Gladiators slay Blades 7-5
DULUTH, Ga. – Greg Carey netted a hat trick to help lead the Gwinnett? Gladiators to a wild 7-5 victory over the Florida Everblades Friday?night.? After taking a 1-0 lead on a tally by Alex Lavoie in the first, the? Everblades surrendered two goals in the final 90 seconds of the?opening frame.? The Everblades grabbed the lead back in the middle frame on goals by?Mike Aviani and Lavoie’s second of the game. Aviaini’s goal came on a?wrister from the slot that ripped past Gwinnett goaltender Kent?Patterson at 5:48.?Five minutes later, Adam Brace fed a pass to Lavoie in the slot,?who wristed the puck high into the net for the go-ahead goal in a 3-2 game after 40 minutes of play.?Gwinnett exploded for five goals in the third period. The first two?came off the stick of Carey. Carey netted his second?of the game at 3:47. He then secured the hat trick at 6:09 on an?end-to-end effort in which he finished after fighting off an Everglades?defender, and slipped the puck past netminder Allen York to put the?score at 4-3.?Gwinnett’s goal a minute later to extended the lead to 5-3.?The roller coaster period continued, as Lavoie centered a feed to?Brace in the slot. Brace snapped a shot into the net for his team?best 15th goal of the season to pull Florida within one.?Just 30 seconds later, Gerry Nunn beat York on a wrsit shot?from the circle to put the Gladiators back ahead by two.?The Everblades kept their chances alive on a power play tally by?Evan Bloodoff with seven minutes remaining to once again pull within?one.?Despite the goal, Gwinnett added an empty net tally by Will?MacDonald in the final minute to secure the victory. ?The two teams meet again Saturday in Duluth.