Adirondack Youth Hockey Association

Although hockey had been played informally in the Glens Falls region for decades, organized youth leagues began in 1974, five years before the Adirondack Red Wings. Thanks to the work of the people who laid the foundation, some 50 years later, the Adirondack Youth Hockey Association (AYHA) has grown and flourished. In 2023-24, with 550 skaters and 700 members, counting coaches and volunteers, it was the fifth-largest youth hockey program in New York state. The Glens Falls Recreation Department, managed by Doug Neely, ran a league for one winter before the non-profit Glens Falls Hockey Club, Inc. was formed in Oct. 1975. Its officers were Tom Keen, president; Jerry Corbett, vice president; Jim Hughes, treasurer; and Ed Fane, secretary. Joe Vogel, Tom Vogel, Dave McDonnell, John McDonnell, Pete Whitten, Keith Coe, Ed
Petrush, Bob Wood, Ralph Knickerbocker, Lou Dufresne, Dave Krogmann, Tim Badger and Ed Foster were actively involved in the birth of the youth hockey program.

Jamie Pushor

A steady, defensive defenseman, Jamie Pushor launched his professional career with the 1993-94 Adirondack Red Wings. He was drafted in the second round, 32nd overall, by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. During his three seasons with Adirondack, he scored 49 points and totaled 379 penalty minutes in 196 games. Pushor was a regular as a rookie on the Adirondack team that won the Northern Division title. He went on to play 521 games in the NHL and was a member of the Stanley Cup-winning Detroit Red Wings team in 1996-97. He also played for the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Dallas Stars, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers. In 2010, Pushor became a scout with the Atlanta Thrashers. He was hired by Tampa Bay a year later, was named the Lightning’s Director of Scouting in 2018 and the Assistant General Manager/Director of Player Personnel in 2019. As an administrator with the Tampa Bay 
Lightning, he was a key contributor to the Stanley Cup champions in 2020 and 2021. Thirty years after his debut in Glens Falls, Pushor and his family remained year-round residents of the region with a home on Glen Lake.

1986 Adirondack Red Wings - Calder Cup Champions 

Roster
Pierre Aubry, Shawn Burr, Brett Callighen, Chris Cichocki, Bruce Eakin, Tim Friday, Glen Hanlon, Ted Huesing, Ed Johnstone, Greg Joly, Joe Kocur, Dave Korol, Dale Krentz, Mark Laforest, Lane Lambert, Jim Leavins, Claude Loiselle, Basil McRae, Barry Melrose, Glenn Merkosky, Corrado Micalef, Eddie Mio, Adam Oates, Bob Probert, Chris Pusey, Steve Richmond, Geordie Robertson, Brian Shaw, Ted Speers, Ray Staszak, Wayne Thompson, Larry Trader, Gary Yaremchuk, Rick Zombo.

General Manager – Neil Smith
Head Coach – Bill Dineen
Athletic Trainer – Dave Casey
Equipment Manager – Mark Brennan
Broadcaster – Terry Ficorelli
Director of PR – Nancy Owen
Director of Marketing – Tim Connor
Playoff Record

Won Northern Division Semifinals vs. Fredericton Express, 4-2
Won Northern Division Finals vs. Moncton Golden Flames, 4-1
Won Calder Cup Final vs. Hershey Bears, 4-2
 

James Henry

If any player can claim to have been the face of the Adirondack Thunder, it’s James Henry. The franchise leader in games played (303), points (230) and assists (161), Henry played six seasons with the Thunder. Named the fourth captain in the franchise’s history before the 2018 season, Henry served in that role for his final two seasons of playing professional hockey. Now an assistant coach for the Reading Royals, Henry won the 2018-19 ECHL Community Service Award, recognizing his involvement in many organizations, including Mission 22, a non-profit group fighting veteran suicide. In 441 ECHL games, he recorded 309 points and was named to the ECHL All-Star Game in 2017.

