The Atlanta Gladiators are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Duluth, Georgia . The Gladiators play in the South Division of the ECHL 's Eastern Conference. They play their home games at Gas South Arena , approximately 22 miles (35 km) northeast of Atlanta .
49-807: The franchise originated as the Mobile Mysticks in 1995 . They suspended operations in 2002 and moved to Duluth in 2003 where they were originally known as the Gwinnett Gladiators . In 2015, they changed their name to the Atlanta Gladiators. They were the South Division and American Conference champions in 2006 , falling four-games-to-one to the Alaska Aces in the Kelly Cup finals. The franchise originated as
98-701: A preseason doubleheader on September 30, 2021, between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers , and the Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings . TNT then aired its first regular season games on October 13, 2021, with a doubleheader between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals , and the Chicago Blackhawks and Colorado Avalanche . Due to conflicts with TNT's first two NHL doubleheaders, AEW: Dynamite
147-710: A fill-in role, joining Forslund in Vancouver on March 9. TNT added several announcers to their roster for the playoffs including Randy Hahn , Dave Goucher , Jim Jackson , Butch Goring , Drew Remenda , Shane Hnidy and Jody Shelley . For the 2021–22 season, TNT aired 50 games, primarily on Wednesday nights (with 15 doubleheaders), as well as seven weeks of Sunday afternoon games in March and April 2022, and all three outdoor games (the Winter Classic , Stadium Series , and Heritage Classic ). TNT's first broadcasts were
196-586: A national contract with the NHL until the current deal was reached. Like other U.S. national NHL broadcasts, NHL on TNT games may be available in Canada on Sportsnet or streamed on Sportsnet+ as part of a 12-year agreement with the NHL that lasts to the end of the 2025–26 season, subject to blackout restrictions. From 1992 – 1998 , TNT served as the American cable television partner for CBS in its coverage of
245-585: A rotation of guest studio analysts that later included Tony Granato and Craig Berube . On January 17, 2024, due to the weather-related postponement of the Chicago Blackhawks – Buffalo Sabres game, TNT instead aired the Detroit Red Wings at the Florida Panthers , with the studio team calling the game from the TNT studios. TruTV aired multiple alternative broadcasts throughout the season;
294-587: A rules analyst, and former Blackhawk Jamal Mayers as an extra contributor. On November 23, TNT added retired Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to its studio panel, starting on the next day's broadcast. On November 30, TNT welcomed former referee Stéphane Auger to their team, as another rules analyst, joining Koharski. He made his debut during the Penguins - Oilers game the next night. On January 13, 2022, TNT added Nabil Karim, formerly of ESPN , to contribute as secondary studio host and reporter for both
343-573: Is an American presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by TNT Sports (formerly known as Turner Sports and later Warner Bros. Discovery Sports), and televised on TNT and streamed on Max in the United States. In 2021, Turner Sports reached a seven-year contract to serve as one of the two rightsholders of the NHL in the United States , alongside ESPN / ABC , with both replacing NBC Sports . TNT will hold rights "up to 72" nationally televised regular-season games per season,
392-638: Is scheduled for TNT's 2024–25 regular season coverage, including Wednesday night games throughout the season, the Thanksgiving Showdown, the 2025 Winter Classic , and Sunday games between late February and April. TruTV will continue to have simulcasts or alternative broadcasts of selected games. With the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off tournament replacing the All-Star Game this season, the NHL decided to split it between TNT, ABC, and ESPN: TNT will have
441-631: The 1980–81 NHL season and McDonald left Atlanta to work for the New York Islanders . As part of TNT's seven-year NHL national contract, select Stanley Cup playoff games air on TBS. In 2023, TBS aired the Heritage Classic , its first regular season game. While TBS's playoff games initially featured TBS branding replacing that of TNT, since the 2023–24 season all NHL broadcasts now carry "TNT Sports" branding regardless of channel due to corporate branding changes. Turner launched
