On Monday August 24th, the Atlanta Gladiators announced the re-signings of two strong defensemen for the upcoming season. The hockey club agreed to contracts with both Robbie Hall as well as Chris Forney.
Robbie Hall
Robbie Hall is a 28-year-old defensemen, originally a native of Chicago, Illinois. He played in 88 college hockey games with SUNY Brockport from 2013-2017. After college, Hall entered into his professional career in the SPHL with the Evansville Thunderbolts. He did so in 2016-17, appearing in a total of 61 games.
Hall played the majority of those games under head coach Jeff Pyle, back then with the Thunderbolts. Pyle is now the bench boss of the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators.
Robbie Hall made the jump to pro in 2018-19 with the Wheeling Nailers. He opened last season with the Norfolk Admirals before having been traded to the Atlanta Gladiators. Hall played in 29 games where he tallied five assists while also adding eight penalty minutes.
Hall is known for being a strong two-way defensemen and actually switched over to playing forward last season. He did so a few times with the Gladiators which made him a double threat on the ice with Atlanta.
In a statement from Robbie Hall upon signing his contract on Monday afternoon, he said, “The organization is second to none in treating its players well. It is an honour to come back to this team for another year.”
Chris Forney
Chris Forney is a 25-year-old defensemen, originally a native of Thief River Falls, Minnesota. He attended college at UMass-Lowell and played 135 games of collegiate hockey. During that tenure, he scored 14 goals along with 35 assists.
After college, Forney made his pro debut in the American Hockey League with the San Diego Gulls. He skated in six games for the Gulls before making the move to the ECHL. This was in 2018-19 when he made his debut with the Tulsa Oilers.
With the team, he skated in 40 games played where he scored three goals along with 14 assists. He also played in 20 playoff games and helped lead the Oilers to the Western Conference Finals.
Forney joined the Atlanta Gladiators for the start of the 2019-20 regular season. He played in a career high 58 games where he scored two goals along with seven assists. Chris Forney is a strong defensive player that is very comfortable while in the defensive zone. This makes the defensemen a great asset to the starting formation for the Atlanta Gladiators.
In a statement from Chris Forney, he said while pointing out why he’s returning, “How well the organization is run and how much support we get from our fans. Coach Pyle has done such a great job of building a championship-caliber team, and I am excited to be a part of it.”
With the re-signings of Robbie Hall and Chris Forney, the Atlanta Gladiators are looking pretty committed to bringing back a lot of their “core” players from last season. These signings now bring the announced total of returning players for the season to eight. With these two now locked up, the total of signed players so far stands at 15.
This roster is really coming together and you can see the depth that they are putting into the lineup. December can’t come soon enough to get the season underway and see how this team gels together. Should this be an easy adjustment, it should be exciting to watch them push for a championship.