Claude Loiselle

A deft centerman who averaged over a point a game in parts of four seasons with the Adirondack Red Wings, he was a productive member of the 1985-86 AHL championship team. In 21 regular-season games in 1985-86 he totaled 15 goals and 26 points. During the run to the playoff title, he contributed five goals and 10 assists in 16 games. Loiselle had 51 goals and 114 points in 103 regular-season games with Adirondack and had seven goals and 21 points in the playoffs. He played with five teams in a 13-season NHL career, scoring 92 goals and 209 points in 616 regular-season games. Following his playing career, Loiselle earned a law degree and worked in management positions with the NHL, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Arizona, and the New York Islanders. He is married to JoAnn Sipowicz of Queensbury, and they have lived in her hometown since 2010. Loiselle is a member of the Facilities Committee of the Adirondack Civic Center Coalition, which operates the Cool Insuring Arena and the Adirondack Hockey Coalition. He helped negotiate the purchase of the Adirondack Thunder’s ECHL franchise from the Calgary Flames.

Mike Kane

As a journalist in Glens Falls and Schenectady, Kane covered the founding of the Adirondack Red Wings and reported on the team throughout its 20 seasons. He is the author of the book Minor in Name Only: The History of the Adirondack Red Wings, published in 1994. Kane is the only three-time winner of the James Ellery Award presented by the AHL for outstanding coverage of the league, winning it in 1982-83, 1987-88 and again in 1989-90. The award has been presented annually in some form since 1964-65. He also covered Thoroughbred horse racing and many other sports during his newspaper career in the Capital Region that spanned parts of four decades. A graduate of Queensbury High School and SUNY Potsdam, Kane was a sportswriter and editor at the Post-Star for three years and moved to the Schenectady Gazette in 1979, a few weeks before the Red Wings’ training camp opened in Glens Falls. He is the only writer to cover the Red Wings from their debut to their move to Grand Rapids, Mich. From 1982 through 1990 he was the AHL correspondent for The Hockey News. Kane and his wife Kathy are longtime residents of Glenville.

Sylvain Cloutier

During his long, globe-trotting professional career, Cloutier played for three Adirondack teams, the Red Wings in the American Hockey League and the IceHawks and Frostbite of the United Hockey League. Cloutier played a total of 461 games for Glens Falls-based teams, second only to Glenn Merkosky’s 494. His 287 games with the Red Wings puts him 10th on the franchise’s career list. A native of Mont-Laurier QC, Cloutier played in 565 AHL games and recorded 274 points (86 goals, 188 assists) during his career. He started his pro career in Glens Falls and compiled 148 points with the Red Wings.

Frank Littlejohn

Littlejohn played in Glens Falls for five seasons: four with the Adirondack IceHawks and one with the Adirondack Frostbite, both in the UHL. In his 328 regular-season and playoff games for Adirondack he registered 144 goals and 257 points. The Oshawa, ON native played 15 AHL games, 89 ECHL games, 67 IHL games and 478 UHL games. Littlejohn recorded 222 goals and 157 assists in his 478 UHL games which also saw him gather 1,688 penalty minutes. While playing for the IceHawks, Littlejohn racked up 1,051 penalty minutes, including a career high 306 PIMs in 2002-03.

Dan Miner

Since 1985, Miner has been involved with every one of the professional hockey teams that have called Glens Falls home. He began his long run as a radio reporter and has been the public address announcer at the arena since 1999. A 1983 graduate of Whitehall High School and a 1985 graduate of SUNY Adirondack, Miner started covering the Red Wings the year he earned his college degree at WIPS/WXTY in Ticonderoga. In 1991, he shifted to WENU/WSTL in Queensbury, while still covering the Red Wings. A year later, Miner started the first weekly hockey show “Red Wings Wrap”, the same year he became the in-arena host for the team. He started a Monday night hockey radio program about the IceHawks on WCKM, which became the start of a long-standing Monday night hockey program on the station. Miner was named the public address announcer for the Adirondack IceHawks in 1999 and has since voiced nearly every professional hockey game in Glens Falls.

Doug Burch

For more than 40 years, Burch played an important role in the development and growth of hockey in the Capital Region and the Adirondacks. Burch was a member of the management team that Ned Harkness formed to lay the groundwork for the highly successful launch of the Adirondack Red Wings in the American Hockey League in 1979. He was the student manager of Harkness’ hockey team at Union College in Schenectady and followed his mentor to Glens Falls, where he began his professional hockey career as the Director of Public Relations and Marketing. He wore many hats in those critical early years of the Adirondack franchise and was deeply involved in sales and the day-to-day operations of the hockey team.

