The Atlanta Gladiators kicked off the 2023-24 season at Gas South Arena in front of 6440 fans against their in-state rivals, the Savannah Ghost Pirates. There were some of the same faces from last year that will be familiar to Gladiator fans like Cody Sylvester, Tyler Harmon, and Zach Yoder, but the new faces were the ones who made the biggest impact on the game. Former Jacksonville Iceman Alex Whelan scored two goals and Gustavs Grigals made 30 saves on 32 attempts to lead the Glads to a 4-2 win. The first period was a “feeling out” period for both teams as no goals were scored and the shots were limited to ten for Atlanta and six for Savannah. Things picked up rather quickly in the 2nd period as Micah Miller scored his first ever professional goal to give the Glads a 1-0 lead. Before the Public Address Announcer could finish the particulars on the goal, Jack Matier would get his first professional goal to give the Glads the ever dreaded 2-0 lead. Savannah would get the next one from Alex Swetlikoff to cut the lead in half but the Gladiators would respond in the form of a goal from Alex Whelan. The third period saw Savannah cut the lead back to a goal, but Whelan would put the finishing touches on the game with his 2nd of the contest, taking a beautiful pass from Griffin Luce.
Atlanta’s pace of play looked much different than it did last year and that should be attributed to first year head coach Derek Nesbitt. Atlanta was only outshot in the 2nd period, a stat that haunted the Gladiators in the 2nd half of the last years season. Even though Savannah held the edge in shots, 16-10, it was the Gladiators who cashed in, collecting three of their goals in the 2nd. Atlanta was certainly the more aggressive team with many more hits. One of Atlanta’s objectives over the off season was to get bigger and stronger and they did that. The team averages 6’1″ and 195 pounds. The Gladiators also needed to get faster and be able to beat teams to 50/50 pucks. Atlanta found themselves on the breakaway quite often after creating turnovers or getting to loose pucks quicker than Savannah. One point of contention for the Glads was penalty minutes. Atlanta was sent to the box seven times which resulted in five power plays for Savannah. The Gladiators were able to successfully kill off all five penalties, but they can’t rely on a perfect penalty kill all season. The Gladiators take their perfect record on the road this weekend for a two-game set against the Allen Americans. This will be the only time these two teams see each other during the regular season. The Gladiators will be back home Wednesday, November 1st to take on their divisional rivals, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits.
