ECHL: An Interview With Adirondack Thunder Forward Shaw Boomhower

The Adirondack Thunder have added three new faces to their roster so far this off-season, but only one of them has prior ECHL experience, and that is Shaw Boomhower. The 25-year-old forward from Belleville, Ontario, spent two seasons in the OHL with the Mississauga Steelheads and Ottawa 67’s ; he would lead the OHL in penalty minutes in his first season in the OHL, picking up 102 penalty minutes in 60 games. Boomhower would then make the jump to the ECHL, where he’s played in 95 career ECHL games with the Cincinnati Cyclones, Wheeling Nailers, and Kalamazoo Wings, where he’s put up 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points before signing with Adirondack.

“I started at a young age, I started skating when I was around three years old and just kinda got into it. I had two older brothers so I got the handmedowns and it was something that I just started playing since before I can even remember”- Boomhower on how he got his start playing hockey

Over the past few seasons, one of Boomhower’s biggest issues has been staying healthy. He’s played in just 14 games over the past two seasons, but heading into the 2024-25 season, the 25-year-old is excited to not only get a fresh start with a new team but also to start the year healthy. When asked about how he ended up signing with the Thunder, Boomhower mentioned that there had been mutual interest between him and MacArthur over the past few seasons, and Boomhower has always been one of the first people that MacArthur has reached out to in the off-season and that he has nothing but respect for MacArthur and talked about the impact of having someone who used to play the game behind the benches especially in a league in the ECHL where the schedule is so compacted.

“It makes it so much easier and they know what to expect and they know the life that we live and the game that we play they understand all of that. When we are coming off a three-in-three and have a Wednesday game, they know what reps we need and not to push us to hard at practice and give us all the tools to help us recover so it’s really good in that sense and he know the game in the E he’s played in the E and he’s played in Adirondack so he knows how to get the fans going”

-Boomhower on having a Head Coach like Pete MacArthur that has played in the ECHL as his head coach

For Adirondack, the addition of Boomhower now gives the Thunder someone up front to pair with Darian Skeoch on the backend, who isn’t afraid to throw a big hit or drop the gloves when needed and should hopefully allow Boomhower to play more of his game and not only be noticed with his big hits but as well as finding a way to contribute offensively, he had five goals and eight assists for 13 points in 31 games during the 2021-22 season with the Nailers.

“It’s awesome, it’s a lot of work doing it by yourself, it’s nice to have teammates like Skeoch and I know there other guys on the team that are willing to do that so it’s nice to have all four lines and everyone laying the body”

-Boomhower on having someone like Darian Skeoch to help deliver some of the physicality out on the ice

Heading into the 2024-25 season, the ECHL has implemented a couple of new rule changes, and when asked about some of the new rule changes, Boomhower gave his thoughts and talked about how he’s been wanting some of these changes to be implemented over the past couple of years and how this not only going to help the ECHL as a league itself but the extra forward this season which will allow teams to dress four full lines will help in player development as well. He also mentions how it will be a more controlled game with two referees on the ice.

“It’s awesome, it’s something I’ve always tried to push when approaching GM’s or whoever I can talk to get it to the next step and it just makes it a more credible league, it makes it easier for you to go up and play four lines, or maybe if you got called up to the AHL you wouldn’t be playing as much as you did in the “Coast” and the reffing thing is not only something we need for safety but for the pace of the game, it’s amazing”

-Boomhower on the rule changes coming to the ECHL for the 2024-25 season

When asked what’s one thing that Thunder fans should know about him heading into the 2024-25 season, Boomhower said that he’s a guy who is going to give his all on the ice and isn’t going to take a shift off and think’s that fans will be excited about the way he plays. He also mentioned that he’s talked to a lot of players in Adirondack about the fans and heard about the consecutive shutouts that the team had last season.

“Just getting back into it , I think we have a really good looking team and we’re gonna be hard to play against. It’s easily one of the most exciting teams I’ve played for and hopefully it’s a good long season and a good long playoff run and hopefully we bring home the Kelly Cup”

-Boomhower on what he’s most excited about when joining the Thunder