ECHL: Adirondack Hall Of Fame Induction Preview

The Adirondack Hall of Fame Inductions will happen on Saturday, February 24th, as the inductee will introduced in an event prior to the Adirondack Thunder game vs. Reading Royals on Saturday Night, and there will be a ceremony during the first intermission of the game. Pre-game festivities begin at 5:30 in Heritage Hall and is open to all ticket holders.

Jamie Pushor– The Alberta native spent 13 seasons playing in the AHL and NHL ranks, including the first three seasons of his career that he spent with the Adirondack Red Wings, where he put up five goals and 44 assists for 49 points in 196 games with Adirondack. Pushor would spend seven seasons in the AHL, putting up 14 goals and 85 points with 99 points in 404 games. In the NHL, he would play in 521 games, scoring 14 goals and adding 46 assists for 60 points over ten years, spending time with the Detroit Red Wings, Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New York Rangers. 

Once his playing career was over, he spent a year as a scout with the Atlanta Thrashers before joining the Tampa Bay Lightning as a pro scout prior to the 2011-12 season. He has been with the Bolts since then and is now the team’s assistant General Manager and Director of Player Personnel. 

1985-1986 Adirondack Red Wings– The 1985-86 Adirondack Red Wings Team would be the second Red Wings team to win the Calder Cup as they were led by Bill Dineen, the father of Utica Comets Head Coach Kevin Dineen. That season, Adirondack would be led by Geordie Robertson, who had 36 goals and 56 assists for 92 points in just 72 games and added 90 minutes in penalties. Some other notable names on that roster include Glenn Merkosky. The Alberta native spent three seasons as the Red Wings’ Head Coach before 19 years as a scout/ pro scout with the Detroit Red Wings; Merkosky has spent the last two seasons as the Head Coach of the Adirondack Jr Thunder. 

Barry Melrose has been known for his on-air work covering the NHL, but the former NHLer has a lot of ties to Adirondack. Melrose spent three years early in his career as the Red Wings Head Coach and spent two years as the Head Coach/GM. The Saskatchewan native spent three seasons as the Head Coach of the Los Angeles Kings. After an eight-year hiatus, he returned to hockey as the Adirondack Ice Hawks/Adirondack Frostbite franchise owner. Melrose spent parts of four seasons as a player with the Adirondack Red Wings, putting up 13 goals and 27 assists for 40 points in 200 games as Red Wing. 

Adirondack Youth Hockey Association Pioneers- AYHU has been an essential part of continuing to grow the game in Glens Falls. One of the more notable graduates of the program is Erin Whitten Williams, who is currently the head coach of the Women’s hockey team at Merrimack College. As a player, Whitten became the first female to win a professional game when she was a member of the Toledo Storm. She came in relief of Alain Harvey and would stop 15 of 19 in the final frame of the Storm’s 6-5 win over the Dayton Bombers on October 30th, 1993. Just this year, the Adirondack North Stars U-14 team won the U-14 National Title. Other titles under AHYU include the Glens Fall Boys High School team, winning back-to-back championships in 1990 and 1991. 

In the early years, it was under the name of the Glens Falls Recreation Department, managed by Doug Neely, before becoming a non-profit a year later. In the early years, the association would have games outdoors at Crandall Park before moving to their current home at the Glens Falls Recreation Center on Fire Road, which is known for its frigid temperatures.