GLENS FALLS- It was a packed house on Saturday Night for the second night of Stick It To Cancer Weekend in Glens Falls, as 5,083 fans came out to cheer on the Thunder and support a great cause. Before the game even got underway, things looked a little different on the ice as Darian Skeoch was sporting a “C” on his jersey, and it would be confirmed post-game by Head Coach Pete MacArthur that Skeoch would be acting captain until Patrick Grasso returned from his injury. Speaking of injuries, Tyler Brennan would pick up his first since March 8th when he was pulled after giving up three goals on eight shots, and unfortunately, tonight didn’t go much better. Tag Bertuzzi would feed Tyson Fawcett, who would rip one past Brennan to open up the scoring at the 4:05 mark of the opening frame, and then less than three minutes later, Justin Michaelian would beat Brennan five-hole as the Royals had a 2-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game. Adirondack had a chance to get within one as they would get a PP but couldn’t do anything with it, which seemed like a theme for most of the night for the Thunder; however, the Royals would use the momentum of killing the PP to once again find the back of the net as Yvan Mongo found Devon Paliani for a tip-in front as Jake Smith was leaving the box, it would be reviewed for a high-stick but would ultimately stay on the board. Tristan Ashbrook would continue to get his to make his case for Rookie of the Year as he would get a short-handed breakaway and beat Parker Gahagen for his 27th goal of the season to put Adirondack within one after 20.
“We wish we could have gotten a win but people who know hockey will watch the game and know we should have won it, I think we played really well other than a couple stretches and a few bad breaks on the goals but from a coaching stand point we watch that film we know who’s in our lineup we know what we are going to see, the guys left everything out there for them tonight, I thought we threw everything at them, I think we could have had a few more powerplays but that’s how it goes, but the effort was absoultey there
Adirondack Thunder Head Coach Pete MacArthur on Saturday Night’s loss
Reading would come out the same way they did in the first period, but this time, it would take them just 54 seconds to get on the board as Jake Smith would beat Brennan for his 18th of the season to give Reading a 4-1 lead. Adirondack finally started to come alive in the middle of the second and would get rewarded as Mac Welsher would put home a rebound in front of Gahagen to make it a 4-2 game at the 13:19 mark of the second period. The physicality would once again rear its face in this series as in the second, it continued to get chippier and chippier, with Mike Van Unen having begun the rough stuff as he boarded Michaelian earlier in the game. Ryan Wheeler was looking for a fight all night, but at the 17:30 mark of the second as Ryan Wheeler got nailed from behind by Koletrane Wilson as the Thunder came to the defense of Wheeler, but it would be the Thunder’s interim captain, who would get the only penalty as he grabbed Wilson by his jersey towards the end of the scuffle and would get called for unsportsmanlike misconduct.
“It wasn’t the result we wanted I’m proud of the guys we have, we started off slow and have ourselves a kick in the butt there to get going, that first period if we don’t sit back right from the start I think it’s a different game”
Darion Skeoch’s Thoughts on Saturday Night’s Loss
In the third, it would be all Thunder as they controlled the momentum through the entire period at the referee put his whistle away for almost the entire period and let quite a few things go which certainly played into Readings advantage. Head Coach Pete MacArthur would pull Brennan with a little over three to go in the third for the extra attacker, but it wouldn’t work as the Royals only shot on goal in the third period would find the back of the net as Jake Smith got his second goal of the night despite being outshot 17-1 in the third. Parker Gahagen made 39 saves for his eighth win of the season and his first ECHL appearance since January 21st.
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