In 1982, Burch moved to Lake Placid with Harkness, where he became the Vice President of Corporate Marketing for the Olympic Regional Development Authority. After more than a decade with ORDA, Burch returned to the AHL in 1993 as the president of the Albany River Rats, a position he held until 1998. In 1995, the year the River Rats won the Calder Cup, Burch was named winner of the James C. Hendy Memorial Award, given to the executive who has made the most outstanding contribution to the American Hockey League. Burch later returned to Glens Falls and served as the executive director of the Tri-County United Way. He was very active in the community, successfully pushed for the creation of the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame, which he chaired, and served on the board of directors of the Glens Falls Civic Center Foundation from 2002 until his death in 2018.

Norm Maracle

Norm Maracle, a Class of 2018 Inductee, played parts of five seasons in the Adirondack region with the AHL's Adirondack Red Wings from 1994 - 1999 and is the first Adirondack goaltender to be inducted into the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame. Maracle appeared in 233 games with the Red Wings, the most all time in franchise history by a goaltender, including his finest season with Adirondack in 1996-97, when he led the AHL in wins and save percentage en route to being named as an AHL Second-Team All-Star. The Belleville, ONT native went on to play in 68 NHL games with Detroit and Atlanta including two in the 1999 Stanley Cup Playoffs after he earned a Stanley Cup Ring with Detroit in 1998.

Neil Smith

Neil Smith was the General Manager of two Calder Cup winning teams with the Adirondack Red Wings in 1986 and 1989. After scouting for the New York Islanders, Smith joined the Detroit Red Wings organization in 1982 and oversaw the Adirondack Red Wings for seven seasons before he was hired as the General Manager of the New York Rangers in 1989. Smith helped to end the Rangers' 54-year championship drought as he constructed the 1994 Stanley Cup Champions. Smith returned to Glens Falls to serve as the color commentator on NHL Network for the 2017 ECHL All-Star Classic, the first ECHL All-Star event to be nationally broadcast.

Chris Tancill

Chris Tancill played for two seasons with the AHL's Adirondack Red Wings and was a member of the 1992 Calder Cup Champion team. Tancill collected 172 points from just 118 games played, including a career-best 102 points during the 1992-93 season. Tancill led the AHL with 59 goals that season, the most in a single season in Adirondack Red Wings history, as he was named an AHL First-Team All-Star. The Livonia, MI native would appear in 145 games in the NHL with Hartford, Detroit, Dallas and San Jose and represented his country three times at the IHF World Championships in 1996, 1997 and 2000, winning a bronze medal in 1996. Tancill completed his career with six seasons in Switzerland, where he was named as the league's Most Valuable Player during the 1999-00 season.

1981 Adirondack Red Wings - Calder Cup Champions

Roster
Tom Bladon, Mike Blaisdell, Dan Bolduc, Carmine Cirella, Rejean Cloutier, Mal Davis, Jody Gage, Dave Hanson, Bill Hogaboam, Bruce Howes, Al Jensen, Greg Joly, Brian Johnson, J.P. LeBlanc, George Lyle, Pete Mahovlich, Brian McDavid, Ted Nolan, Mark Osborne, Dennis Polonich, Steve Short, Rick Vasko, Wayne Wood

General Manager - Ned Harkness
Head Coaches - Tom Webster & J.P. LeBlanc
Athletic Trainer - Dave Casey
Equipment Manager - Rich Cotton
Broadcaster - Dave Strader
Marketing & Public Relations - Doug Burch
Playoff Record

Won Southern Division Semifinals vs. Binghamton Whalers, 4-2
Won Southern Division Finals vs. Hershey Bears, 4-2
Won Calder Cup Final vs. Maine Mariners, 4-2

Erin Whitten-Hamlen

Erin Whitten Hamlen is the first female and goaltender to be inducted into the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame. A Glens Falls native, Hamlen was the first woman to play in the ECHL, CHL and CoHL as she posted a 5-3 record with five teams across three seasons. Hamlen skated with the U.S. Women's National Hockey Team for seven seasons, where she won IIHF World Women's Championship Silver Medals in 1992, 1994, 1997 and 1999. Whitten was named as the Most Outstanding Goaltender at the 1994 World Championships, held in Lake Placid, NY, and was named the 1994 USA Hockey Women's Player of the Year. After her playing career, Hamlen coached at the University of New Hampshire and Merrimack College, professionally with the Boston Blades of the CWHL and internationally with Team USA.

