Former Atlanta Gladiator returns to the ice, signs new contract with team

A year ago, Eric Neiley announced his retiremen t from hockey and joined the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators behind the bench as assistant coach. Injuries had piled up on his body and he decided it was time to hang up the skates.

But after a year of rest, Neiley is feeling better than ever. He’s back on the ice and signed a new contract with the Gladiators, returning to the game he loves at 32 years old.

“Probably around New Year’s, I started feeling good again and started training like I was playing, to see how it was going,” Neiley said. “And everything felt good. And not that I’m really young, but I’m not that old where it was impossible to make a comeback. And at this point, when you play for that long, it’s hard for you to not go out on your own terms and for an injury to kind of dictate it.”

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At 32, Neiley is the oldest player on the Gladiators’ preseason roster by nearly three years. With that age comes experience and prestige within the organization: Neiley, who plays both center and right wing, is second all-time in goals for the Gladiators at 103 as well as fifth in points produced with 198 and eighth in assists with 95.

On a team that struggled to score last year and finished bottom of the league, the Gladiators are thrilled to have Neiley and his gritty net front play to hopefully stack points on the board. Neiley believes that having someone who can score goals will relieve the mental pressure on the rest of the team and scoring will come more easily.

Neiley also gained a new perspective on the game after a season spent behind the bench. He watched a lot of film in his role as assistant coach under head coach Derek Nesbitt, a former linemate, and says that he noticed tendencies and habits about players that he never picked up while he was, as he put it, “flying.” That year as a coach also gave him even more leadership skills to help him mentor a very young team.

“We had a young team,” Neiley said. “There was a lot of rookies, two first year coaches trying to figure out what we were doing too. … We have a lot of returning guys so far, so they kind of know what to expect from the league, the division, the travel, all that sort of stuff.”

Nesbitt was an important part of Neiley’s journey to rejoin the league. The two former teammates became first-time coaches together this year and supported each other through a difficult season. It was Nesbitt who first noticed Neiley’s progress in the gym and suggested he consider rejoining the team.

Neiley said he’d think about it, but first he had to talk to his wife, Tamara, an English teacher and class dean at Pace Academy. The two met on the ice at Phillips Exeter Academy where they both played hockey, and had their first child, a boy named Everett Walker, on July 1. Tamara agreed with his plans to return to the ice and Neiley looks forward to playing in front of his son.

“Knowing I had a little boy coming and to bring him to games, even though he won’t remember it, I will, so that’ll be pretty special,” Neiley said. “[Tamara] is excited too. She came to games last year, but it’s not quite the same when I’m not playing. … But just to have her support when we’re on the road, especially with a newborn now, for her to be able to take control at home — obviously I wouldn’t be able to do it if she wasn’t willing to do that. So I appreciate that from her.”

The Atlanta Gladiators return to the ice on Oct. 19 against the Indy Fuel.

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