ATLANTA, GA. – The limited attendance at the Gwinnett Gladiators’ morning skate on Thursday February 12th made it evident their  phone had been ringing off the hook the past week.With only 12 guys dressed for the practice scrimmage, Coach Jeff Pyle was facing the upcoming challenge of having a short bench for this weekend’s games against division rivals South Carolina Stingrays and the Charlotte Checkers.

Being a head coach or GM in the ECHL can be a challenging and frustrating task. Unlike the execs running teams in the NHL, the ECHL is a developmental league and the breeding grounds for upper level leagues like the AHL and NHL. Rosters change on a monthly basis and teams can lose players at any given moment.

The Gwinnett Gladiators experienced that scenario this past week when the Chicago Black Hawks’ AHL affiliate Rockford Ice Hogs called up goalie Joe Fallon and defenseman Brennan Turner, the Atlanta Thrashers’ affiliate Chicago Wolves recalled forward Matt Siddall and the AHL Toronto Marlies snagged Josh Engel from the roster to fill vacant positions.

Although the call-ups coupled with a laundry list of injuries has shrunk Pyle’s bench, the coach has his team ready to face the test and concentrated on the positive side to this scenario, expecting it to motivate the remaining players on his roster.

“Some of these players are starving for more ice time and this is a great opportunity for them to get it,” said Pyle. “Guys will find themselves getting a lot more ice time and spending more time on the power play. If they make the most of the opportunity, it can help their career”.

Gladiators’ President and two-time ECHL executive of the year Steve Chapman looks ahead to the two important games this weekend, “It goes with the territory. Sometimes teams ask how our roster is before they pull a guy but other times they just take who they need and we find ourselves short-handed for a game”.

The Gladiators are clinging to the fourth and final playoff spot in their division so these games are huge. Expecting large, raucous crowds during this weekend’s Second Annual Pink in the Rink to benefit women’s cancer, it will be interesting to see what players step up and respond to make the best of the opportunity.

This weekend’s games are Saturday Feb. 14th at 7:05 against the Stingrays and Sunday Feb. 15th at 4:05 against the Checkers.

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax

Previously published in The Sunday Paper – Atlanta November 16, 2008

ATLANTA, GA. – There’s a buzz around the ATL, and it’s gaining momentum by the minute. For some it’s a cure for the stress brought on by billion-dollar bailouts, drawn-out wars, historic home foreclosure rates, the threat of recession. This fix comes in the form of two birds: Hawks and Falcons.

The Atlanta Falcons (4-0 at the Georgia Dome, 6-3 overall) and Atlanta Hawks (6-1 as The Sunday Paper went to press on Thursday) both sprinted out of the gate with ferocious starts in 2008, and are putting Atlanta back on the sports map. The Hawks are enjoying their best start since 1997.

And after underachieving seasons by both the Braves and Thrashers, the timing couldn’t be better.

For years, sports fans have leaned on their teams to provide an escape from the pressures of everyday life. When those teams are winning, it helps pull the city and fans out of their funks.

Detroit is a perfect example. The Motor City holds the crown for most troubling economy and severe collapse in real estate values. But when their Red Wings or Pistons take home a crown, millions take to the streets to celebrate, leaving their troubles locked up at home (if it hasn’t been taken by the bank yet).

That’s what Atlanta is experiencing right now. In the coffeehouses and on the streets of this city, sports chatter is picking up steam. Spirits are being lifted.

“The sports bars have been packed with local fans,” says Vinings resident Megan Harpring. Megan is no stranger to sports-she played basketball at Georgia Tech, and her brother plays for the NBA’s Utah Jazz.

“It’s filling everyone’s lives with something positive, something exciting,” she continues. “The success of the Falcons-it’s a motivator. We’re getting excited about the next game, the next weekend.”

Lawrenceville resident Derek Wheeler, another avid sports fan who played baseball for UGA, attended the Falcons’ miraculous last-second comeback against the Bears this year at the Dome and the Hawks’ Game 6 win against the Celtics last season. He is thrilled with his local teams. “It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?” he says. “I never would have thought the Falcons would have a year like this. And the Hawks-last year wasn’t a fluke at all.”

