ADIRONDACK THUNDER ANNOUNCE ADIRONDACK HOCKEY HALL OF FAME NOMINEES

Glens Falls, NY – The Adirondack Thunder announced today the voting for the 2016 Class of the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame. The 2016 Class will be inducted during the first intermission of the Thunder’s home game on Sunday, February 28, as the Thunder take on the Reading Royals. Fans can vote here for their nominee.

The five nominees for this year’s Hall of Fame Class are Ted Nolan, Dave Hanson, Dale Krentz, Shawn Weller and Erin Whitten. The nominees were selected by the four-person selection committee, composed of chairman Doug Burch, former trainer and Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame member Doug Casey, former Daily Gazette sports writer Mike Kane and Saratogian sportswriter Paul Post. The committee’s votes will make up four of the five votes in the final process, with the fan vote making up the fifth and final vote.

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 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL, where he won league championships in 1990-91 and 1991-92. Nolan would go on to coach in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres, where he won the Jack Adams Award for the NHL’s best coach in 1997, and with the New York Islanders. Nolan has also coached 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.

Dave Hanson, a fan favorite in his time with the Adirondack Red Wings, 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 ranked tied for fifth in the AHL. Hanson was a member of the 1981 Calder Cup championship team, the first in Red Wings franchise history. Hanson also played the role of Jack Hanson in the 1977 hockey film “Slap Shot.”

Dale Krentz is near the top of the Adirondack Red Wings career list in numerous categories, including 328 points (149-179—328), trailing only Hall of Fame member Glenn Merkosky, and 327 games played (fourth). He was a member of both the 1986 and 1989 Calder Cup championship teams, recording eight points (2-6–8) in 13 playoff games on the 1986 team. The Steinbach, Manitoba, native is one of just three players, with Merkosky and Murray Eaves, to score 30 goals in three separate seasons. Krentz also appeared in 30 NHL games with Detroit.

Shawn Weller, a native of South Glens Falls, was drafted 77th overall in the 2004 NHL Draft by the Ottawa Senators. Weller played junior hockey with the Capital District Selects of the EJHL and attended Clarkson University for three years before he turned professional. Weller appeared in 294 career AHL games, with Binghamton, Abbotsford, Manitoba, Texas and St. John’s, and is the only Glens Falls native to appear in the AHL. Weller also played in the 2013 Kelly Cup Finals with the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder, where he was second on the team with eight goals in 23 playoff contests. Weller has spent the last three seasons playing professionally in Germany, this season with the Dresden Ice Lions.

Erin Whitten, a native of Glens Falls, is one of the most storied goaltenders in Adirondack history, at both the professional and international levels. Whitten represented her country with the United States women’s national team from 1992-1997, where she won four silver medals at IIHF World Championships (1992, 1994, 1997, 1999). Whitten was named the most outstanding goaltender at the 1994 World Championships, held in Lake Placid, NY, and the 1994 USA Hockey Women’s Player of the Year. Whitten also broke several barriers as the first woman to play in the ECHL, CHL and CoHL, traditionally all men’s leagues. Whitten skated with the ECHL’s Toledo Storm in the 1993-94 season, where she went 2-0 in four games played.

To cast your ballot, visit echlthunder.com/fanzone/HOFVote. Voting opens today and runs through next Friday, November 27, at 11:59 p.m. The inductees will be announced by the Thunder in early December. To get your tickets for the Hall of Fame Game on February 28, visit the Glens Falls Civic Center Box Office during business hours from 10:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m.

Don’t miss out on the speed, skill, strength and sounds of Thunder hockey with a partial season, flex or mini ticket plan today. The Adirondack Thunder and O’Toole’s Restaurant Pub Holiday Pack is on sale now, consisting of four tickets, an inaugural season Thunder hat and a $10 gift card to O’Toole’s, an $80 value for just $60. Send a jolt into your holidays with the gift of Adirondack Thunder hockey. For more information on all Thunder ticket plans, call 518-480-3355 x1 or visit echlthunder.com.

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