Thunder Thursday: Thunder Continue Rough New Year

The last week hasn’t been kind to the Adirondack Thunder. The Thunder lost all three contests they played in, well, four if you count the All-Star Classic which was held last night at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

The action began Friday with the Thunder hosting the Manchester Monarchs. The opening period saw Thunder goals from Conor Riley and Stepan Falkovsky, with assists from Mikkel Aagaard, Peter MacArthur and Ryan Culkin to give them a 2-0 lead heading into the 2nd period. Manchester scored two goals early in the 2nd to tie the game 2-2. The Thunder then got three unanswered goals from James Henry, Cullen Bradshaw and Brett Pollock. Assists went to Patch Alber, Peter MacArthur, James Henry, Conor Riley and Cullen Bradshaw. Manchester followed that with four unanswered goals of their own to make it a 6-5 game. Then with just seven seconds left, Dana Fraser potted a goal from Ryan Culkin and Peter MacArthur to send the game to overtime. But, Manchester scored 3:35 into overtime to seal the win 7-6. J.P. Anderson allowed 7 goals on 36 shots for the loss.

Saturday wasn’t any better for the Thunder. The Monarchs jumped out to a 2-0 lead just past the midway mark of the 1st period. But the Thunder got those back before the end of the period with goals from Stepan Falkovsky and James Henry, with assists going to Ryan Culkin, Mikkel Aagaard, Nick Bligh and Peter MacArthur. Then the Manchester show took over again as the Monarchs scored four straight goals to make it a 6-2 game. Greg Wolfe scored one more goal on the Thunder power-play to make it 6-3 but that’s as close as they would get. Drew Fielding allowed 6 goals on 27 shots in the loss.

The Thunder hosted the Monarchs again and this game was pretty much more of the same. Manchester opened the scoring early in the 1st period. The Thunder made it a 2-1 game with 2 goals, both on the power-play from Brett Pollock and Nick Bligh. Assisting on the goals were Stepan Falkovsky, Ryan Culkin, Peter Macarthur and Patch Alber. The Monarchs then scored three straight to make it a 4-2 game midway through the 3rd period. The Thunder would get one more goal from Cullen Bradshaw, assisted by Roman Dyukov and James Henry, but it would not be enough as the Monarchs added one more goal into an empty Thunder net to make the final 5-3. Drew Fielding allowed 4 goals on 25 shots in the loss.

The Thunder then hosted the 2017 ECHL All-Star Classic on Wednesday night. The game was a chance to let loose and try to shake off the rough patch they are going through right now. It was a high-scoring affair with team ECHL edging the Thunder by a score of 8-7.

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Ty Loney continues to lead the team in scoring with 15 goals and 17 assists for 32 points in 30 games (39th in ECHL scoring) followed by Peter MacArthur with 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points in 32 games.

Goalie Mason McDonald is leading the team in wins with 9 (19th in the ECHL) followed by J.P. Anderson with 7 wins. Ken Appleby leads the team with a goals against average of 1.98 (8th in the ECHL) followed by Drew Fielding with a 2.64 GAA and J.P. Anderson with a 2.72 GAA. Appleby leads the team with a 0.915 save percentage (21st in the ECHL) followed by Fielding with a 0.910 save percentage.

The Thunder still sit 4th in the North Division (8th in the Eastern Conference), with a record of 17 wins, 12 losses, 3 overtime losses and 3 shootout losses.

The Thunder’s next action comes Friday, January 20th when the they face the Reading Royals (Philadelphia Flyers affiliate). Game time is 7:00pm EST (5:00pm MST) from the Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Check back each and every Thursday for Thunder Thursday where we will update you on all news and scores from the Adirondack Thunder.

Check the Adirondack Thunder website for more news and information about the Calgary Flames ECHL affiliate.