Thunder Advance to Round 2 of Kelly Cup Playoffs

The Adirondack Thunder beat the Manchester Monarchs 3-0 on Wednesday to punch their ticket into the second round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs, winning the series four games to one in front of a packed Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.

The Thunder website reports the Thunder opened the scoring 6:30 into the game with Captain Peter MacArthur potting his second goal of the playoffs on a feed from Mitchell Heard in the corner to make it 1-0. The point tied MacArtur with teammate Greg Wolfe for the first in playoff scoring with 7 points.

Then just over halfway through the 1st period the Thunder would strike again on the power-play to make it a 2-0 game. A loose puck popped out to Ryan Constant in the slot who sniped a blocker side shot into the back of the net for his 5th point of the playoffs and 2nd point of the game.

The Thunder drove home the final nail in the Monarch's coffin around the mid-point of the 2nd period when Dana Fraser got a juicy rebound off the Monarch's goalie Carr and put Manchester to bed on the backhand into the net. Ryan Constant got an assist for his 3rd point of the night.

Thunder Goaltender Ken Appleby was the 2nd star of the game earning the shutout with 32 saves while Ryan Constant was the 1st star of the game with his goal and 2 assists, tying a personal record for points in a playoff game with 3 points.

The Thunder now move on to the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals where they will play the winner of South Carolina and Kalamazoo.

by BizzleJ