DOOM AND GLOOM

This aura of excitement stands in sharp relief to the dark clouds that have hovered over the city in the recent past.

When Atlanta’s All-Pro quarterback Michael Vick was sent off to live behind bars, doom and gloom set in for the city’s sports fans. And it only got worse. Their star player in shackles, their team a laughingstock, their head coach Bobby Petrino snuck out of town in the dead of night with his tail between his legs. Many of the Falcons’ star players abandoned ship or were traded away for pennies on the dollar.

A lot has changed since then. The Falcons, under the leadership of rookie general manager Thomas Dimitroff, rookie head coach Mike Smith and rookie-of-the-year candidate Matt Ryan at quarterback, continue to find ways to overcome their underdog status and win games.

No longer are fans wondering whether the Falcons have what it takes. The new questions on the street are: “Michael who?” “Bobby who?”

The NFL is certainly taking notice of the new Falcons. The league pushed the Nov. 23 Falcons/Panthers kickoff to 4:15 p.m. and upgraded the matchup to a national game. “I think that … is confirmation that we are doing things right,” Coach Smith said during a press conference last week.

The 23-year-old Ryan, fresh out of Boston College, has replaced Vick in the hearts and minds of Falcon fans and the general public. Vick is still listed as “suspended” on the Falcons’ team roster, but most expect him to be officially released soon after he swaps his prison garb for civilian clothes sometime next year.

At the Falcons’ side are the overachieving Atlanta Hawks, led by All-Star Joe Johnson, who always manages to shine while coasting under the NBA radar.

The Hawks’ performance in last year’s NBA playoff series against the heavily favored Boston Celtics brought life back to the lackluster franchise. Those young, inexperienced Hawks were expected to be swept off the planet in four merciless games. But they refused to go down without a fight, taking the Celtics (who eventually took the championship) to seven games.

Seven games into the 2008-09 season (at press time), the Hawks are continuing where they left off. Before Wednesday’s loss to the Celtics, they were the only unbeaten team in the entire Eastern Conference-that’s right, a hotter start than the Celtics, Pistons or Cavaliers. The 2009 NBA All-Star ballot includes five Hawks: Johnson, Josh Smith, Mike Bibby, Al Horford and Marvin Williams.

HOMETOWN HEROES

Local sports-talk radio programs have been bombarded with excited callers, heaping praise on the Hawks with comments like “They’re playing with passion” and “it’s awesome to watch.”

As Christopher Rude, co-host of the “Rude Awakening” morning show on 680 the Fan, put it: “Sports fans in Atlanta are guardedly optimistic.”

Marc Stein’s Week Two NBA power rankings on ESPN.com had the Hawks ranked fifth out of 30 teams in the league. “Atlanta has deservedly gate-crashed the top five with its first 5-0 start in a decade,” Stein wrote last week.

Considering that both teams’ rosters were recently stuffed with unknowns and rookies who were considered fortunate to be wearing pro uniforms, the fact that they’ve both stepped up and are quickly making names for themselves while returning a sense of pride to Atlanta fans seems nothing less than incredible.

I was at Ryan’s first game against the Detroit Lions, and witnessed his first NFL pass in front of his new hometown fans. The ball was snatched up by Michael Jenkins, who galloped 62 yards into the end zone. Last weekend against the New Orleans Saints, 22-year-old rookie Chevis Jackson intercepted a Drew Brees pass and raced 95 yards for a TD with 1:17 left to play, sealing another victory for the Falcons at the Dome.

Plays like these are like paper shredders, taking the heart-wrenching negative headlines we’ve been force-fed all week and slicing them to ribbons-at least for a moment.

We all need heroes. The larger-than-life champions in summer action films sweep us away from the doldrums of our current realities. And young, enthusiastic athletes like Matt Ryan and Al Horford, and men like Joe Johnson and John Abraham-guys who show up every day and play their hearts out, determined to overcome adversity-are doing the same.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

ATLANTA – Philips Arena may have had a sea of empty blue seats for the Atlanta Thrashers and New Jersey Devils game, but the few fans who did come to the rink were treated to a game featuring some solid goaltending on both ends of the ice.

