators win. Puck drop is set for 3:00 PM, with coverage on the Gladiators Broadcast Network on FloHockey and YouTube beginning at 2:40 PM.