Adirondack Thunder
Adirondack Railroaded By Worcester, Remain Winless
GLENS FALLS, NY – The Adirondack Thunder and Worcester Railers faced off for the fourth time in a little over a week Sunday afternoon. The Thunder entered the game 0-3-0-0 and were desperate for a win. The Railers had other plans, however, and handed the Thunder their worst loss on the young season, a 6-1 shellacking in front of a small afternoon crowd in Glens Falls.
The Railers got on the board first when Blade Jenkins beat Adirondack defender Jeff Taylor and then netminder Jake Theut for the early 1-0 lead.
The Worcester lead was doubled just over eight minutes later on a controversial goal. Bobby Butler took a shot from the faceoff circle that bounced around a bit in front of Theut. It appeared Steve Jandric knocked the puck into the net with a high stick. The referees reviewed the play and determined it was a good goal.
JANDRIC! After some review Jandric scores his 4th goal of the season! 2-0 with 6 minutes left in the first period… GO RAILERS#AllAboutTheW | #RailersHC | #Worcester pic.twitter.com/BnQyReVgtu
— Worcester Railers HC (@RailersHC) October 30, 2022
Only 4:30 later, the Thunder found themselves in a 3-0 deficit. Jandric picked up his second point on the night when his pass got by a sprawling Ryan DaSilva and went straight to rookie Jimmy Lambert skating down the middle. It was Lambert’s first pro goal and the team’s first short-handed tally of the season.
The opening frame ended with a 3-0 Railers lead.
The Thunder entered the second period needing a quick goal to turn the tides in their favor. Instead, they found themselves falling into a deeper hole.
Jandric picked up his second goal of the night when Quinn Ryan left him the puck in the offensive zone and his shot beat Theut for the 4-0 lead. With that goal, Theut departed the Adirondack net in favor of rookie Isaac Poulter.
Liam Coughlin passed the puck across the crease to Butler, who tapped it in behind Poulter to give the Railers an insurmountable lead late in the second. Worcester closed out the middle frame with the 5-0 lead.
By the final frame, Adirondack’s only hope was to save face by scoring a couple goals and mounting a partial comeback. Instead, the Railers tacked on another less than four minutes in to extend their lead to 6-0.
Collin Adams and Brent Beaudoin skated into the Adirondack zone exchanging passes, and it was Adams who ended up putting the puck into the net for Worcester’s final tally of the night.
The Thunder finally got on the board with less than five minutes remaining in the game. After a high stick to the face, Noah Corson set up the lone Thunder goal as he passed the puck to captain Shane Harper in front of the net. Harper tossed it past netminder Ken Appleby to end his shutout bid.
With the win, the Railers extended their win streak to five games (5-0-0-0) while the Thunder dropped to 0-4-0-0.
Battling Back
In all four games between the North Division rivals, Worcester jumped out to leads of two or more goals before Adirondack was able to get on the board. These early deficits are forcing the Thunder to have to battle back every game, and that’s not sustainable in the short term, let alone over the course of an entire season.
Head Coach Pete MacArthur on the lack of success against Worcester thus far:
“They’re good, I’ll give credit where credit’s due, but we suck right now.”
“It’s just breakdowns, not managing the puck well enough, not being aware.”
Harper’s thoughts:
“I think we’re probably going to have to watch quite a lot of video and see what the mistakes are. I think they’re somewhat simple mistakes, but it’s happening now four games in a row. I can’t say it’s a lack of effort, I think the guys are working, but of course we could battle harder for sure.”
Bitten By the Injury Bug
The Thunder have been bitten by the injury bug already this season. There are currently two players on injured reserve who are set to return soon (forward Rex Moe and defenseman Jake Ryczek), and several more are day-to-day. Adirondack played short a player on Sunday due to injuries, then lost forward Nick Rivera to a lower body injury in the second period.
Up Next
The Thunder (0-4-0-0) will travel north of the border to take on the Trois-Rivieres Lions (1-4-1-0) Friday and Saturday before returning home to host the Railers the following weekend.