Martin Brodeur was a brick wall, robbing the Thrashers at point blank range on several occasions, stopping all 25 shots he faced, for the 97th shutout of his career and a 1-0 win.

The 36-year-old Brodeur is only 10 victories from Patrick Roy’s NHL record 551 and 6 shutouts away from Terry Sawchuk’s NHL record 103.

Thrashers goalie, Keri Lehtonen, was busier on the other end and just as sharp; stopping 25 of the first 26 shots he faced. The Devil’s Brian Rolston broke a scoreless tie with a power play goal with only 1:03 left in the second period and Garnet Exelby in the penalty box.

The Thrashers who were 0-5 on the power play need to create some offense. “We hit a crossbar, and we hit a post,” said Ron Hainsey. “Kovalchuk had a great chance. We came storming back. We hit a post or a crossbar. There were some other chances down there. We just couldn’t beat their all-world goalie tonight on it. We had five great chances at him, and he made some unbelievable saves. That’s why he’s coming up on the best of all time.”

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

ATLANTA – The Atlanta Thrashers opened their 2008-09 season with a 7-4 win at home against the Washington Capitals.

In a game that saw Washington out-shoot Atlanta 43-31; goaltending proved to be the difference. Washington goaltender, Jose Theodore, the only addition to the Capital roster this year, was pulled at the halfway point of the game after letting in 4 goals on just 17 shots.

There were six different goal scorers for the Thrashers with Bryan Little’s second goal of the game at 13:57 of the third period being the game-winner.

Thrashers Coach John Anderson made his debut behind an NHL bench and was pleased with his team’s offensive performance. Anderson has an impressive resume in minor league hockey, including winning last year’s AHL Calder Cup with the Chicago Wolves. He was facing his longtime friend and former Maple Leaf teammate, Washington Coach Bruce Boudreau, last year’s NHL coach-of-the-year.

Anderson received a raucous round of applause when introduced during the pregame introductions. After last year’s debacle in Atlanta, the fans of Blueland are hoping Anderson’s winning ways will rub off on the young Thrashers team.

The Thrashers, who had a tough time putting the puck in the net during their six preseason games, scoring only 14 goals in 6 games, found their offensive groove, turning the red light on 7 times in their first regular season contest.

Washington dominated play early with fierce fore-checking, controlling the puck and outshooting Atlanta by a landslide. Once the Thrashers settled down, they scored the first three goals of the game, including a power play goal by newly-acquired defenseman, Ron Hainsey.

Zach Bogosian, No. 3 overall pick in this year’s NHL draft, became the youngest player to ever play in a Thrashers uniform. The eighteen-year-old rookie had a rough first shift, turning over the puck deep in his zone then later on the same shift, being forced to take a holding penalty to compensate for a mistake.

Russia was well-represented in this contest with Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov going head-to-head against Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin, Sergei Federov and Viktor Kozlov.

Ovechkin, last year’s NHL scoring leader, was awarded a penalty shot four minutes into the third period after Tobias Enstrom closed his hand on the puck in the crease. Ovechkin made a nice move on Thrashers goalie, Kari Lehtonen, who made a last-second save, kicking it out with his left skate to keep the score knotted at four.

Ovechkin has had great success against the Thrashers scoring 20 goals and 40 points in 24 games but was held scoreless in this contest.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

ATLANTA – As a teen, Zach Bogosian dedicated his summers to taking long road trips across the Canadian border from his hometown Massena, NY to Ottawa to attend vigorous workouts with premiere NHL players like Daniel Alfredsson and Daniel Briere.

Ottawa is a three-and-a-half hour round trip from Massena. Bogosian made that trek routinely over three summers, sometimes hitting the road before dawn to make a scheduled skate. The training in Ottawa was much more intense and Massena offered little to no hockey that time of year.

Possessing these strong work ethics and born competitive to the core, it was no surprise when the seventeen-year-old American was selected No. 3 overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2008 NHL draft.

Bogosian comes from a family of hard hitters with football chromosomes in their blood. His father, Ike, was a safety and captain of the Syracuse University football team and his Uncle Steve played defensive tackle at Army.

The 6′ 2″, 200 pound hard-hitting blue liner is a fierce competitor, capable of playing with a mean streak. Watching him compete and battle on the ice, it’s no surprise his favorite movie is “Gladiator”.