490-603: The 2011–12 season . They later announced an affiliation agreement with the Buffalo Sabres , and their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans . That affiliation lapsed at the end of the 2011–12 season, leaving the Gladiators affiliated exclusively with Phoenix for the 2012–13 season . The Gladiators would carry that affiliation through the end of the 2014–15 season. On August 6, 2015,
539-592: The Fenway Sports Group , which also owns the Boston Bruins ' home network, NESN . The network dropped the AT&;T branding and became known as simply SportsNet Pittsburgh (not to be confused with Canada's Sportsnet networks) effective October 2. In January 2024, the Mariners purchased WBD's remaining stake on Root Sports Northwest. A Turner Sports executive stated that TNT's goal for its coverage
SECTION 10
#1732779941094588-655: The Greenville Swamp Rabbits . On June 6, 2023, the Gladiators announced former team captain Derek Nesbitt as the sixth head coach in team history. Jeff Pyle , who had served as the team's head coach for the previous four seasons, was promoted to Director of Hockey Operations for the club. The Gladiators served as the ECHL affiliate of the NHL 's Atlanta Thrashers and their AHL affiliate Chicago Wolves from their inception in 2003 until 2011, when
637-599: The Jets . Time Warner sold the Thrashers in 2003, and sold Turner South to Fox Cable Networks in 2006, which merged it with FSN South to form SportSouth . Following AT&T 's acquisition of Time Warner in 2018, AT&T SportsNet ,—a regional sports network system acquired in 2015 as a part of DirecTV , and formerly part of the Fox Sports Networks (FSN) group—was moved alongside Turner Sports within
686-623: The Mobile Mysticks who played in Mobile, Alabama , from 1995 to 2002. It suspended operations in 2002 due to declining attendance. After a year off, Toby Jeffreys, the owner of the Mysticks, relocated his franchise to Gwinnett County, Georgia , in 2003 and was rebranded the Gwinnett Gladiators. He then sold minority stakes of the franchise to local business owners to create Gwinnett County Hockey, LLC. Jeff Pyle —who served as
735-828: The NBA opting not to play games on Election Day , TNT decided to schedule a rare Tuesday night doubleheader on November 8, with the Edmonton Oilers at the Tampa Bay Lightning, followed by the Nashville Predators at the Seattle Kraken . Like their playoff coverage in 2022, TNT brought in regional announcers for select games. Those include former Kings (current at the time) and NBC play-by-play man Alex Faust and Lightning play-by-play man Dave Randorf , previously of TSN and Sportsnet . Unlike
784-610: The Wheeling Nailers , had been selected to take Pyle's place as the team's head coach. The Gladiators won the ECHL South Division in the two years of Wrobelski's tenure. On August 7, 2013, Wroblewski was hired by the AHL's Rochester Americans as an assistant coach. Rick Emmett, a former defenseman for the Gladiators, took over as head coach. Emmett was relieved of his duties as head coach on December 2, 2014. At
833-491: The Winter Olympic Games . Jiggs McDonald handled the play-by-play for ice hockey at the 1992 and 1994 Olympics with Bill Clement on color commentary in 1992 and Joe Micheletti in 1994. In 1998 , Mike "Doc" Emrick provided the play-by-play commentary alongside color commentators Peter McNab , Joe Micheletti , and Digit Murphy . When the NHL's media rights were up for renewal in 2011, Turner Sports
882-530: The cable home for Olympic ice hockey from 1992 – 1998 for CBS . The formerly co-owned AT&T SportsNet regional sports networks also used to hold local rights until the 2022-23 season to the Pittsburgh Penguins (which went to SportsNet Pittsburgh ), Seattle Kraken (which went to over the air channels KING-TV and KONG-TV ), and Vegas Golden Knights (which went to over-the-air channel Vegas 34 ). However, Turner Sports had never had
931-423: The 2021–22 season. Prior to the start of the 2022–23 season on October 19, 2022, ownership of the team was transferred to ATL Hockey Group, LLC, led by businessman Alex Campbell with former NHL player and NHL on TNT commentator Anson Carter holding a minority stake. On November 7, 2022, the Gladiators unveiled plans to take on the identity of the former Atlanta Thrashers for a single game on December 16 against
980-721: The February 14 Panthers– Penguins game featured an alternate broadcast with Paul Bissonnette and the panel of his podcast Spittin' Chiclets . On the April 14 Avalanche – Golden Knights game, TruTV aired MultiVersus NHL Face-Off –a tie-in for the Warner Bros. Games -published crossover fighting game MultiVersus . The broadcast featured a 3D animated recreation of the game with players represented by avatars of characters from Adult Swim , Cartoon Network , DC Comics , and Warner Bros. Animation franchises. The broadcast
1029-666: The Gladiators announced a two-year affiliation deal with the Boston Bruins and their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins . In February 2017, the Gladiators and Bruins extended their affiliation for another two seasons and then added fifth season for 2019–20. In 2021, the Bruins switched their ECHL affiliation to the Maine Mariners and the Gladiators affiliated with the Ottawa Senators . On August 25, 2022,
SECTION 20
#17327799410941078-722: The Gladiators became the ECHL affiliate for the Arizona Coyotes for the second time. On June 6, 2023, the Gladiators became the ECHL affiliate for the NHL's Nashville Predators and AHL's Milwaukee Admirals . Mobile Mysticks Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 220733088 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:45:41 GMT NHL on TNT The NHL on TNT
1127-483: The Gladiators became the affiliate of the Boston Bruins and their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins . On September 9, 2015, the Gladiators organization announced that they would be known as the Atlanta Gladiators to expand their brand to include the entire Atlanta metropolitan area . As part of the name change, the Gladiators updated their “primary” and “wordmark” logos to reflect the Atlanta designation. The rest of
1176-646: The Gladiators logos remained the same, as did the team colors. After two seasons as head coach, Andy Brandt left to take the associate coaching position with St. Norbert College in 2017. The Gladiators would then hire two-time Kelly Cup winning coach Chuck Weber as his replacement. During the 2017–18 season , the franchise was purchased by Virginia-based ownership group called Danor Vienna LLC, headed by real estate developer P. Daniel Orlich. Head coach Weber left after one season to take an assistant coaching position with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) NCAA Div. I men's team in order to be closer to home. Jeff Pyle
1225-474: The Mysticks' head coach starting in 1998—returned to the franchise for their first season. The Gladiators made an appearance in the 2006 Kelly Cup Finals , losing to the Alaska Aces in five games. On July 13, 2011, Pyle was named head coach of the American Hockey League 's Texas Stars . The Gladiators announced on August 3, 2011, that John Wroblewski , former assistant coach for
1274-725: The NBA panelist Charles Barkley , who is a friend of Gretzky, was instrumental in convincing Gretzky to join Turner. Craig Morgan, an Arizona-based reporter on the Arizona Coyotes and correspondent for the NHL Network , reported that Darren Pang and Keith Jones , color commentators for the St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers , respectively, would be joining Turner. On June 9, Morgan reported that NBC's Anson Carter would be doing
1323-567: The NHL and the NBA. Former NBC and current Kraken play-by-play announcer John Forslund was picked up by TNT as a fill-in announcer, whenever Albert or Burke are on assignment. Forslund first filled in for Albert for the Avalanche-Golden Knights game on February 16, as Albert was working the Olympic women's hockey gold medal game for NBC about an hour after puck drop. Sharks color commentator Bret Hedican also joined in
1372-602: The Thrashers franchise moved to Winnipeg and the Gladiators ended their affiliation with the franchise. The team also served as an affiliate for the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2008–09 season and for the Columbus Blue Jackets during the 2009–10 season . On August 17, 2011, the Gladiators announced their affiliation with the Phoenix Coyotes and the Portland Pirates for
1421-582: The WarnerMedia News & Sports division under Jeff Zucker in March 2019. AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh , AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain , and Root Sports Northwest (majority owned by the Seattle Mariners ) served as the regional outlets for the Pittsburgh Penguins , Vegas Golden Knights , and Seattle Kraken , respectively. With the exception of Root Sports Northwest, all of WBD's regional sports networks would be dissolved at
