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Gladiators Execute Power Play With Precision

October 27, 2007

By Christine Troyke
Staff Writer
Gwinnett Daily Post

DULUTH, Ga. - The skill and precision with which the Gwinnett Gladiators execute their power play can be staggering.

They offered a tantalizing look at what should once again be a deadly weapon during last Saturday's home opener.

Not five minutes into the hockey game, Pensacola gave Gwinnett a two-man advantage and the Gladiators cashed in - twice. Then a third Ice Pilot penalty gave Gwinnett a chance to go 3-for-3. It was not wasted.

Power-play No. 1: Derek Nesbitt shoveled home a rebound after Jon Awe's booming slap shot from up high was turned aside at 5:22.

Power-play No. 2: Jamie Milam's blast from the top of the faceoff circle found the back of the net at 5:58.

Power-play No. 3: Captain Mike Vigilante was the finishing touch on a sharp passing play that involved Jeff Campbell and Dirk Southern at 6:45.

The crowd of more than 7,000 was in a frenzy after the 90-second trifecta.

Vigilante, who has scored three of his four goals this season on the power play, wasn't surprised by the start.

"It's crazy, but every time we go on a power play, I expect to score," the veteran forward said. "And I don't mean that to sound conceited by any means. It's more just because you're so confident in the guys that you go over the boards with and you know what's going to happen.

"The reason why these teams aren't picking it apart is because you have the right guys running it. When one door closes, they find the other door."

There's little mystery to Gwinnett's power play. It's the same one head coach Jeff Pyle has been using all along, but with the right players in the right spots, it leaves the already outmanned opposition seriously outgunned.

"It's been the same power play forever," Pyle said. "It's the players, yeah. But it's also the discipline of executing the options that we have. If the guys are patient enough, we're going to have opportunities - which is really all I want.

"We've had the opportunities early. We've gotten some bounces. I think we've earned our bounces. It does help to have guys that have been on it before, but I feel a pretty good trust level right now from these guys. Our leadership has been great as a whole."

Four of the five guys on the top power-play line (Vigilante, Nesbitt, Awe and Campbell) have played together in Gwinnett before and already know the drill. The new face is Southern, who was with Augusta last season. Taking over the slot position, it's been a seamless transition.

"With Dirk in the middle, he's smart, he's so well positioned, he fits into that role right away," said Nesbitt, who returned to Gwinnett after winning a championship last season in Idaho. "He's been a big help in front. He's been as good as Guillaume (Desbiens) has been in the past, or (Colton Fretter)."

Both Desbiens and Fretter were ECHL All-Stars and have moved up to the American Hockey League.

Southern is excited about getting a chance to be in slot - the area directly in front of the goal between the lower half of the faceoff circles.

"I didn't know how much fun it could be," Southern said with a laugh.

Southern ran the same basic power-play scheme at Northern Michigan University, the alma mater of Pyle and a handful of Gwinnett players.

"It's weird how everybody knows where it's going before it's going," Southern said. "That helps out a lot. It kind of runs itself.

"Hopefully we can continue to keep it humming."

Especially on Saturday when his former mates, the Augusta Lynx, visit the Arena at Gwinnett Center. It's the first of three home games in four days for the Gladiators.

"I had a good time in Augusta and the people treated me great there," Southern said, "but I'm definitely looking forward to playing against my old team, proving something to myself and, hopefully, the people who saw me play there.

"It'll just be interesting to be on the other side of the jersey. I've been looking forward to those games personally."

The Gladiators (2-0-0) take a power play converting on 31 percent of its chances into the game Saturday. Their six goals with the advantage are second most in the league. (Stockton has seven in four games.) But it was last Saturday's stunning first period that made jaws drop and people imagine how far Gwinnett could go with such ammunition at its disposal.

"The power play, it's actually very easy," said Vigilante, who has played four of his six pro seasons for a Pyle-coached team. "There's nothing to it. You put the right guys in the right spots and everything just flows.

"Doing it for years now, everyone is on the same page. It's just a matter of how we respond now to playing these teams consecutively - because they're going to figure it out eventually."

But Pensacola didn't last weekend. The Gladiators scored three power-play goals in the season opener in Pensacola, then turned around and duplicated the results the next night in Gwinnett.

And last year the Gladiators set a new ECHL record with 120 power-play goals. In 2005-06, Gwinnett finished with 114, one shy of the old mark which stood for more than a decade.

But Vigilante remembers his first pro season, six years ago in Mobile, playing for Pyle and running the same power play.

"We didn't have as much success," Vigilante said. "Jeff knows the players' talent and he knows where to put them. The power play, as simple as it is and successful as it is, wouldn't be the same without the right players in those positions."

The set-up has Awe up high near the blue line as the trigger-man. The big defenseman has a 100-mph slap shot that is violently accurate.

Campbell floats along the boards, about halfway into the offensive zone. Much of what happens is determined by his decisions and Campbell has collected six assists in two games already.

Nesbitt is in the corner and teams up with Campbell to develop the play. He can pass or walk in on goal. Southern has the slot and Vigilante is on the backdoor, behind the goalie on the far post.

"With the right guys, it can't not work," Vigilante said. "You've only got four guys on the other team. You can't possibly take away all five weapons."

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