When asked what player he wants to model his style after he responded, “Chris Chelios was always my favorite player. He’s a warrior and a leader. He’ll do anything it takes to win.”

Bogosian has reached his first goal of making the Thrashers NHL line up. His first game will be on opening night, October 10th in Atlanta when the Thrashers take on the Washington Capitals.

Bogosian’s offensive-minded style is a perfect fit for new Thrashers coach, John Anderson. Anderson wants his defensemen to be aggressive with the puck and loves the style of play his young rookie brings to the Thrashers. “If there’s a lane open, he can take it. It’s up to the forward to drop back and cover.”

Although most young draft picks take years to develop before making a roster in the NHL, Bogosian found himself in a unique position, being drafted by a team that is rebuilding and looking for young stars.

Bogosian’s journey from the small town of Massena to Atlanta, a city five million people strong, has been one full of challenges and commitments. Now that the young prospect snagged a spot on the Thrashers roster, he can concentrate on winning games and become a part of a team in search of new leaders.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

ATLANTA – It seems like an eternity ago when the Atlanta Thrashers’ roster was overflowing with high-profile, star-caliber players, won the Southeast Division and made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

Philips Arena was rocking with wall-to-wall fans in blue with dreams of their team orchestrating a long playoff run . . . a run that could possibly lead to the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.

It may feel like distant history but that was actually April 2007 and that dream ended abruptly when that star-studded roster was easily swept by the New York Rangers 4-0.

Just like that, four games and out! Barely a week into the playoffs and the high-salaried, underachievers from Blueland had an early exit onto the golf course.

GM Don Waddell carefully built that roster around proven veterans with tons of playoff experience and leaders who had been on Stanley Cup winning teams. The main acquisitions were Bobby Holik who signed for 4.25 million per year and Marian Hossa, one of the brightest NHL stars, who went on to tally a club record 100 points that season.

In addition to Holik and Hossa, Ilya Kovalchuk, Slava Kozlov, Alexei Zhitnik, Keith Tkachuk and captain Scott Melanby wore Thrashers blue that year but a lot has changed in Blueland since then.

After under-achieving again last season and unable to make the playoffs, this year’s 2008-2009 roster is looking quite different. When the Thrashers take the ice at Phillips Arena this October, all the above-mentioned stars have exited through trades or free agency except for Kovalchuk and Kozlov.

Last year’s Thrashers Mark Recchi and Pascal Dupuis have also moved on. The only transactions worthy of mentioning since the ‘garage sale cleanout’ are the signings of puck-carrying defensemen Ron Hainsey and Mathieu Schneider and forward Jason Williams.

Hainsey, a former first-round pick and Schneider are expected to add much needed help on the blue line on this roster packed with young less experienced players, including No. 3 overall pick, Zach Bogosian.

Waddell made an aggressive attempt to sign premiere veteran free agents like Brian Campbell and Brian Rolston before they decided to sign in NHL cities where it snows several times a year. Working against him was the fact Atlanta is considered one of the least desirable places to play in the NHL.

A few months ago, Lightning’s Dan Boyle who loved it in Tampa finally agreed to waive his “no trade clause” when he was threatened with being placed on waivers and landing on the Thrashers. He was then traded to the San Jose Sharks.

The bottom line here is approximately 60 goals departed with Hossa, Dupuis and Holik and in today’s low-scoring NHL that’s a huge void to fill.

Kovalchuk is one of the most talented players in the league but he will be forced to carry a majority of the load, game in and game out, and with a grueling 82 game schedule, it may wear him down to the point of inefficiency.

With this current roster, an injury sidelining Kovalchuk could put an immediate end to any hopes of the Thrashers having a productive season.

With a new man behind the bench, John Anderson, who has never coached at the NHL level, it will be interesting to see how the team responds. Thus far they are 1-3 in the preseason and have some final roster moves to make.

The regular season opens against Washington on Oct. 10th at Philips Arena. With mountains to climb and the outlook bleak, the biggest challenge facing Waddell and the Thrashers organization may be trying to NOT make the arena feel like a ghost town; they need to sell some tickets.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax