{"id":38982,"date":"2026-04-21T14:46:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?p=38982"},"modified":"2026-04-21T14:46:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:46:27","slug":"adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Adirondack Thunder Faces Lions In Crucial Fan Appreciation Weekend Series"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Adirondack Thunder players celebrate during a regular-season home game in Glens Falls.
Courtesy Adirondack Thunder<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Paul Post<\/p>\n

Playoff-bound Adirondack Thunder had a franchise-record 18 sellout crowds this year, with one home game left heading into the regular season\u2019s final weekend, April 17-19.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing, how great the fan support is for such a small community,\u201d Thunder President Jeff Mead said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty unbelievable when half your home games are sell-outs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Thunder drew 156,316 fans, averaging 4,466 per game, or 93 percent of the arena\u2019s capacity, with one home game left in the regular season on Friday, April 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese fans are passionate,\u201d Coach Sylvain Cloutier said. \u201cThey love the game. There\u2019s no place like it in minor hockey. They come out and support us every weekend. They\u2019re the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/b>Forward Matt Salhany said Kalamazoo\u2019s Matt Knuble couldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he lined up opposite me, he looked around and said, \u2018This is incredible\u2019,\u201d Salhany said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Thunder entered the final weekend in fourth place with three games left, one point behind Reading, which had just two games remaining.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Thunder fared much better against Maine, going 10-2-2-1, than against Wheeling, where they went 1-3, this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mariners play a heavy, physical style game, similar to ours,\u201d Cloutier said. \u201cWheeling plays a more wide-open game, relying a great deal on their goalie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever we play it\u2019s going to be tough,\u201d he said. \u201cBut anything can happen in the playoffs. Wherever we start, I like our chances.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s no question Adirondack struggled down the stretch.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Adirondack is the ECHL affiliate of the AHL\u2019s Utica Comets. If Utica doesn\u2019t make the playoffs, several players who spent considerable time with the Thunder this year could return to bolster Adirondack\u2019s playoff roster.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Cloutier said there\u2019s a good chance the first playoff round will go seven games, considering how strong Wheeling and Maine are. But he\u2019d like nothing better than to clinch the series before Adirondack\u2019s faithful fans in Glens Falls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe owe our fans some wins at home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":38983,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news"],"yoast_head":"\r\nAdirondack Thunder Faces Lions In Crucial Fan Appreciation Weekend Series - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Adirondack Thunder Faces Lions In Crucial Fan Appreciation Weekend Series - Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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\u2019s 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 […]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-21T18:46:27+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2026\/04\/260403-game-photo.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1365\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jake Van Ness\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jake Van Ness\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/\",\"name\":\"Adirondack Thunder Faces Lions In Crucial Fan Appreciation Weekend Series - Glens Falls Business Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2026\/04\/260403-game-photo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-21T18:46:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2026\/04\/260403-game-photo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2026\/04\/260403-game-photo.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1365,\"caption\":\"Adirondack Thunder players celebrate during a regular-season home game in Glens Falls. Courtesy Adirondack Thunder\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Adirondack Thunder Faces Lions In Crucial Fan Appreciation Weekend Series\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/\",\"name\":\"Glens Falls Business Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86\",\"name\":\"Jake Van Ness\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d74f7533bd2ebb3908a187893d5eafbf1ee7752b11715c976372134cbea918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d74f7533bd2ebb3908a187893d5eafbf1ee7752b11715c976372134cbea918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jake Van Ness\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/author\/jakev\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Adirondack Thunder Faces Lions In Crucial Fan Appreciation Weekend Series - Glens Falls Business Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Adirondack Thunder Faces Lions In Crucial Fan Appreciation Weekend Series - Glens Falls Business Journal","og_description":"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\u2019s 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 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/","og_site_name":"Glens Falls Business Journal","article_published_time":"2026-04-21T18:46:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1365,"url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2026\/04\/260403-game-photo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jake Van Ness","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jake Van Ness","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/","name":"Adirondack Thunder Faces Lions In Crucial Fan Appreciation Weekend Series - Glens Falls Business Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2026\/04\/260403-game-photo.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-21T18:46:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2026\/04\/260403-game-photo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2026\/04\/260403-game-photo.jpg","width":2048,"height":1365,"caption":"Adirondack Thunder players celebrate during a regular-season home game in Glens Falls. Courtesy Adirondack Thunder"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2026\/04\/adirondack-thunder-faces-lions-in-crucial-fan-appreciation-weekend-series\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Adirondack Thunder Faces Lions In Crucial Fan Appreciation Weekend Series"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/","name":"Glens Falls Business Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86","name":"Jake Van Ness","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d74f7533bd2ebb3908a187893d5eafbf1ee7752b11715c976372134cbea918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d74f7533bd2ebb3908a187893d5eafbf1ee7752b11715c976372134cbea918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jake Van Ness"},"url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/author\/jakev\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38984,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38982\/revisions\/38984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}