GLENS FALLS, NY- The Adirondack Thunder extended their point streak to 14 games on Sunday Night in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Norfolk Admirals, who are second in the North Division, 15 points behind the Thunder. It was a rough opening frame for the Thunder as they gave up 16 shots in the opening frame, and Norfolk would finally get on the board late in the period as Sean Montgomery got his stick on a shot from the point for his first career ECHL goal at the 16:36 mark of the opening period. In the second, fans got their money’s worth as Bray Crowder and Mark Liwiski dropped the gloves, and at the same time, Darion Skeoch and Kamerin Nault got tied up, which in total resulted in 14 minutes of penalties. That fight got everyone fired up as Ryan Smith got the Thunder on the board just 38 seconds later, which would be the first of seven goals in the middle frame. Tristan Ashbrook would give Adirondack the lead as he got a lucky bounce off the boards, and he’d have a wide-open net to shoot at and wouldn’t miss as he would finish the night with two goals, “Ya, that was nice; it was good to contribute in that way, my linemates made it easy for me out there, the PP was really going and I was just the benefit of some good plays in the dot” said Ashbrook on his two-goal night
Norfolk and Adirondack would continue to trade goals for the rest of the second period as after 40 minutes of play; we’d be tied up at four as Andrew McLean scored with less than five seconds remaining in the middle frame. After a seven-goal second, neither team would be able to find the back of the net in the third as we’d head to OT for the second straight night. McLean, who got the tying goal, would take a hooking penalty at the 3:32 mark of the OT frame, but the Thunder were unable to capitalize on the man advantage, and the two teams headed to a shootout. It would be McLean’s goal in the second round that would send the Admirals back to Norfolk with the extra point. Kristian Snead, who came in relief of Yaniv Perets, would pick up the win, stopping all 11 shots he saw. However, Thunder’s Head Coach was very pleased with the weekend overall, “They’re Warriors to see what they did this weekend with the lineup we played compared to the lineup we played against. It’s just impressive, that effort, that’s all we want here”.
Head Coach Pete MacArthur also gave an update on Mike Gillespie.
