Courtesy Adirondack Thunder
By Paul Post
Playoff-bound Adirondack Thunder had a franchise-record 18 sellout crowds this year, with one home game left heading into the regular season’s final weekend, April 17-19.
A three-game attendance mark of 15,375 was set during the Friday-to-Sunday, March 27-29, weekend, surpassing the previous record of 14,869.
That was followed by back-to-back crowds of 5,231 and 4,851 on Saturday and Sunday, April 11-12, for an incredible five straight sellouts at the 4,800-seat Harding Mazzotti Arena.
“It’s amazing, how great the fan support is for such a small community,” Thunder President Jeff Mead said. “It’s pretty unbelievable when half your home games are sell-outs.”
The Thunder drew 156,316 fans, averaging 4,466 per game, or 93 percent of the arena’s capacity, with one home game left in the regular season on Friday, April 17.
“These fans are passionate,” Coach Sylvain Cloutier said. “They love the game. There’s no place like it in minor hockey. They come out and support us every weekend. They’re the best.”
Forward Matt Salhany said Kalamazoo’s Matt Knuble couldn’t believe the large crowd that showed up for the game on Sunday, March 29, because attendance for Sunday afternoon games is usually much lighter at most arenas, especially when a big crowd turned out the night before.
“When he lined up opposite me, he looked around and said, ‘This is incredible’,” Salhany said.
The Thunder will play either Wheeling or Maine in the first round of the playoffs, depending on where they finish in the standings. Every series is best-of-seven. Regardless of the opponent, Games 1 and 2 will be on the road Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26.
Games 3, 4 and 5, if necessary, will be at home on Wednesday, April 29, and Friday and Saturday, May 1 and 2. Games 6 and 7 would be on the road again, if needed.
The Thunder entered the final weekend in fourth place with three games left, one point behind Reading, which had just two games remaining.
If Adirondack passes Reading and finishes third, it will face the second-place Maine Mariners in the first round. Otherwise, it will play North Division champion Wheeling.
The Thunder fared much better against Maine, going 10-2-2-1, than against Wheeling, where they went 1-3, this year.
“The Mariners play a heavy, physical style game, similar to ours,” Cloutier said. “Wheeling plays a more wide-open game, relying a great deal on their goalie.”
“Whoever we play it’s going to be tough,” he said. “But anything can happen in the playoffs. Wherever we start, I like our chances.”
But there’s no question Adirondack struggled down the stretch.
Since Feb. 27, when it was in first place, the Thunder went 5-12-4 and just 2-7 on home ice during that span before the final weekend.
Adirondack is the ECHL affiliate of the AHL’s Utica Comets. If Utica doesn’t make the playoffs, several players who spent considerable time with the Thunder this year could return to bolster Adirondack’s playoff roster.
Forwards Tag Bertuzzi and Dylan Wendt, and defensemen Luke Reid and Jackson van de Leest, made significant contributions before being called up to Utica in recent weeks.
Cloutier said there’s a good chance the first playoff round will go seven games, considering how strong Wheeling and Maine are. But he’d like nothing better than to clinch the series before Adirondack’s faithful fans in Glens Falls.
“We owe our fans some wins at home,” he said.