The Adirondack Thunder would finish their Month of January the same way they finished off December, as they would face off against the Worcester Railers. Coming into Friday Night, both teams were looking to get back in the win column as the Thunder lost on Wednesday against Norfolk, and the Railers were looking to snap a three-game losing streak. For the 25th time in 38 games this season, it would be Adirondack who would give up the game’s opening goal as Mark Cheremeta found the back of the net on the Railer’s first shot of the game at the 1:47 mark of the period. Adirondack looked solid in the first period despite giving up the opening goal, and there was some promise that the Thunder would only be down one after 20, but it would be the former Thunder Matt Ustaski who found the back of the net in his first game in a Railers Jersey as the Thunder outshot the Railers 11-5 in the opening frame.
Adirondack would finally get some puck luck in the second as Sean Gulka finished off a Thunder Tic-Tac-Toe play as Savva Smirnov picked up his first career ECHL point to put the Thunder within one. It wouldn’t take the Thunder to tie up the game as Grant Loven fed Josh Filmon on a two-on-one as the Thunder scored two goals in 20 seconds to tie up the game at 20 seconds, the quickest two goals Adirondack has scored this season. Worcester would respond in less than five minutes as Mark Cheremeta scored from the circle for his second of the game to put the Railers back in front. Worcester would get a golden opportunity to put the game out of reach late in the second as they would have a five-on-three for 1:31 that the Thunder would kill off, two of six penalties Adirondack killed off as they went a perfect six-for-six on the PK, but it would be Riley Ginnell who tipped one past Colby Muise to give the Railers their two-goal lead back and would cap off a stretch of four goals in 9:45 between the two teams.
In the third, Jackson van de Leest took two penalties in the third period and three in the game, which hurt the Thunder and halted their comeback efforts. Adirondack would make things interesting down the stretch as Josh Filmon found the back of the net for his second of the night with 19 seconds remaining in the third. Hugo Ollas would stop 32 of the 34 shots for his second win against the Thunder this season, and on the other end of the ice, Colby Muise did everything he could to keep the Thunder in the game as he stopped 22 of the 26 shots he saw.
Thankfully for the Thunder, they will get to turn the page on what truly was a terrible month of January, where they went 1-9-1 in 11 games during the opening Month of 2025. Things don’t get easier for Adirondack as they will play a red-hot Royals team on Saturday and Sunday before heading out to Tahoe for three games, only to come back and play seven straight games against the Trois-Rivieres Lions.
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