📍 Duluth, Georgia
🏒 Home of the Atlanta Gladiators

Hockey in Hotlanta has had a challenging and troublesome history. Over the years, the NHL has come and gone – first in the form of the Atlanta Flames, then as the Atlanta Thrashers. Neither survived long-term in the nation’s eight most populous metro area, and some are angling to have the league return once again. The third time might be the charm; until then, Atlanta can get its hockey fix at Gas South Arena.

Four years after the Thrashers arrived in the city in 1999, a minor league hockey franchise from Mobile, Alabama set their sights on relocating to Gwinnett County in Atlanta’s northern suburbs. That team became the Gwinnett Gladiators and outlasted the Thrashers as the city’s hockey club when the latter departed for Winnipeg in 2011. The Gladiators took on the Atlanta name in 2015 and have remained the premier hockey team in the ATL ever since.

Opened just in time for the ECHL’s arrival in the suburb of Duluth, Gas South Arena holds a little over 13,000 fans for Glads hockey games. It’s also the home of the area’s pro lacrosse team, the Georgia Swarm. The aesthetically neutral venue is actually quite comfortable and easy to navigate, with an extremely thoughtful food court-like area keeping most concession lines out of the flow of traffic on the main concourse.

Unlike a lot of contemporary hockey arenas, Gas South doesn’t feature a center-hung scoreboard, instead relying on two videoboards at either end. It’s okay though – you don’t need a big screen to see the rabid fans in the Lion’s Den. Somewhat unique in the ECHL, the Lion’s Den can be equated to a supporters section at a soccer match, with Gladiator die-hards waving flags and banners and belting chants that echo across the arena all throughout the game.

The sport of hockey has definitely struggled a fair bit in the Empire State of the South. The Atlanta Gladiators may just be the exception, however, having survived longer than both the Flames and Thrashers franchises combined. The team has now entertained crowds in Gwinnett County and beyond for more than twenty years. Draw Your Sword and go see for yourself why the Gladiators are truly Atlanta’s hockey team.