THUNDER DROP FINAL ROAD GAME OF 2016 WITH LOSS IN READING

Reading, PA - The Adirondack Thunder dropped their final road contest of 2016 by a 5-2 final against the Reading Royals on Friday evening at Santander Arena.

The hosts broke a scoreless deadlock at the 17:19 mark of the first period as they capitalized on the man advantage to take a 1-0 lead. Reading forward Matt Willows fired a shot from the right point, which was kicked away by Adirondack netminder Mason McDonald, but the puck fell directly into the path of Reading’s Chris McCarthy, who buried it for his 12th goal of the season. Willows and Justin Crandall picked up the assists on the play, the tenth helper of the season for both players.

Just 33 seconds later, however, the Thunder responded with a goal of their own as Brett Pollock scored his fifth of the season to knot the score at one. Adirondack capitalized on a set of quick passes, as Greg Wolfe hit Alex Wall below the goal line, who fed Pollock in front, where the winger beat Reading netminder Drew Fielding for the goal. Wolfe and Wall collected the assists on the play, the tenth point in ten games for Wolfe.

Reading’s Justin Crandall struck twice in the second period to put the Royals ahead 3-1 through 40 minutes of play. First, the 5-11 forward redirected home a shot from the point from Ian Watters that went over the shoulder of McDonald for Crandall’s sixth goal of the season. He struck again just under six minutes later as he took the puck the length of the ice, evaded the Thunder backcheck and went to the backhand for his second goal of the evening. The multi-goal game was the second of Crandall’s ECHL career and gives him three points on the evening.

The Royals increased their lead to three goals just 25 seconds into the second period as they capitalized on a 3-on-2 rush to make it a 4-1 game. With Reading on the odd-man rush, forward Ryan Penny slid a pass through to Tyrell Goulbourne, who snuck a backhanded shot past McDonald from the slot for his fourth goal of the season Penny and defenseman Todd Perry picked up the helpers on the play, Penny’s second point of the evening.

Adirondack was able to close the gap to two goals as they converted with less than four minutes to play in the third period. Dennis Kravchenko drew the Reading defense towards him as he controlled the puck behind Fielding’s net. Kravchenko then fed Gunnar Hughes in front, who one-touched a pass to a wide open James Henry for the goal, Henry’s fifth of the season. Hughes and Kravchenko picked up the helpers on the play, Kravchenko’s fourth over the past two games.

Crandall iced the game with just 48 seconds to play as he completed his hat trick into the empty net with an unassisted goal.

The Thunder return home to the Glens Falls Civic Center on Saturday, December 31 to take on the Reading Royals in a 5:30 p.m. puck drop. Fans can get two tickets for $20.17 for that game to help us welcome in the new year. Adirondack Thunder individual and group ticket packages are also available for just $13 per ticket in addition to new Thunder mini-packs, consisting of four tickets and a gift card to a local restaurant for just $65. Call 518-480-3355 x1 or visit ECHLThunder.com/tickets to customize a plan and reserve your seat locations today.

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