| Adirondack Thunder | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | Glens Falls, New York |
| League | ECHL |
| Conference | Eastern |
| Division | North |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Home arena | Harding Mazzotti Arena |
| Colors | Red, black, white, gray |
| Owner(s) | Adirondack Civic Center Coalition |
| General manager | Jeff Mead |
| Head coach | Sylvain Cloutier |
| Media | The Post-Star WCQL |
| Affiliates | New Jersey Devils (NHL) Utica Comets (AHL) |
| Website | echlthunder |
| Franchise history | |
| 1990–1992 | Cincinnati Cyclones |
| 1992–2001 | Birmingham Bulls |
| 2001–2005 | Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies |
| 2005–2015 | Stockton Thunder |
| 2015–present | Adirondack Thunder |
| Championships | |
| Division titles | 3 (2016–17,2017–18,2023–24) |
 Current season | |
TheAdirondack Thunder are a professionalice hockey team in theECHL that began play in the2015–16 season. The team is based inGlens Falls, New York, and affiliated with theNHL'sNew Jersey Devils andAHL'sUtica Comets. The Thunder play their home games at theHarding Mazzotti Arena.
The Thunder replaced theAHL'sAdirondack Flames after they were relocated toStockton, California, to become theStockton Heat.
On January 29, 2015, theCalgary Flames announced that they would be moving their AHL affiliate, theAdirondack Flames, to Stockton as one of five charter members of the AHL's new Pacific Division.[1] The next day, the Flames announced that the ECHL'sStockton Thunder (who they had purchased the day before) would move to Glens Falls in what was essentially a "market swap".
The Thunder name, logo and colors were unveiled on February 11, 2015.[2]Cail MacLean was announced the team's first head coach on July 23, 2015.[3]
The Thunder made the playoffs during their first season and were the first Adirondack hockey team to make the playoffs in ten years. They defeated the favoredManchester Monarchs four-games-to-one in the first round, becoming the first team in Glens Falls to win a playoff series since theAdirondack Red Wings in 1994. They faced theSouth Carolina Stingrays in the second round, which they lost in seven games.
During their second season, the league announced the sale of the Thunder fromCalgary Sports and Entertainment to a local ownership group called Adirondack Civic Center Coalition on February 28, 2017.[4] The Thunder were the third of the three displaced franchises from the2015 creation of the AHL Pacific Division to be sold by their NHL owners after relocating. However, in order for the new ownership group to complete the purchase of the team, they needed to raise $500,000 by a June 30, 2017, deadline and have since been asking for donations and hosting fundraisers.[5] The new ownership group completed the purchase on time but were in debt. They were able to sell the naming rights of the Glens Falls Civic Center to become theCool Insuring Arena to cover some of the operating costs.[6]
With the Flames no longer operating the team, the Flames and Thunder ended their affiliation following the 2016–17 season.[7] Head coach MacLean would also leave to join the Flames' AHL affiliate in Stockton as an assistant coach.[8] The Thunder would then officially become the ECHL affiliate of theNew Jersey Devils for the 2017–18 season,[9] and later extended the affiliation agreement for the 2018–19 season.[10] For the Thunder's first two seasons, the Devils' organization had been sending players to Glens Falls due to the proximity of their previous AHL affiliate, theAlbany Devils. The Thunder also hiredBrad Tapper as its next head coach.
Under Tapper, the Thunder finished the2017–18 season first in their division and advanced to the conference finals before losing to theFlorida Everblades four games to one. The Devils and the Thunder renewed their affiliation for another season. Tapper was then hired by theGrand Rapids Griffins of the AHL as an assistant coach[11] and was replaced by Alex Loh as head coach for the2018–19 ECHL season.[12]
Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, the Thunder voluntarily suspended operations for the2020–21 ECHL season.[13]
On May 11, 2022, the Thunder would announce that the organization would be parting ways with Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Alex Loh. This coming after finishing the 2021–22 season with a record of 27–40–4–0, a league worst .408 winning percentage and missing the playoffs for the first time since the team relocated to Glens Falls.[14]
Subsequently after the teams parting with Alex Loh, the organization would announce on June 21, 2022, thatPete MacArthur would be named the 4th head coach in team history.[15]
The Thunder returned to the Kelly Cup playoffs in MacArthur's first season. In the final weekend of the season, Adirondack caught theWorcester Railers after spending the entire season behind them in the standings.[16] They would win their first playoff game in five years to open their first-round series against theNewfoundland Growlers, but bow out in five games.[17]
The Thunder set a team record with twelve-straight wins during the 2023-24 season. They finished with their best record in team history, going 43-18-7-4 and earning 97 points. Adirondack won the North Division for the first time since 2018.[18] They also won their first and second round series on home ice, a first for the team, and the first time an Adirondack hockey team clinched a series at home since 1992.[19]
TheManchester Monarchs were the Thunder's main rival.[20] Following both franchises relocating from California, the two teams met for four straight seasons in theKelly Cup playoffs. The teams each won two series, alternating years, before the Monarchs ceased operations in 2019.
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | Pts | GF | GA | Standing | Year | 1st round | 2nd round | 3rd round | Kelly Cup |
| 2015–16 | 72 | 38 | 28 | 2 | 4 | 82 | 197 | 189 | 2nd, East Div. | 2016 | W, 4–1,MAN | L, 3–4,SC | — | — |
| 2016–17 | 72 | 41 | 20 | 7 | 4 | 93 | 266 | 218 | 1st, North Div. | 2017 | L, 2–4,MAN | — | — | — |
| 2017–18 | 72 | 41 | 24 | 3 | 4 | 89 | 233 | 221 | 1st, North Div. | 2018 | W, 4–2,WOR | W, 4–2,MAN | L, 1–4,FLA | — |
| 2018–19 | 72 | 37 | 26 | 6 | 3 | 83 | 234 | 220 | 2nd, North Div. | 2019 | L, 1–4,MAN | — | — | — |
| 2019–20 | 62 | 22 | 28 | 8 | 5 | 57 | 197 | 219 | 5th, North Div. | 2020 | Remainder of Regular Season and Playoffs cancelled | |||
| 2020–21 | Opted out of participating due to theCOVID-19 pandemic | 2021 | Did not participate | |||||||||||
| 2021–22 | 71 | 27 | 40 | 4 | 0 | 58 | 202 | 272 | 6th, North Div. | 2022 | Did not qualify | |||
| 2022–23 | 72 | 32 | 29 | 9 | 2 | 75 | 237 | 243 | 4th, North Div. | 2023 | L, 1–4,NFL | — | — | — |
| 2023–24 | 72 | 43 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 97 | 241 | 212 | 1st, North Div. | 2024 | W, 4–3,MNE | W, 4–2,NOR | L, 2–4,FLA | — |
| 2024–25 | 72 | 26 | 41 | 3 | 2 | 57 | 190 | 246 | 7th, North Div. | 2025 | Did not qualify | |||
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