You may remember the Atlanta Gladiators from earlier this year. They are the team that rocked Captain America Jerseys just a couple months ago.
As well as these fantastic Boba Fett-themed jerseys at the end of last season
And of course everyone remembers their awesome Weiner dog race
Clearly the team isn’t afraid to have a little fun.
On Thursday, however, it was just another game in the rivalry between the Atlanta Gladiators and the Jacksonville IceMen, two ECHL South Division teams. After the Gladiators fell behind 1-0 in the first, goals from Atlanta’s Brady Vail and Luke Sandler proved to be enough to propel the team to a 2-1 victory. Before the night was over, the Gladiators would find themselves in the middle of a different kind of story.
Following the victory, member of the Gladiators team were out to dinner nearby the main water vein in Jacksonville, the St. Johns River. Nearing the end of their meal, the group consisting of a few players, the athletic trainer, and assistant coach Brady Leisenring heard shouting coming from the channel.
The following is the statement received from Gladiators’ play-by-play announcer Chris Treft:
Pretty much what happened was our Assistant Coach, Brady Leisenring, was at dinner with our athletic trainer Aaron Rice and five or so players for a quick meal after our 2-1 win over the Icemen. Right at the end of their meal they heard someone screaming for help and when they all looked out into the water they saw a man 150 yards or so in the channel caught in a current struggling. Brady and a few players jumped over the railing and made their way down to the shoreline or 'embankment'.
Brady kicked off his shoes and threw his suit jacket to the players and just dove right in. He sprinted out to the guy grabbed him and tried to bring him to shore. He was having some trouble with the strong current and was having a little trouble with his bad shoulder (his pro career ended because of shoulder injuries after playing in the AHL and all over the place in Europe) but he finally got back to embankment and the players helped lift the two out of the water. The guy, who we had no idea who he was, was naked and in a weird mental state.
We have no idea why he was in the water or how he got there. The players and Brady were trying to settle him down when the cops rushed there. They called the ambulance and he was telling the cops he thought he could make it across to the other side. After they looked him over they took him off to hospital. Before they closed the doors he said thank you so much to Brady for saving his life but he seemed very intoxicated. We haven’t heard or seen from him at all at this point.
It was the St. Johns river and they were at "The Landing" which is a group of restaurants by the river by the arena and hotel. The place they were eating picked up there tab and gave them some t-shirts.
Despite a bad shoulder and the rough current of the extremely wide St. Johns River, Leisenring jumped in to aid a fellow human. The Stowe, Vermont native played pro hockey for nine years between the ECHL, the AHL, and overseas.
