The Adirondack Thunder finished a 14-day, eight-game road trip on Wednesday night in Reading against the Royals. Coming into the night, the Thunder had won all four games at Santander Arena, with their last loss in Reading coming over a year ago on March 1st, 2023. Adirondack would also play their second straight game without Kevin O’Neil, who leads the team with 42 points on the season. Reading was looking to extend its six-game points streak, and it came into the night 5-0-1 in its last six games. Early on, Tyler Brennan would make two huge saves to keep the Royals off the board early. Adirondack and Reading would have eight shots on goal in the opening 20, but neither team could find the back of the net.
In the second, the physicality would increase as Ryan Nolan and Ryan Leibold dropped the gloves in a battle of the Ryan’s at the 4:36 mark of the second period. It would be the fourth straight game in which a Thunder player dropped the gloves. Adirondack would play some strong defense in the second as the Royals wouldn’t get their first shot on goal in the period until the 6:15 mark when Matt Brown would get a breakaway and beat Tyler Brennan to open up the scoring. Cam Cook attempted to deliver a knee-on-knee hit on Alex Young at the 11:40 mark. However, the Thunder captain Darian Skeoch would come in to express his displeasure with the play as Cook and Skeoch would sit for two minutes. As the period started to wind down, Reading’s Nick Capone would slew-foot Adirondack’s Grant Loven and be given a match penalty for slew-footing, and it wouldn’t be a shock if the league took a closer look at that as well. Adirondack would get a five-minute PP but wouldn’t be able to take advantage and would trail 1-0 despite outshooting the Royals 17-4 in the middle frame.
The Royals would use the momentum from the PK to double their lead as Matt Brown would fire a shot at the 5:48 mark that just snuck past Tyler Brennan to make it a 2-0 game. Adirondack would pull Brennan with just under three minutes to go, and Andre Ghantous would break up the Vinnie Purpura shutout with 2:49 to go in the third. The Thunder would have their chances, but Cam Cook would add an empty-netter at the 19:47 mark to secure a 3-1 victory for Reading. Purpura is now 3-1 in five appearances against his former team this season. Adirondack will now head home to begin a five-game homestand, beginning with three games this weekend vs Wheeling Nailers. The Royals will hit the road for two games against Maine.
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