It’s time for the midseason report card for the Adirondack Thunder, who currently sit in sixth place (Trois-Rivieres Lions have two more wins than Adirondack, but both teams have 30 points) with a record of 12-18-5-1 under first-year head coach Pete MacArthur. The first half has not been a nice one for the Thunder, as they struggled at times and are still looking for their first win streak of three or more games. Adirondack started the season with four straight losses to the Worcester Railers but has gone 7-3-2 over their past twelve games as things are slowly starting to hit the stride for the Thunder. Recent additions have helped right the ship, and the Thunder look strong for the second half of their 72-game season. Adirondack has struggled this season on the road as they currently have a record of 4-10-2 away from Cool Insuring Arena but are 8-8-3-1 at the CIA. When asked what the team needs to do in the second half of the season, head coach Pete MacArthur said, ” Just Avoid major breakdowns and play solid structured hockey; we’ll be playing in competitive games here right till the end,” With that being said let’s take a look at the first half it was and where we graded the Thunder after those first 36 games.
Offensively (A-)
There’s a lot to like with the offensive from the Adirondack Thunder as through (number of games) they have yet to be shutout by an opponent and are getting scoring from everyone, and have had a total of 20 forwards play at least one game for the team this season. The Thunder shook things up late in December by bringing in a few new faces up front in Travis Broughman, Brady Fleurent, and Brandon Schultz. Broughman has been the biggest addition to the Thunder and was the missing piece that they needed on the top line, and regardless of who’s on his wings, that line seems to thrive. Grant Jozefek was another key piece that the Thunder signed earlier this year and has appeared to find a home here in Adirondack, providing some more scoring depth for the Thunder, which is needed at times with all the movement of forwards between Utica and Adirondack.
Shane Harper and Patrick Grasso have been with the Thunder since the start of the season and have not disappointed Pete MacArthur as Grasso has 17 goals in 31 games, and Shane Harper is leading the team with 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points in 29 games. However, leading the Thunder in scoring is Xavier Parent, who came over from the QMJHL, where he put up 51 goals and 55 assists for 106 points last season, and this season leads the Thunder with ten goals and 14 assists and is tied with Harper for the team lead in points.
Defensively (D)
The Thunder defense this year has had its struggle, and if there’s one thing you can pinpoint to Adirondack’s struggles this year, it’s their blueline. Jake Ryczek, coming off a robust campaign in 2021-22, was expected to be a big part of their blueline along with the signing of Jeff Taylor, but it hasn’t seemed to click for Adirondack, Ryczek was recently suspended by the team in a move which is usually made when a player is headed overseas. The Thunder are currently 14th, giving up 31.19 shots per game, and are 21st in goals allowed this season at 3.5 per game, and it’s not all on the goaltending here as Isaac Poulter and Jake Theut have bailed out that Thunder more times than one can count. If you want to pinpoint the problem for the Thunder defensively, it’s the amount of turnovers they give up that constantly lead to odd-man rushes. Shockingly seven of the 12 Thunder wins this season have come when they’ve given up 30-39 shots in a game.
Adirondack has struggled to find scoring from the blueline as they’ve had a rotating blueline as 13 different defencemen have dressed for the Thunder this season and combined have 13 goals. Heading into the second half of the season, this is a problem that Pete MacArthur and the Thunder will have to address if they want to make the playoffs. Tayor leads all defencemen in assists and points with three goals and 14 assists for 17 points in 26 games. Jarrod Gourley leads the Thunder blueline with four goals and eight assists for 12 points in 30 games. Adirondack has addressed the issue with the signing of Ryan Orgel, who’s been the best defender behind Taylor since arriving.
Goaltending (B)
The goaltending for the Thunder hasn’t been awful this year, but between call-ups and the injury to Mareks Mitens after opening night, things haven’t gone as planned, and that seems to be the norm for the Thunder every season. Jake Theut has a record of 9-9-2-1 with a 3.08 GAA, .900 SV%, and he picked up his first shutout on January 21st, where he picked up a 41-save shutout against the Newfoundland Growlers. There’s no question that Theut has struggled this year but has seemed to find his game in his last two starts giving up three goals on 65 shots. Still, Theut originally signed in Adirondack as the third goaltender but has since been thrust into the starter role since the injury to Mareks Mitens, however recently, coach MacArthur has been riding the hot hand and whoever is winning is getting the crease unless it’s a three in three and the hot goaltender had won the past two games.
Isaac Poulter has done a solid job for the Thunder as he’s spent the season between Utica(AHL) and Adirondack, with the Devils having trouble keeping all of their goaltenders healthy. When Poulter is in Utica he’s normally the backup but has seen action in four games for the Comets putting up a 1-1-2 record with a 4.35 GAA and .865 GAA. In Adirondack, he’s put up a 3-6-2 record with a 3.20 GAA and .897 SV%.
Overall Grade (C+)
There are a lot of things to take into account with the overall grade, and I explained all of them in this article. Over the last few weeks, the team has played better. However, one of the main things to remember is right now, this team is still 14 points out of a playoff spot, and there is obviously time for us to make that especially seeing that the Thunder have only played 36 games up to this point. Only the Maine Mariners have played fewer games at 35 so far. Yes, I still think this is a playoff team and that they have the team to do it, but with that being said, there’s a lot of work to be done.