Dale Krentz

Dale Krentz skated in 327 games over five seasons with the Adirondack Red Wings between 1985 and 1990. Krentz ranks second all-time in Red Wings history with 328 points and ranks third in both career goals (149) and assists (179) and fourth in games played (327). Krentz was a member of the 1986 and 1989 Calder Cup championship teams, recording eight points (2-6-8) in 13 playoff games on the 1986 team, Adirondack's second championship team. The Steinbach, Manitoba native is also one of just three players, along with fellow Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame members Glenn Merkosky and Murray Eaves, to score 30 goals in three separate seasons. Krentz also appeared in 30 NHL games with Detroit and skated professionally for six seasons in Germany before he retired from professional hockey in 1996.

Fred Quackenbush

Fred Quackenbush is inducted into the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder of hockey in the Adirondack region. Quackenbush, a Hudson Falls native, has been a season ticket holder of Adirondack professional hockey teams since professional hockey came to the area in 1979, spanning over 30 years and six different franchises. Quackenbush is also the oldest individual ever to be inducted into the Hall of Fame at age 83. Quackenbush has been a member of the Adirondack Hockey Booster Club since its inception in the 1980's and served as Booster Club President for several years. In the hockey offseason, Quackenbush spends his summers at another local sporting attraction as a box seat usher at the Saratoga Race Course.

Dave Hanson

Dave Hanson was a fan favorite in his time with the Adirondack Red Wings and played two full seasons in Glens Falls, where he earned 66 points (22-44-66) with 473 penalty minutes over 152 games played as a defenseman from 1980 to 1982. Hanson's 267 penalty minutes in the 1980-81 season rank tied for fifth in the AHL. Hanson was a member of the 1981 Calder Cup Championship team, the first in Red Wings franchise history and was voted MVP of the Calder Cup playoffs by his teammates. Outside of Adirondack, Hanson appeared in 33 NHL games with Detroit and Minnesota, as well as 103 WHA games with Minnesota, New England and Birmingham. Hanson also played the role of Jack Hanson in the critically acclaimed 1977 hockey film "Slap Shot."

Ted Nolan

Ted Nolan skated five seasons with the Adirondack Red Wings from 1979-1984 and ranks in the Top 10 in Red Wings history in games played (299, ninth), goals (84, tenth), assists (126, ninth) and points (210, eighth). After he finished his professional career, which also included 78 games in the NHL with Pittsburgh and Detroit, Nolan began his coaching career with the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL and took his team to three straight Memorial Cup appearances, winning the tournament in 1993. Starting in 1995, Nolan coached in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabers, where he won the Jack Adams Award for the NHL's best coach in 1991, and with the New York Islanders. Nolan has also coached the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats, whom he led to a league championship in 2005 and Team Latvia, which he led to an eighth-place finish at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, the highest finish in the program’s history.

Joe Paterson

Joe Paterson, a native of Scarborough, Ontario, began his professional hockey career with the Adirondack Red Wings from 1980-84. Always a fan favorite for his rugged style of play, Joe was a recipient of the Adirondack Booster Club's 110% Award. During Paterson's 12 year playing career, he played 313 NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers, LA Kings and New York Rangers and 502 games in the AHL and IHL. Paterson spent 16 years in the American Hockey League as head coach or assistant beginning with the Adirondack Red Wings from 1992-1995, with a 202-172-27-16 (W-L-T-OTL) record as a head coach. He returned to Adirondack to coach the Phantoms from 2010-2012. Joe was a pro scout for the Los Angeles Kings and hoisted the Stanley Cup on the ice with the Kings team in 2014.

Doug Neely

 Doug Neely was inducted to this year's Hall of Fame class as a builder of the game of hockey in the Glens Falls area. Neely has served as an off-ice official since 1979 through all six Adirondack hockey teams. Neely, who has served as the Chief Off-Ice Official for much of his tenure, was honored by his fellow off-ice officials on April 13, 2014, during an Adirondack Phantoms home game for his 35th year of service to hockey in the area. Neely is a retired school teacher from the Glens Falls School District.

