The Adirondack Thunder and Reading Royals met for the final game of their three-in-three on Sunday afternoon as the Thunder were looking for the weekend sweep. The game would begin similar to the way it did on Friday Night, as the Thunder had the momentum early on, but the Royals would get a lucky break as Jackson van de Leest’s stick broke, and Matt Miller would get a break-away and beat Jeremy Brodeur on the Royal’s first shot of the game at the 3:25 mark of the opening frame, Miller would finish with the afternoon with a goal and two assists. Adirondack’s PP broke through for the first time all season yesterday, and after a Ryan Smith PP goal was called off, Andre Ghantous would get his second goal in as many games as he put home a Josh Filmon rebound to tie the game, Fimon would get an assist on his goal his first pro point as the game would be knotted up at one after the opening 20.
“We need that, we need production from guys like him so hopefully he’ll have some confidence and we can have a good week here down South”.
Head Coach Pete MacArthur on Andre Ghantous having two goals in his last two games
In the second, the floodgates would open up as Sam Sedley fed Connor McMenamin, who sniped a shot top-corner past Brodeur on the PP as the Thunder gave up their first goal short-handed after killing off the first 22 to open up the season. Adirondack would have a golden opportunity to tie up the game on the PP as they had a five-on-three for 54 seconds but couldn’t find the back of the net. Reading would double their lead as Jake Smith was able to beat Brodeur to give the Royals a 3-1 lead at the 13:31 mark, but the Royals weren’t done as Gianfranco Cassaro took a shot from the circle that snuck past Brodeur at the 16:16 mark as the Royals would take a 4-1 lead into the third; however, a glimmer of hope would arise for the Thunder as they would begin the third with a PP after Powell Connor took an unsportsmanlike penalty at the end of the middle frame.
“First period we started okay and then once we got down we tried to do a little too much and then we ended up losing a lot of the battle. This is one that we want to put behind us, learn from, and get better from becuase that’s not acceptable for our group”
Captain Darian Skeoch on the team’s peformance on Sunday Afternoon
Things went from bad to worse for the Thunder in the third as former Thunder Travis Broughman would find the back of the net at the 2:16 mark for one of three Reading goals in the third period as the Thunder would lose the final game of the weekend series 7-1. Vinnie Purpura, who spent his rookie season with the Thunder, picked up his first win of the season, making 23 saves in the victory. Adirondack will now begin a four-game road trip starting Wednesday night against the Jacksonville Icemen, and Reading will wrap up a five-game road trip on Wednesday as they head down to Norfolk to play the Admirals.
