The Adirondack Thunder have announced that they have re-signed forward Mike Gillespie for the 2024-25 season. Gillespie re-joins the Thunder for his second season in the ECHL after signing with the team in November as he began this season in the SPHL with the Birmingham Bulls, where he put up three goals and two assists for five points in just two games before being signed by Adirondack in November, Gillespie would win an SPHL championship with the Bulls in 2023 where he would lead the team in scoring putting up 27 goals and 33 assists for 60 points in 38 games and would also be named to the SPHL First All-Star Team. The 28-year-old forward is coming off an injury-shortened season in which he would put up six goals and 12 assists for 18 points in 45 games last season with Adirondack. There’s a lot to like about Gillespie, as he’s a guy that MacArthur can put anywhere in the lineup and has proven that he could turn out to be a very interesting piece for the Thunder if he can stay healthy.
“Mike Gillespie joined the Thunder just after the beginning of the year last year and he made an immediate impact on and off the ice,” said Head Coach Pete MacArthur. “He is a guy who can play up and down the lineup, on both special team’s units, and he is an unbelievable guy in our locker room. We are so excited to see him come back and continue to progress at the ECHL level.”
-Head Coach Pete MacArthur on the re-signing of Mike Gillespie (Via Adirondack Thunder Press Release)
Gillespie would spend four years at the NCAA level, as he would play in eight games with Ohio State University during the 2015-16 season, where he put up just one goal, before going back to the USHL with the Lincoln Stars, a team that he spent parts of three seasons playing in 124 games putting up 31 goals and 40 assists for 71 points before spending three years at SUNY-Oswego. In his three years at SUNY-Oswego, he would put up 23 goals and 51 assists for 74 points in 76 games. Gillespie is the 10th signing for the Thunder this off-season.