Pete Mahovlich

Pete Mahovlich stayed in the North Country after the completion of his great career and currently resides in Queensbury. After winning four Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens, Mahovlich arrived to Glens Falls as a veteran and provided steady leadership and some big goals with the Adirondack Red Wings from 1980-82 in helping the team to their first Calder Cup Championship in 1981 while winning over area fans with his outgoing personality and easy-going nature. One of the first NHL big-men, the 6'5 center scored 288 goals and 773 points in his 16-year NHL career with Detroit, Montreal and Pittsburgh spending some of those years alongside his older brother Frank. In 1974-75, he recorded a career high 117 points and 82 assists for Montreal. HIs 82 assists remains the all-time single season record for any Montreal Canadien and his 117 points are the most ever for a Montreal center. Mahovlich broke 100 points again the following year and joined Guy Lafleur as the only players in Montreal history to record multiple seasons of 100 points. Mahovlich also scored one of the most spectacular and memorable goals in Team Canada history. In game two of the famous 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union, and with two Canadians in the penalty box, he carried the puck around and through the defense for the historic 3-on-2 goal as the entire country cheered.

Murray Eaves

Murray Eaves is a Calgary, Alberta native who played with the Adirondack Red Wings from 1987-90 among his 15 seasons in professional hockey. He scored a career-high 46 goals in 1988-89 to lead the team to their third Calder Cup Championship while finishing second in the AHL in assists (72) and points (118) that season. His 118 points are the all-time single season record in Adirondack Red Wings' history. He was fourth all-time in total points by an Adirondack Red Wing with 301 on 125 career goals with 176 assists. Eaves won the AHL's Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award twice as the player most exemplifying sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey. He also played in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings and Winnipeg Jets. After retiring as a player, he returned to Glens Falls to start his coaching career. Eaves was assistant coach of the Adirondack Red Wings from 1995-98. He followed that by becoming the head coach of the prestigious Shattuck St. Mary's hockey program in Faribault, Minnesota.

Dave Strader

Glens Falls native Dave Strader was the first radio broadcaster for the Adirondack Red Wings from 1979-1985 including the team's first Calder Cup Championship in 1981. From there, he broadcast for the Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers and Phoenix Coyotes as well as national assignments for hockey and basketball on ESPN, ABC, Fox, Versus, NBC and NBC Sports Network. In 2006, he called hockey at the Winter Olympics in Torino for NBC. He was also the voice of the Stanley Cup Final on the NHL International television broadcast. Dave resided year-round in Glens Falls before his death in 2017. Dave credited the love and support from his wife Colleen and their three sons - Christopher, Casey, and Trevor for his career.

Dave Casey

Born in Glens Falls, New York and a lifelong resident of the Glens Falls area, Dave Casey served as the long-time athletic trainer for the Adirondack Red Wings. From 1979 to 1993 Casey was on the bench for 1,253 games which included 135 Calder Cup playoff games, while missing only 2 regular season games in the first 14 years of the franchise. He is the only person to receive rings from the four Calder Cup Championships in 1981, 1986, 1989 and 1992. Casey was one of the trainers that was instrumental in establishing a relationship with the National Hockey League's Professional Hockey Athletics Trainers Society (PHATS), that allowed the American Hockey League athletic trainers and equipment managers to be a member of that organization. He served on the executive board of the NHL PHATS as one of the two representatives from the AHL from 1986 to 1991. Prior to joining the Red Wing organization, he coached football, basketball and baseball at St. Mary's Academy and continued to serve the community in athletics as a varsity football, basketball and baseball coach at Glens Falls High School.

Jody Gage

Born in Toronto, Ontario, right wing Jody Gage made an immediate impact with the Adirondack Red Wings in 1979. In his pro debut, he scored four goals, leading the Red Wings to an 8-3 victory over the Hershey Bears. Those were the first of his 504 career AHL goals. Gage played in six seasons with the Adirondack Red Wings from 1979 to 1985 and rates third all-time in franchise history with 385 total games played. He was integral in the team's first Calder Cup Championship in 1981, tying for the team lead in goals that post-season. Gage is second all-time in Red Wings history with 153 total goals. His 320 career points are third all-time. In 1983-84 he scored 40 goals and 72 points, marking the first of his seven seasons in which he reached the 40-goal mark. Gage was inducted into the American Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006.

Barry Melrose

Kelvington, Saskatchewan native Barry Melrose concluded his playing career and began his professional coaching career with the Adirondack Red Wings. From 1983 to 1987 he played 200 games with the Red Wings. He also played in 300 NHL games with the Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings. Melrose became Head Coach of the Adirondack Red Wings and won a Calder Cup Championship in 1992. He also served as General Manager of the Red Wings in his last two seasons as Head Coach. Following his success with Adirondack, he became Head Coach with the Los Angeles Kings and helped lead the team to their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals. In January 2004 he became part-owner of the Adirondack Frostbite of the UHL, keeping the tradition of professional hockey alive in the North Country. Melrose is best-known as a hockey analyst with ESPN, a role he began in 1995.