1470-595: The annual NHL Winter Classic game on New Year's Day , half of the Stanley Cup playoffs (airing on TNT and sister channel TBS ), and hold rights to the Stanley Cup Finals in odd-numbered years. The contract also includes an option for Max to carry and/or simulcast games. Turner Sports has previously aired hockey, as the regional home for the Atlanta Flames and Atlanta Thrashers , and as
1519-469: The end of the 2023 Major League Baseball season . The Golden Knights signed a multi-year agreement with the E. W. Scripps Company 's Scripps Sports division to start airing games on Scripps's Las Vegas broadcast station KMCC and syndicate the telecasts to other stations across the team's broadcast territory. Meanwhile, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, the television home of the Penguins, was purchased by
Atlanta Gladiators - Misplaced Pages Continue
1568-512: The franchise that had been used by NBC), along with the 2023 Heritage Classic in Edmonton (which aired on TBS as its first regular-season game (due to TNT commitments to a United States women's soccer friendly against Colombia ), the Thanksgiving Showdown, and the 2024 NHL Winter Classic . On November 7, 2023, TNT announced that Chris Chelios , formerly of ESPN, would serve as a guest analyst for that night's doubleheader. Chelios joined
1617-447: The lead ice-level reporter. Burke and Pang were named as the secondary broadcast team. McHugh and Carter were named to the studio team, along with former Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet and veteran Paul Bissonnette , who all joined Gretzky in studio. Hockey Night in Canada ’s Jennifer Botterill , NHL Network's Jackie Redmond, and Tarik El-Bashir also appear as contributors. TNT later added former referee Don Koharski as
1666-488: The lead team, thus reuniting with former NBC partners Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk, a position that was confirmed on September 21 with entire TNT crew returning and Henrik Lundqvist being added to the crew full-time. TNT aired a 62-game schedule for the 2023–24 season, 48 of those games on Wednesdays as doubleheaders, and 12 of those games on Sunday afternoons (with the first branded as Hockey Day in America —reviving
1715-554: The previous season, select TNT broadcasts would air on a non-exclusive basis, and are blacked out in the local markets of the participating teams in favor of local broadcasters. On January 23, Tocchet left TNT to be the new head coach of the Vancouver Canucks , replacing recently-fired Bruce Boudreau . He subsequently returned to TNT as a guest studio analyst after the Canucks missed the playoffs. On May 11, 2023, Jones
1764-503: The radio by WSB (AM) . Jiggs McDonald was the main play-by-play announcer with Skip Caray substituting from 1976 – 80 . Color commentators included Andy Still ( 1972-73 ), Bob Neal ( 1973–74 ), Ed Thilenius ( 1974–75 ; home and televised games only), Bernie Geoffrion ( 1975 – 79 ), and Bobby Harper (1979–80; home games only). Pete Van Wieren also did play-by-play for the Flames. The Flames left Atlanta for Calgary prior to
1813-535: The regional Turner South network in 1999, which carried games of the Atlanta Thrashers , which were owned at that time by Turner parent Time Warner . Matt McConnell was the primary television play-by-play announcer for the Thrashers from 1999 – 2003 with JP Dellacamera taking over for the rest of the way in Atlanta. Darren Eliot was the television color commentator throughout the Thrashers' entire existence before their 2011 departure to Winnipeg as
1862-546: The regular season and four Sundays during March and April. In addition to gaining exclusive rights to the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals and the 2023 NHL Winter Classic , TNT will gain the rights to the annual Thanksgiving Showdown on Friday, November 25, featuring a doubleheader between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers , and the St. Louis Blues at the Tampa Bay Lightning . With
1911-527: The round-robin games on February 12 and 17, ABC/ESPN+ will air the February 15 round-robin doubleheader, and ESPN will air the United States–Finland game and the final. TNT Sports-produced hockey has also aired on other networks. For a short period in the 1970s, WTCG , the predecessor to TBS , was the television home of the Atlanta Flames . All of the Flames' radio and television broadcasts were simulcasts. The Flames' games were also broadcast on
