GLENS FALLS- It was Hall of Fame Night in Glens Falls as the Adirondack Thunder and Reading Royals met for the sixth and final time in the month of February, “It just goes to show you the history of hockey here in Adirondack, and it’s pretty legendary, a lot of guys would be surprised to see the type of names that have played in this building for those guys, and if it weren’t for them we wouldn’t have the type of history and the culture here in Adirondack, people love hockey here, any time we get to acknowledge that’s excellent” said Head Coach Pete MacArthur on Hall of Fame Night. The Thunder would get off to a much better start than they did on Friday Night, but they would once again outshoot the Royals 16-7 in the opening frame. In the second period, it would become fight night in Glens Falls as Colin Felix and Will Zmolek dropped the gloves at the 6:45 mark of the middle frame, and then Jackson van de Leest, the 6’7 defenceman would drop the gloves with Tyson Fawcett, who’s 5’7, “Good for the guy that stepped up. I thought the play I made was hard, and I was thinking in the back of my mind maybe I could be expecting something. I thought it was a great fight; it’s been two years since I’ve had one, so good to get one again but kudos to that guy for stepping up for his teammate that was awesome” said van de Leest. Neither team would score in the second as the Thunder outshot the Royals 11-8 in the middle frame.
The Thunder would get on the board first as Tristan Ashbrook gloved a puck down and was left all alone and fired a wrist shot past Nolan Maier to give the Thunder a 1-0 lead; Ashbrook’s PP goal made it three straight games that the Thunder had scored on the man-advantage. Reading would tie it up as Joseph Nardi fed Devon Paliani in the circle as he found the back of the net and tied his career high with his 30th point of the season at the 10:01 mark of the third period. Neither team would find the back of the net in the final ten minutes or in the OT frame as we would head to a shootout. Justin Michaelian would score the fifth and final goal in the 13-round shootout including goals from Readings Jake Bricknell and Adirondacks Jace Isley in the 11th to keep the party going as Reading would take the extra point in the franchise’s longest shootout. Nolan Maier made 43 saves in 67 minutes and would stop 11 of 13 in the shootout for his ninth win of the season; Tyler Brennan made 22 saves through 67 minutes and would stop 10 more in the shootout, “I don’t think, I think my longest before this one was eight rounds” said Brennan when asked if this was the longest shootout he’s been a part of.
Adirondack will begin a five-game road trip Wednesday in Norfolk to play the second-place Admirals.
