The ECHL’s Christmas waiver/trade freeze came to an end on Thursday at 12 pm Eastern, and the Adirondack Thunder wasted no time getting to work as they made a plethora of moves prior to their three-game, three-city road trip beginning tomorrow night vs Trois-Rivieres Lions. To start, goaltender David Fessenden and Zach Bannister have been placed on reserve, with Tyler Brennan being the only player coming off regular reserve.
Gosselin Called Up TO Utica
Kurt Gosselin also received his second career AHL call-up when he signed a PTO with the Utica Comets. He played with the Rochester Americans during the 2018-19 season. This is a well-deserved honor for Gosselin, who’s spent five seasons in the ECHL, putting up 24 goals and 37 assists for 61 points in 167 career games.
More New Faces
Adirondack would continue adding more new faces to the lineup as they signed forward Sean Gulka and defenseman Benjamin Lindberg to contracts. Both players joined the Thunder after beginning their seasons in the SPHL.
Sean Gulka—The Langley, British Columbia native joins the Thunder after spending the last four seasons with the Pensacola Ice Flyers, where he’s scored 12 goals and added 13 assists for 25 points in 74 games. At 6’3, 205 lbs, this will not be the first time he’s played in the ECHL; he played in five games with the South Carolina Stingrays during the 2022-24 season. Gulka should help provide a physical presence for the Thunder.
Benjamin Lindberg- The 25-year-old defenseman will likely make his ECHL debut this weekend after spending his first two seasons in the SPHL with the Evansville Thunderbirds. In 46 games with the Thunderbirds, he’s put up five goals and seven assists for 12 points. Lindberg will look to bring size and an offensive upside to the Thunder blueline this weekend.
Headed To IR
Kevin O’Neil (3-Day IR)- The Adirondack Thunder will be without Kevin O’Neil for the weekend as he’s out with an upper-body injury. O’Neil, who was hurt in the December 20th game vs Reading, was spotted in a cast during last Saturday’s home game. There’s no doubt that this hurts the Thunder, but fans should be lucky that this isn’t a longer-term injury to the Thunder forward, who is leading the team in points with 19 (5G, 14A).
Brendan Less (14-Day IR)- There’s no doubt that the Thunder blueline has been getting thin lately, and it got a little thinner with Brendan Less hitting the 14-Day IR. Less, who was hurt in Saturday’s game, missed a couple of shifts but was able to return and finish the game for the Thunder. The 26-year-old struggled with injuries last season and missed close to two weeks with an injury earlier this season. Less has seven points (1G, 6A) in his last seven ECHL games.
Two Big Boosts to the Lineup
There is some good news for Adirondack as they will get Darian Skeoch and Ryan Francis back in their lineup.
Darian Skeoch– The Thunder captain has played in 19 games this season and has yet to find the scoresheet. For the 27-year-old defenseman, the Thunder doesn’t expect him to provide much offense but to be that true physical force for them on the ice and be willing to drop his gloves when needed. I would expect Skeoch to start eating up some big minutes with both Brendan Less and Kurt Gosselin out of the lineup.
Ryan Francis– After being suspended from the team on October 14th, right before the regular season began. There was a lot of hype around Francis as he was expected to be a big part of this offensive and was one of the bigger signings this off-season. Even with his suspension now being lifted by the team, only time will tell if we will see him in a Thunder uniform or if a trade is on the horizon for the 23-year-old forward.
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