ECHL: Adirondack Thunder Clinch Eastern Conference Title In Win vs Maine Mariners | 04/13/2024

Cody Conine/InsideTheRink

The Adirondack Thunder had their first home game since March 30th on Saturday Night, and it was a big one as they had a chance to clinch the Eastern Conference Title if they took home the win. In the game’s opening minutes, the Maine Mariners came out ready to play as the Thunder seemed flat out of the gate. Adirondack had a golden chance to take the lead as Connor Blake would get a breakaway coming out of the penalty box, but Shane Starrett would make the save, and less than a minute later, it would be Maine’s Bennett Stockdale who would get a breakaway and beat Isaac Poulter to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead at the 9:47 mark. In the final minutes of the period, the Thunder would get a chance to get some momentum on a PP opportunity, but instead, it would be Maine’s Alex Kile who would win a foot race and beat Poulter to make it 2-0 Maine after the opening 20. In the second, things went from bad to worse as Wyllum Deveaux scored just 17 seconds into the second to give the Mariners a commanding 3-0 lead. Adirondack would finally start to find their legs and would be able to crack Starrett at the 9:10 mark as Tristan Ashbrook would feed Shane Harper in front, as Harper netted his 18th of the season.

No, we just said it’s been a long trip and we’ve been in tight games the whole trip, it’s normal to have a little bit of a lull when so many exciting things have happened, it’s human nature, right but we were still close. We didn’t play our best but we told them if we get the next one in the first six of seven mintues we were gonna win the game in regulation and we got three goals right of the rip and we won it in regulation, their a tight group in there it wouldn’t happen if their not.

Head Coach Pete MacArthur on if there was any insperational message after the second period
Cody Conine/InsideTheRink

It was a big third period for both sides as the Mariners wanted to keep pace with Trois-Rivieres, who won earlier in the day, and the Thunder wanted to give their crowd of over 5,000 something to cheer about. It would be Adirondack out of the gates in the third as they would be on a mission as Harper would feed Ashbrook in front for his 32nd goal of the year just 57 seconds into the period. Travis Broughman would score, probably, the luckiest goal of the year for the Thunder as he took a shot from center ice that would somehow find its way into the back of the net to tie the game up at three. And then, just 19 seconds later, it would be Connor Blake who’d finish off some nice puck movement for the Thunder for his first pro goal as the Thunder put up three goals in a matter of two minutes to take a 4-3 lead and one that they would not look back on.

“It was really awesome to do that at home for the fans, they are so awesome to play in front of the place is so loud they gave us a lot of energy too, a lot of credit goes to them”

Adirondack Thunder defenseman/forward Connor Blake on his first pro goal being the game winner
Cody Conine/InsideTheRink

For the second straight season, the Cool Insuring Arena will host a win or go home game 72, but this time, it’s the visiting team that is looking for the win to keep their season alive. Game 72 for Adirondack and Maine begins tomorrow at 3:00 PM.

Armand Klisivitch

Inside The Rink ECHL Manager | Senior Editor Credentialed Reporter for the Adirondack Thunder & Worcester Railers.

One thought on “ECHL: Adirondack Thunder Clinch Eastern Conference Title In Win vs Maine Mariners | 04/13/2024”

  1. Well sir I like your stories but you really need to spell check your articles. I would be embarrassed to put out this type of article with this many mistakes. take your time and speed check before posting

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