ECHL: Takeaways From Adirondack’s Preseason Game vs Trois-Rivières

The Adirondack Thunder hosted the Trois-Rivières Lions on Thursday night in the first of two preseason games between the two teams. As would be expected, the big guns were on display with Tristan Ashbrook picking up two goals along with Patrick Grasso finding the back of the net. Jeremy Hanzel who led all Thunder defensemen in points last year added two assists on the night which wasn’t surprising, but here are some of my key takeaways from Adirondack’s first pre-season game.

Preseason Fisticuffs

There are a lot of things you expect to see during the preseason as teams look to evaluate younger players while the veterans look to get some touches before the regular season, but one thing that wasn’t on my bingo card was two fights, with both of them coming less than five minutes apart from each other. Jacob Slipec and Thomas Darcy got tied up as the buzzer sounded to end the second period. They dropped the gloves at 2:35 into the third period, and then at the 7:03 mark, it was Jace Isley and Jake Gravelle who dropped the mitts as the physicality ramped up. Slipic would finish the night an assist away from a Gordie Howe Hat-Trick.

“Ya for sure, I got a little bit of experience here last year at the tail end of the year and unfortnanley got hurt before playoffs but this is such a great group to play with. Ya, scoring is nice and a fight is fun getting the crowd into it but I’m just proud of the performance tonight in a 6-1 win

Jacob Slipec on his goal on Thursday Night

PTO Players Making An Impact

The Thunder invited six players to Training Camp, and it didn’t take long to see the impact they could have on the Thunder. Kaiden Kanderka would find the back of the net at the 11:38 mark of the opening frame, with Evan Pringle picking up the secondary assist on the goal. Thursday was just a glimpse of what is to come with the the PTO Players, as Payton Schaly, Jacob Gagnon, and Devin Sanders all didn’t dress but are expected to see action in Sunday’s pre-season game in Rivière-du-Loup.

“The speed obviously, I think the speed is a lot faster, everyone is making decisions a lot faster and there’s a lot more pressure so you gotta be mentally flustered so I think that’s the biggest difference is always being ready to go”

Kaiden Kanderka on the differences between the FPHL and the ECHL

Strong Showing From Henry Welsch

Henry Welsch comes into the season as Adirondack’s third goaltender, but had a strong showing on Thursday Night as he stopped all 11 shots he saw in the third period after the Lions mustered up 11 shots over the course of the first two periods. This comes after Welsch saw just two games of action last season with his first start not coming till March. Head Coach Sylvain Cloutier mentioned that Welsch is expected to see another period of action on Sunday. I would expect Seth Eisele to man the net for the other two periods on Sunday Afternoon.

“Ya and that group of guys their all happy for Welschy. He works hard, he doesn’t complain, does his job and he’ll get another period here on Sunday again and we wanna make sure we keep him sharp”

Head Coach Sylvain Cloutier on the performance of Henry Welsch