Saturday
21Nov2009
Tom Zanoski Hat Trick Leads the Gwinnett Gladiators Past the South Carolina Stingrays 5-2
Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 12:03PM MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com-The Gladiators continued their road success on the strength of great goaltending and a hat trick. Danny Taylor stopped 40 shots in the win, while Tom Zanoski added 3 goals as the Gladiators won 5-2 against the South Carolina Stingrays.
The Gladiators jumped out to a one goal lead early on in the game, when Tom Zanoski crashed the net hard to get a rebound goal at the 3:04 mark. Michael Forney was able to keep control of the puck along the left wing boards and worked it back to Chad Denny. Denny quickly wristed a shot on net, and Zanoski was ready for the rebound tucking it home for the first goal of the game.
South Carolina would strike back just over three and a half minutes later. Stingrays netminder Todd Ford controlled a long shot from the neutral zone, and passed it quickly up the ice to Spencer Carbery. He made a quick pass to Matt Fornataro, and Fornataro wristed one past goaltender Danny Taylor.
1 minute later Matt Siddall would get a breakaway chance, and had his stick slashed by Zach Tarkir. The play would result in a penalty shot for Siddall. Siddall worked through the center of the zone, deked to the backhand and came back to the forehand to put the puck past Ford. The score would remain 2-1 at the end of the first period.
The Gladiators opened up a two goal lead 4:17 into the second period. Scott Mifsud received a pass from Matt Siddall and fired a shot just past the right post. Aaron Brocklehurst crashed the net hard, and pushed the rebound in for the Gladiators third goal.
The score would remain 3-1 for almost 15 minutes. Penalties to Drew Paris and Matt Forney gave South Carolina a 2-man advantage for 30 seconds. Right as the penalty to Paris was expiring, Dylan Yeo blasted a shot on Taylor. Taylor fought off the shot, but Nikita Kashirsky was ready for the rebound and he put it home to cut the Gladiator lead to one goal.
The Gladiators got the start they needed in the third period. At the end of penalty kill, Tom Zanoski found himself wide open in the neutral zone. After faking a long slap shot, he carried the puck into the zone, stickhandled through a couple of Stingray defensemen, and eventually put a backhand top shelf for a beautiful goal.
Zanoski would complete the hat trick at the 19:00 mark, adding an empty net goal to give the Gladiators a 5-2 victory.
Gwinnett improved to 7-3-1-1 overall, while South Carolina fell to 9-4-1-3.
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