GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The start of the ECHL regular season is just days away, and the Adirondack Thunder showed some encouraging signs in their preseason games over the weekend.
The Thunder, in year one under new head coach Sylvain Cloutier, picked up a 3-1 road win against the Reading Royals Friday. They returned to the recently-renamed Harding Mazzotti Arena Saturday, and shut out the Trois-Rivières Lions, 3-0, with goals from Alex Campbell, Matt Salhany and Brian Carrabes.
You have to imagine Cloutier was pleased with the defensive effort of his team – only surrendering one goal in two games. That was an area of emphasis when NEWS10 Sports visited the team last Monday at the start of training camp.
“We need to be solid defensively,” said Cloutier. “If you look at our goals against, and you look at the teams that make the playoffs, we probably have to cut our goals against by 50-60. We gotta improve in that area, so the focus right now is competing [and] defensive zone.”
The Thunder are looking to respond from a dreadful 2024-’25 campaign, in which they finished dead last in the Eastern Conference. It was a shocking drop-off after the club reached the Eastern Conference Finals the year prior.
Only a handful of players on the training camp roster experienced both the highs and lows of the last two seasons. They know what it took to get to that high level, and can educate the new faces on the squad on what it’s going to take to get back there.
“Last year, we would just kinda get hot and cold; it felt like we were very streaky,” said defenseman Ryan Wheeler, who’s entering his third season with the Thunder. “We’d go on these streaks of games where we play very well. And then we’d go on some streaks where we just seemed to play on our heels a lot. This year, we’re preaching we want to play on our toes. We want to be in your face; a fast, competitive hockey team.”
Opening day for the Thunder is Sunday, Oct. 19. They’ll be on the road, battling the Worcester Railers at 3:05 p.m.
