ECHL: Newfoundland Growlers Eliminate Adirondack Thunder in Five Game, Will Face Reading Royals in Second Round

The Newfoundland Growlers have eliminated the Adirondack Thunder in five games and will now face the Reading Royals in the second round of the Kelly Cup Finals. Once again, it would be a slow start for the Thunder that would kill them as Pavel Gogolev, who destroyed the Thunder in the regular season, would pick up his first goal of the Kelly Cup Playoffs just 2:07 after the opening faceoff, and Mikko Kokkonen would score just 1:40 after Gogolev as the Growlers would have a 2-0 lead before the Thunder could get their first shot on net. Todd Skriving would add a goal for the Growlers at the 8:30 mark, and the Growlers would have as many goals in the opening frame as the Thunder had shots. Adirondack would get a five-on-three halfway through the second but couldn’t find a way to put the puck in the back of the net. The game would get a lot more physical at the 16:25 mark. Jarrod Gourley would get the gate as he’d get a minor for roughing along with a five-minute major and the game for boarding Newfoundland’s Zach O’Brien, who’d end up leaving the game. In the third, neither team would be able to find the back of the net, but they would combine for 33 minutes in penalties, including Ryan Smith, who would be the second Thunder player to get a game misconduct for a hit on Orrin Centazzo. The two teams would combine for a total of 80 penalty minutes. Dryden McKay would stop all 20 shots he saw as, for the first time all season, the Adirondack Thunder were shutout, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

For the Thunder, they fed off the crowd in game one after making a remarkable comeback to sneak into the Kelly Cup Playoffs but ran into a Growlers team that was just too much for them. Newfoundland and Reading will begin their series on May 6th at Santander Arena, as the Royals will host the first three games. Newfoundland leads the league with 18 players on AHL contracts


Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Armand Klisivitch

Inside The Rink ECHL Manager | Senior Editor Credentialed Reporter for the Adirondack Thunder & Worcester Railers.

Leave a Reply

ECHL South Division Semifinals – Game 1 Recap: Orlando Solar Bears vs South Carolina Stingrays

Game one of round one in the Kelly Cup Playoffs kicked off the postseason run for the Orlando Solar Bears and the South Carolina Stingrays Friday night in Charleston. The Solar Bears heading into the playoffs are ranked 13th in the league and fourth in the Southern Division. They finished the season with 37-25-10 record, […]

Read More

ECHL North Division Semifinals – Game 1 Recap: Reading Royals vs Trois-Rivieres Lions

The Trois-Rivieres Lions and Reading Royals met for the first game of the North Division Semifinals on Friday Night. The Lions would get on the board first on the PP as Xavier Cormier fed Jakov Novak in front to give Trois-Rivieres a 1-0 lead just over four minutes in. Trois-Rivieres would have six of the […]

Read More

ECHL: Brandon Hawkins Repeats Most Valuable Player for 2024–25 Season

Brandon Hawkins, forward for the Toledo Walleye, has once again earned the league’s highest individual honor, being named the Warrior Hockey ECHL Most Valuable Player for the 2024–25 season. This marks Hawkins’ second consecutive MVP award, placing him in elite company as just the second player in ECHL history to win back-to-back MVP honors, joining […]

Read More