The Adirondack Thunder (4-0-0-1) and Norfolk Admirals (5-2-2-0) faced off on Friday night as both teams came in hot as Adirondack had picked up at least one point in their first four games of the season, and the Admirals had points in their last five games coming into tonight. It was a relatively quiet first period until Darick Louis-Jean opened the scoring on a shot from the point that beat Jeremy Brodeur at the 14:31 mark to give Norfolk a 1-0 lead. Adirondack would tie the game right before the period ended as Mikael Diotte would take a shot from the point and find the back of the net for his first pro goal with eight seconds left in the period. On a surprising note, neither team would commit a penalty in the first period of the game.
Coming into tonight, Brandon Osdmundson had four points in his last two games and he would extend his hot streak as he found a loose puck and put it past Brodeur to give the Admirals their second lead of the game at the 8:43 mark of the second period. The physicality that we expected finally began as Shaw Boomhower threw a giant hit on Sanghoon Shin as Justin Young came to his defense and dropped the gloves with Boomhower just 18 seconds after the goal. Then it would be Kurt Gosselin and Louis-Jean who got tied up together, and they each headed off for roughing. Once again, it would be late-period heroics for the Thunder as Kevin O’Neil fed Zach Bannister for his first pro goal with 1:22 left in the period. As the horn sounded on the period, the two teams continued their physicality with more pushing and shoving, resulting in 28 of the 46 penalty minutes in the second period.
“Zach Bannister came here on a technically on a PTO but we signed him to a regular contract because if you play better than other guys your going to be here and that’s what he’s done”
Head Coach Pete MacArthur on Zach Bannister
Once all the penalties were sorted out, Adirondack would begin the third period with a four-minute PP. Still, despite not scoring on the man-advantage, Shaw Boomhowever scored four seconds after for his first goal since January 28th, 2022. Norfolk wasn’t out of it yet as Brandon Osmundson fed Ryan Chyzowski on a two-on-one, as Chyzowski put home his third goal of the season, which would force OT. In the OT frame, it would be Jace Isley who snuck one home at the 5:09 mark to send the sellout crowd at the Cool Insuring Arena home happy as Jeremy Brodeur made 26 saves for his third win of the season and Joe Cannata made 25 saves in the loss. Adirondack and Norfolk will finish out their two-game set on Saturday at 7 pm as the Thunder will host Military Appreciation night.
“Unreal, it’s good to get back in the game, it a good amosphere and the guys are unreal, it’s nice doing it for the team and it’s a nice little pat on the back for myself”
Shaw Boomhower on picking up his first goal since 2022
Despite the win, Head Coach Pete MacArthur doesn’t believe that they are playing up to their capabilities but believes that with more games that will sort it self out hopefully.
“No, I just think we need to play more games, it nice having a lot of practices but I think that will help us down that road but you could see their in game mode and we’re in practice mode and that’s a real thing. Hopefully tomorrow we can come out and connect some passes and keep our legs, obviously we battled back and that’s a hallmark of organozation and we’re never gonna quit but I think we continue to be sharper.
-Head Coach Pete MacArthur on if the team played well
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