Hugo Belanger

Born in St. Hubert, Quebec, right winger Hugo Belanger is considered the greatest player of the IceHawks and Frostbite. His 456 games from 2000 to 2006 included a six-season streak of 70 or more games every year he was in Glens Falls. He scored at least 30 goals in each of his years in Glens Falls and broke the 40-goal mark twice, finishing with 221 goals and 464 assists in his UHL career. Belanger won the league MVP in three consecutive seasons from 2001-03. In his entire professional career Belanger played in 1011 games scoring an incredible 518 goals and 947 assists for a huge total of 1465 points. That massive total is the most for any professional minor-league hockey player since 1980 and places him fifth all-time. 

Bill Dineen 

Born in Arvida, Quebec, Bill Dineen was the most successful head coach in the history of professional hockey in Glens Falls. In six seasons (1983-1989), Dineen was the Adirondack Red Wings head coach for 480 games, compiling a career record of 236-196-43-5 (0.542 winning pct.), holding the franchise records for games coached and all-time wins. In 63 career Calder Cup playoff games behind the bench, his record with the Red Wings was 36-21 (0.571), winning two Calder Cup championships (1986, 1989) and becoming one of just twelve coaches in AHL history to win more than one Calder Cup title. Dineen was twice named as the recipient of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the outstanding coach in the AHL (1984-85 & 1985-86); he is one of just two AHL coaches in league history to win that award in back-to-back seasons. After winning his second cup, Dineen left the bench and served as Adirondack's general manager for the 1989-90 season.

Ned Harkness

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Nevin D. "Ned" Harkness was raised in Glens Falls, NY and he was directly involved in the construction of the Glens Falls Civic Center and helped found the Adirondack Red Wings of the American Hockey League, serving as the team's first general manager for three seasons (1979-82) and being named the 1980 AHL Executive of the Year. Harkness is perhaps best known for his incredible NCAA career as a head coach for the men's ice hockey programs at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY, Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and Union College in Schenectady, NY. He ranks second All-Time amongst NCAA Division I coaches with a winning percentage of 0.740, posting a career NCAA record of 384-131-11 in 526 games over 24 seasons. He is a member of the U.S Lacrosse Hall of Fame, the Lake Placid Hall of Fame, the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, the Cornell Hall of Fame, the RPI Athletics Hall of Fame and Rensselaer Hockey Ring of Honor.

Greg Joly

Born in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, defenseman Greg Joly was unquestionably one of the All-Time fan favorites in Adirondack Red Wings history. The 6'0*, 190 lbs defenseman played in 396 regular season games over parts of seven seasons (1979-1986) with Adirondack, which ranks second All-Time in franchise history, scoring 230 points (36 goals, 194 assists) and recording 657 penalty minutes. He also played in 46 career Calder Cup playoff games, all with Adirondack, posting 22 points (5 goals, 17 assists) and 95 penalty minutes; he is the only player to have his name engraved on the first two Calder Cups (1980, 1986) in the organization's history. Over the course of his twelve-year career, Joly played in 786 professional games, including 365 career NHL games, and had 340 points (60 goals, 280 assists) and 927 penalty minutes. Starting in the 1986-87 season, the year after he retired, the team began awarding the Greg Joly Award, to the club's top defenseman at the end of each year.

Glenn Merkosky

 A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Glenn Merkosky was one of the All-Time fan favorites in the history of the Adirondack Red Wings and had his number 15 retired on December 22, 1993. Merkosky played six seasons for the Red Wings (1985-91) where he set franchise records in games played (430), goals (204) assists (212), points (416) and overtime goals (5). The 5'10", 175 lbs. forward scored 24 or more goals in each of his six years in Glens Falls and became the first Adirondack player in the history of the AHL to record a 50+ goal season when he scored a career-high 54 goals in 1986-87, the same year he set the Adirondack single-season record for shorthanded goals (7). "Merk" played in 64 career Calder Cup playoff games with the Red Wings and had 60 career points (26 goals, 34 assists), winning the AHL's championship in 1986 and 1990. He also won the 1984 Calder Cup as a player with the Maine Mariners and the 1992 Calder Cup as an assistant coach with Adirondack. Merkosky was the Red Wings head coach for three years (1996-99), posting a record of 90-113-29-8 (0.452) and made the playoffs each season.