The Adirondack Thunder (21-24-7-1) had a strong road trip as they got four out of a possible six points during their three-game road trip in Flordia, picking up two wins (They had won five games away from Cool Insuring Arena coming into their Florida Road Trip). Jake Theut continued his strong play as he won both of his starts on the trip. Adirondack has picked up a point in four of their last five games.
Jake Theut Helps Thunder Pounce on Solar Bears
The Adirondack Thunder would get off to a quick start in Orlando as Ryan Smith would open up the scoring on a spin-o-rama for his 9th of the season at the 4:44 mark of the opening period. Orlando had a golden chance to tie the game as Grant Mismash had a wide-open opportunity but missed the net. Sebastian Vidmar would get a pass from Grant Jozefek and put it top-shelf on the power play for his first goal since December 23 as Adirondack doubled their lead before the end of the first period. Colin Long would score a PP goal off a turnover to put the Thunder up 3-0. Orlando had another great chance to beat Theut as a shot would go across but not past the goal line at around the 13:00 mark of the final frame, which kept Theut’s shutout in tack. Despite being down three, Orlando would pull their goalie with about five minutes left in the third but couldn’t take advantage as they couldn’t solve Theut. Jake Theut has been finding his game lately, and he would be the star of the night for the Thunder as he would record his 11th win of the season and second shutout stopping all 32 shots he saw.
Shane Harper’s Big Night Helps Thunder Melt Icemen
Shane Harper, on Friday Night, would lead the Adirondack Thunder as he opened the scoring as he got a gorgeous pass from Sebastian Vidmar, and Harper found the back of the net at the 16:26 mark of the period, which was one of three goals scored in the final three minutes of the opening frame. Patrick Grasso scored just 2:07 after Harper’s goal. Jacksonville wasn’t going down easy as Christopher Brown scored with just six seconds left in the first. Grant Jozefek scored under four minutes into the second to put Adirondack up two again. Christopher Brown would get his second of the night at the 15:46 mark of the middle frame. Ivan Chukarov would re-gain the Thunder lead as he picked up his first goal since November 17, 2021. Sebastian Vimdar would hit an empty net to finish the night, as Shane Harper would finish the night with a goal, four assists, and a season-high five-point night. Jake Theut would make 25 saves in the victory for the Thunder.
Ara Nazarian’s Hat-Trick Helps Him Sink Former Club
The Adirondack Thunder started where they left off on Saturday Night as the Thunder would out-shoot the Icemen 7-1 for the first half of the opening frame but couldn’t solve Parker Gahgen; the shots would be 9-4 after the first 20 minutes. Jacksonville wouldn’t let their slow start get to them as former Thunder Ara Nazarian opened the scoring just 9 seconds into the opening period. Patrick Grasso forced a turnover and fed Ryan Smith tying the game just a minute after the Nazarian goal. The game would take a turn at the 7:43 mark as Jeff Taylor took an odd hit from Brandon Yeamans that would knock him out of the game, and while the refs were discussing the penalty, Shawn Weller would be given a game misconduct for abuse of official which will likely lead to a suspension. Adirondack would get a powerplay but would fail to convert but got another one late in the period. However, Nazarian would beat Ivan Chukarov, get a short-handed breakaway, and beat Leif Hertz to give the Icemen the lead, and Jacksonville would keep a lead for the remainder of the game.
Ara Nazarian would cap off his hat trick as the third attempt would find the back of the net to give the Icemen a two-goal lead early in the third. Adirondack would cut the lead to one as Wayne Letourneau made a nice move to feed Brett Ouderkirk, who put the Thunder back within one at the 8:25 mark of the period on the power play. Luke Lynch would add a powerplay goal of his own, and then Christopher Brown would add an empty netter for the Icemen. Leif Hertz made 17 saves in the loss as he made his ECHL debut.
