GLENS FALLS– The Adirondack Thunder came into Sunday Evening needed a win as they dropped Game 1 and didn’t want to head into Maine down 2-0. Adirondack needed to get the crowd into it early, and they did as Shane Harper would finish off a beautiful tic-tac-toe play from the Thunder’s second line of Welsher-Ashbrook-Harper at the 9:15 mark of the opening frame. It would once again be that trio that would take advantage of the Thunder’s second PP of the period, as Ashbrook would feed Harper in front to give the Thunder a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission. Maine would certainly have their chances to come back in the second period as the Thunder took four penalties and killed off all four after Maine scored on their only opportunity on the man-advantage in Game 1.
“It was obvioulsy nice to get on the board early and first, that was huge, obviously both teams want to score first but when we can score first in our building it’s a big big deal, get the fans into it, get the crowd on our side. Couple really nice play on the first one by Welshy {Mac Welsher}, he went through one D man and then went through me, and then fed Ashbrook who found me, then I went upstairs. Obviously I was very pleased to get us a couple there and get us on the right track”
Shane Harper on his two goal performance
During Friday’s post-game media availability, Adirondack Thunder Interim Captain Darian Skeoch mentioned that the team needed to be more physical, and it was apparent that they got that message in the first two periods, but in the third, the physicality played a big part as 62 penalty minutes were handed out with 58 of those coming in the final two seconds of the game. One player who didn’t make an impact on the scoresheet but seemed to make an impact physically along with Darian Skeoch is Andre Ghantous, who got into a couple of scrums after the whistle and wasn’t afraid to throw his body around.
Those two goals were all the Thunder would need as Isaac Poulter would notch his first career Kelly Cup Shutout, stopping all 21 shots he saw on Saturday Night.
“The shutout doesn’t really matter just the win, nothing really matters other than the winning game and trying to advance round and eventually winning the Kelly Cup for us”
Isaac Poulter on his first career Kelly Cup Playoff Shutout