1960-462: The same. On June 28, Marchand reported that Islanders play-by-play man Brendan Burke was in talks to join Turner as their #2 play-by-play man. On August 31, it was reported that Liam McHugh would join TNT from NBC. On September 14, 2021, TNT announced its slate of on-air staff for its inaugural season. Jones, a studio analyst at NBC, would join Albert and Olczyk on the lead broadcast team as
2009-413: The second half of its new media rights beginning in the 2021–22 season ; The contract was reported to be valued at $ 225 million per season. On May 26, 2021, Turner announced the hiring of Wayne Gretzky as its lead studio analyst, and that NBC's top commentary team of Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk moved to Turner as its lead commentary team. Retired basketball player and current TNT Inside
Atlanta Gladiators - Misplaced Pages Continue
2058-471: The time, assistant coach, and former Gladiator captain, Andy Brandt was named the interim head coach. Brandt would remain the interim head coach through the remainder of the 2014–15 season before being named to head coach on March 21, 2015. Former Valpellice Bulldogs head coach Mike Flanagan also joined the coaching staff in December 2014, serving as the team's assistant coach. Following the 2014–15 season,
2107-429: The value of its U.S. media rights after the expiration of its ten-year deal with NBC Sports, the NHL pursued having multiple media partners for its next round of media rights deals, including possible deals with streaming services. After announcing on March 10, 2021, that ESPN would hold the first half of the new media rights, on April 27, the NHL announced that a seven-year agreement was reached for Turner Sports to hold
2156-425: Was modeled after ESPN's previous Big City Greens -themed broadcasts, with its technology vendor Beyond Sports also being involved in the broadcast. During the 2024 Western Conference finals , TruTV will air NHL DataCast powered by AWS —an alternate broadcast with enhanced statistics. The feed will feature Steve Mears , Colby Armstrong , and Mike Kelly of NHL Network as commentators. Another set of 62 games
2205-713: Was named the President of Hockey Operations for the Philadelphia Flyers after the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs concludes. During the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs , TNT only carried weekend games due to its commitments with the NBA playoffs , with some weeknight games airing on TBS alongside ESPN. To maximize viewership, the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals were simulcast on TBS and/or TruTV (notwithstanding commitments to MLB on TBS Tuesday Night and AEW Dynamite ). On August 29, 2023, TNT hired Brian Boucher away from ESPN to replace Keith Jones on
2254-462: Was pre-empted to Saturday on the weeks of October 13 and 20. From October 27 through December 15, 2021, TNT aired only a single, 10 p.m. ET game with Dynamite as a lead-in (which concurrently began broadcasting live on both TNT's East and West feeds). TNT then began airing doubleheaders on January 5, 2022, when Dynamite moved to TBS. In the 2022–23 season, TNT announced a 62-game regular season schedule, normally airing on Wednesdays throughout
2303-558: Was reported to have been among the bidders (with Sports Business Journal suggesting that Turner would want to pick it up for TruTV to expand its sports output alongside the NCAA men's basketball tournament ), alongside past NHL rightsholders Fox Sports and ESPN. The NHL ultimately decided to renew its rights with NBC Sports under a 10-year deal, taking advantage of the acquisition of its parent company NBC Universal by Comcast —the existing cable rightsholder via Versus . To increase
2352-467: Was then brought back as head coach and general manager after leaving for the AHL in 2011. In 2019, the Gladiators updated their primary colors from garnet and black to navy blue and gold. On October 1, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the Gladiators enacted the ECHL's COVID-19 voluntary suspension policy and opted out of playing in the 2020–21 season . The team announced they would return to play in
2401-452: Was to provide information on-air that would appeal to both mainstream viewers and "diehard fans", including leveraging the NHL's new player and puck tracking system for on-air features and graphics, and high frame rate cameras. The network also implemented an on-ice graphic for the power play clock, similar to the on-court shot clock graphic used in TNT's NBA coverage. TNT's studio coverage originates from Turner's headquarters in Atlanta, with
#93906