The Adirondack Thunder and Worcester Railers met for the first of eight meetings this year as the season series would kick off at Cool Insuring Arena. Heading into Wednesday’s game, both the Thunder and Railers have struggled out of the gate as Adirondack has scored the first six times in 16 games, and the Railers had scored the first goal five times in their first 21 games. On Wednesday, it would be the Railers who would get on the board first as Anthony Repaci would become the Worcester Hockey Franchise Record Leader in goal as he put home a rebound just 1:23 in for his 80th goal as a member of the Railers. Less than five minutes later, it would be the former Thunder Jordan Kaplan who would find the back of the net for his second of the season to give Worcester a two-goal lead just over five minutes into the opening frame. Adirondack would get themselves back in the game as Alex Young scored with 18 seconds left in the opening frame to give the Thunder some momentum. However, that would be quickly wiped away as Ryan Wheeler took a penalty with .08 left in the opening frame.
“They heard it with 13:00 to go so we didn’t even go in the locker room after the first and second. I ripped into them real good and let them know it was embarassing, the effort level, and we know we have good leaders in there so let them take care of it”
Head Coach Pete MacArthur on his message to the team after the first period
In the second, the Railers would regain their two-goal lead as Matthew Kopperud would go top-shelf for his fifth goal of the season just 53 seconds into the opening frame. Tensions would start to boil over as Ryan Wheeler plowed through Worcester goaltender Michael Bullion at the 10:07 mark, which would spark a fight between Wheeler and Riley Piercey, with Wheeler getting the extra two for goaltender interference. Adirondack would get themselves back into the game late in the second on the powerplay as Chase Brand would tip in a shot from Kurt Gosselin for his first pro goal at the 15:20 mark of the period. It would be a wild end to the period as the Thunder would erupt for three goals in 1:18 with goals from Andre Ghantous, Chase Brand, and Alex Young. Those three goals in 1:18 is a new Thunder franchise record as Adirondack would erase their second two-goal deficit of the night and head into the third period with a 5-3 lead.
“Ya, absoultey, it was really loud there in the second when we took the lead and the start of third they were awesome too. The section behind the opposing team’s bench was giving it to them a little bit, they were pretty loud and feed of them for sure. Sold out crowds are awesome, I don’t know how many people were here tonight but it was still really loud”
Chase Brand on the crowd at the end of the second period despite an attendence of 2548
In the third, it would an empty-net goal from Ryan Smith at the 17:55 mark to give the Thunder a 6-3 lead and their fifth unanswered goal of the night, but things would get chippy once again as after the goal, Worcester’s Connor Welsh would fire the puck at Smith in anger which would force Brand to come in and protect his teammate, ending the night for both Welsh and Brand as they each would get roughing minors and 10-minute misconducts. Kolby Johnson would score at the 19:00 minute mark for his first career ECHL goal, and just 25 seconds it would be Zach Bannister who added another empty-netter as all 18 skaters for the Thunder had at least one shot on goal in the game, as the team finished the night with 48 shots on goal. Jeremy Brodeur would make 33 saves for his sixth win on the season.
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