The Adirondack Thunder and Florida Everblades met for the first three of six meetings this season, as each team will play the host for three games. Coming into the series, these teams came into the series in different places. Adirondack was coming off their first set of back-to-back losses since their first two games of the season, and the Everblades came into Adirondack with points in their last six games. This series had everything you could wish for, physicality, heartbreak, lots of goals, and solid goaltending as the Thunder would take four out of six points in the series, and the Everblades will head back to some warmer weather with three more points under their belt. Let’s take a deeper dive into the three-game series, in which Adirondack needed to take both Friday and Saturday’s game after Wednesday’s breakdown where they blew a three-goal lead, “We played well for 20, they didn’t, then they clobbered us in every sense of the word” said Head Coach Pete MacArthur when referencing Wednesday’s game
Everblades Chomp All Over Thunder In Opening Game
The Adirondack Thunder needed a response after a poor performance last Saturday Night vs Worcester Railers in a game they lost in the final minutes. Adirondack had two days of practice before facing the Everblades, and they looked rejuvenated in the first period as Grant Jozefek would feed Mike Gillespie for his first pro goal just 2:33 after the opening faceoff, “felt good to get it off my back for sure; it’s been nine games, and I’ve had a few chances here and there, but it was a great job by Jozefek picking off a pass, that’s hard on the forecheck, and he found me on the backdoor for a tap-in gotta thank him but it’s more important to get the two points, and we didn’t do that” said Gillespie. Adirondack would add two more goals before the end of the first as Shane Harper would find the back of the net for his first goal since his return, and Ryan Smith would score a PP goal as the Thunder had a 3-0 lead after the first period. When asked what his message was to his team after the first period, Florida Everblades Head Coach Brad Ralph said, “It wasn’t much of a message from me, I think we all weren’t happy with the start we had, you gotta give credit to Adirondack, they won a lot of puck battles, they got pucks deeps, they put us on our heels, and we needed to respond in the second and we did that” said Everblades Head Coach Brad Ralph.
Adirondack has struggled to hold leads in the past few games, and tonight it was no different, as the back-to-back Kelly Cup Champions would get on the board just 1:43 into the second as Sean Josling would find Mark Senden on the back door to open up the scoring for the Everblades, and then it would Riese Zmolek who would fire a shot from the point to make it a one-goal game as the Everblades would outshoot the Thunder 20-5 in the second, however, Adirondack still held on to a one-goal lead. Coming into tonight, Adirondack had a goal differential of 10-19 in the third period, and the Everblades continued their strong play from the second into the third as they would finally tie the game at the 12:41 mark as Wilmer Skoog found a rebound off Tyler Brennan’s pad and would tie the game for the Everblades. Once again, Adirondack would come a minute away from earning at least one point, but it would be Cam Morrison who’d find the back of the net with 56.4 remaining after playing only two shifts after having to go in and get stitches who would give Florida a 4-3 win and extend their point streak to seven games as they outshot Adirondack 39-9 in the final two periods, “It just sucks to that at home in front of the fans, that just hurts” said Harper, he added that he thinks that the Everblades just outworked them in the final two periods.
Patrick Grasso and Vinnie Purpura Lead The Charge In Bounce Back Win
The Adirondack Thunder needed a bounce-back win on Friday night after an abysmal performance on Wednesday Night, where they blew a three-goal lead where they got outshot 39-9 in the final two periods. Adirondack, for the second straight night, would come back out of the gate hot as Shane Harper, who has really found his groove, scored in his second straight game to give Adirondack a 1-0 lead at the 7:07 mark of the period and shortly after it would be Tristan Ashbrook who would double the Thunder lead. Colin Felix would take an interference penalty at the end of the first, but Patrick Grasso would get a short-handed breakaway and would beat former Thunder goalie Evan Cormier for the Thunder’s second short-handed goal of the season and first since opening night.
Unlike on Wednesday Night, Adirondack found a way to get a fourth goal, and it would be Patrick Grasso who would score his second of the game and his 71st as a Thunder, which moves him into sole possession of second place in Franchise Goals, “Ya, it’s a testament to the guys I play with, you see, guys like Harper and Smitty who have been around for years now, like I said, it’s a testament to them” said Grasso when talking about the feat. However, Florida would find a way to get themselves back into the game as Oliver Chau would score before the end of the second to make it 4-1. Mark Senden would get the Blades within two as he would get a breakaway on the PK and would bury his third of the season, and second in as many games, and then it would be Sean Josling who would score on a five on three to make it a one-goal game but as Head Coach Pete MacArthur said the team is learning how to bend and not break, which is what they did tonight as Jace Isley would add an empty-netter for the Thunder’s 5-3 victory. Vinnie Purpura would make 38 saves, including 20 of them in the opening frame, for his third win of the season, “Ya, I think it keeps me in the game like the first period seeing 20 shots got me going, it was nice to get out of there not getting without giving up a goal, it got me fired up, and the crowd was great tonight” Purpura. The loss ended Florida’s seven-game point streak.
Jeremy Brodeur Picks Up First Career Shutout as Thunder Take Series Against Everblades
The Adirondack Thunder came into tonight looking to take a two out of three against the Florida Everblades after a strong win on Friday Night; they used that momentum to take the final game of the series on Saturday Night. Coming into tonight, there had been a total of six goals scored, all by Adirondack in the opening period, but tonight, neither time would find the back of the net, however, there was some excitement as Nico Blachman, making his Thunder debut, dropped the gloves with Chris Ordoobadi at the 17:07 mark of the opening frame, “I think not my best fight, but the reception from the crowd was incredible, and I’m extremely happy and grateful to be here” said Blachman.
Adirondack would get four chances on the PP in the second and weren’t able to take advantage of them, but Florida did get a couple of breakaways, all that would be stopped by Jeremy Brodeur, “It’s insane, we’ve given up like six breakaways in the last two games on the powerplay so we switched them up at the beginning of the third, but we talked about before the game, the PP is not risk for reward, it’s simple hard plays, whether you score or not much like competing five on five it’s about competing, all you need on the powerplay is gain momentum, your not gonna score all the time, but if you give up opportunities on the powerplay it’s demoralizing” said Head Coach Pete MacArthur.
In the third period, The Everblades seemed to be gaining a lot of momentum as they dominated the third period, outshooting the Thunder 11-3, but Jeremy Brodeur, who has been strong all year, would stop everything that was thrown at him and the game would head to overtime as both teams couldn’t find the back of the net in the first 60 and would record his first career ECHL shutout in his 106th career ECHL game, “Ya, awesome moment, proud of all of us as a team this weekend, and to come out of a weekend like that with points is a huge milestone for us, all around awesome” said Brodeur. It would only take the Thunder 21 seconds as Travis Broughman scored on a breakaway that beat Cam Johnson to give the Thunder a 1-0 OT win over the Everblades, “They don’t ask how; they ask how many,” said Broughman. Head Coach Pete MacArthur talked about how big of a win it was for him personally tonight, “Ya, I just told those guys, you don’t wanna make it about yourself, but that was one of my proudest moments coaching, seeing the care they put into it and to see that they were just as pissed off as we were and we told them win or lose it’s not about that, its about competing and playing purposeful hockey every chance you get, I’m just so proud of that effort.
