ECHL Game Recap: Trenton Ironhawks vs Adirondack Thunder | 10/17/2026

The Adirondack Thunder opened up the 2026-27 season on Saturday Night against one of the ECHL’s newest teams, the Trenton Ironhawks. Before the puck dropped, the Thunder hosted a pre-game ceremony honoring the life of Barry Melrose, who spent parts of four seasons as a player with the Adirondack Red Wings and was the owner of both the Adirondack FrostBite and Adirondack IceHawks.

“It brought a lot of memories back from the Frostbite Days. I saw a few of my former teammates up there before the game, we went through a lot as a group and we had Mark Potvin as our coach, we lost Potsy during the year and Barry was there for us. Kalamazoo wanted us to play the game the day it happened but none of us could play we were very emotional, we were tight with our coach and Barry flew down with Steve Levy and said no we aren’t playing and we all got back on the bus and came home to our families it was a tough time but Barry was there for us”

Adirondack Thunder Head Coach Sylvain Cloutier on what the pre-game ceremony meant to him

Slow Out Of The Gate

Once the puck dropped, it wouldn’t take long for the Ironhawks to get on the board as Chas Sharpe opened the scoring 19 seconds in, ripping a shot past Seth Eisele. In front of a sold-out crowd, the Thunder needed something to reawaken the arena, and that would come at the hands of Cole Tymkin, who dropped the gloves with Max Patterson just over two minutes after the opening faceoff. Adirondack had solid possession in the offensive zone early but couldn’t break through on Aaron Trotter, who was making his pro debut. Tristan Ashbrook got a great look at the net and beat Trotter to tie the game at one at the 15:48 mark.

“I think Clouts says it a lot, “goldfish mentality”, it’s not how we wanna start it but flush it and try to right back to it. Try and get the puck in, make a big hit, and get crowd back into it and I think we did a good job doing that”

Matt Salhany on the message on the bench after Trenton’s first goal

Short-Handed Second Proved Pivotal

The Thunder started the middle frame short-handed, which, shockingly, played in Adirondack’s favor when Jeremy Hazel was gifted a short-handed goal after Trotter tried to play the puck instead of covering, and the Thunder scored in the opening minute of the period. After killing off a five-on-three for 48 seconds, Adirondack got rewarded when Shane Harper fed Ashbrook for a one-timer as the Thunder’s top line stayed hot. Later in the period, Patrick Grasso joined the party as he found the back of the net at 15:18 for Adirondack’s second short-handed goal of the period, a feat that they hadn’t completed at home since February 7th, 2020; they have, however, done it three times on the road, most recently on October 19th, 2024, at Norfolk. The Thunder were outshot 13-6 in the middle frame, with half their shots finding the back of the net.

“The penalty kill was really good. We didn’t have a lot of time to work on it in Training Camp but we’ll have a lot of content and videos to watch this week and prepare for the same team next week”

Tristan Ashbrook when asked about the success of the PK

Trenton Finds Life Early, But Can’t Find A Comeback

Trenton began the third period with 13 seconds left on their PP and again came up short, finishing the night 0/7 on the man advantage. It took 31 seconds of five-on-five play to find the scoresheet again when Isaac Johnson fed Kyle Penney for his second goal in as many games, making it a two-goal game. Adirondack would get two chances on the PP to put the game out of reach but couldn’t convert. Trenton Head Coach Chuck Weber pulled Trotter with 2:45 left in the third for the extra attacker. It didn’t take long for Adirondack to ground the Ironhawks for good, as Brady Fleurent fed Matt Salhany for an empty-netter with 2:20 to go to make it 5-2. Seth Eisele made 25 saves for his first win in a Thunder sweater.

These two teams will meet next Saturday for Trenton’s Home Opener, with puck drop scheduled for 6:00.