Adirondack Thunder
| Company type | Professional ice hockey franchise |
|---|---|
| Industry | Ice hockey |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Headquarters | Glens Falls , United States |
Key people | Pete MacArthur (head coach, 2022–2025), Sylvain Cloutier (head coach, 2025–present) |
| Products | Ice hockey team |
| Owner | Adirondack Civic Center Coalition (since 2017) |
The Adirondack Thunder are a professional ice hockey franchise competing in the ECHL, founded during the 2015–16 campaign. Located in Glens Falls, New York, they serve as an affiliate of the NHL's New Jersey Devils and the AHL's Utica Comets. Their home venue is the Harding Mazzotti Arena.
This team succeeded the AHL's Adirondack Flames following that franchise’s move to Stockton, California, where they became known as the Stockton Heat.
History
On January 29, 2015, the Calgary Flames announced the relocation of their AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Flames, to Stockton as a founding member of the AHL’s Pacific Division. The next day, Calgary transferred their ECHL team, the Stockton Thunder—which they had recently acquired—to Glens Falls in a strategic "market swap."
The team's branding was revealed on February 11, 2015. Later that year, on July 23, Cail MacLean was appointed as the Thunder’s first head coach.
In their debut season, the Thunder qualified for the playoffs—the first Adirondack hockey team to do so in ten years—upsetting the favored Manchester Monarchs in the opening round before being eliminated by the South Carolina Stingrays in a seven-game series.
During their sophomore season, ownership shifted from Calgary Sports and Entertainment to a local consortium known as Adirondack Civic Center Coalition on February 28, 2017. By June 30, this group had raised $500,000 to finalize the acquisition but also took on debt, partially alleviated by selling naming rights of Glens Falls Civic Center, which was renamed Cool Insuring Arena.
With this change in ownership, affiliation with Calgary ended after the 2016–17 season. Coach MacLean left to become an assistant with Calgary’s AHL affiliate. Subsequently, Adirondack aligned with the New Jersey Devils for the 2017–18 season and extended this partnership through 2018–19. Benefiting from geographic closeness to Albany Devils (the Devils’ former AHL affiliate), Adirondack hired Brad Tapper as head coach.
Under Tapper’s leadership, Adirondack topped their division in 2017–18 and reached the conference finals before falling to the Florida Everblades. Tapper then left for an assistant coaching role in the AHL and was replaced by Alex Loh for the 2018–19 season.
The Thunder chose to suspend operations for the 2020–21 season due to challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following a disappointing 27–40–4 record and missing playoffs for the first time since relocating, Adirondack parted ways with head coach Alex Loh on May 11, 2022. Pete MacArthur was named head coach on June 21, 2022.
In MacArthur’s inaugural season at the helm, Adirondack returned to postseason play—securing a playoff berth late in the campaign—and recorded their first playoff victory in five years before being eliminated in five games by the Newfoundland Growlers.
During the 2023–24 season, the Thunder set a franchise record with twelve straight wins and achieved their best performance ever at 43-18-7-4 (97 points), earning their first North Division championship since 2018. They won both their first and second-round playoff series at home—the first Adirondack hockey team to clinch playoff series victories on home ice since 1992.
Rivals
The Thunder's chief competitor was the Manchester Monarchs. Following the relocation of both franchises from California, they met in four straight Kelly Cup postseason series, splitting the victories evenly with two wins each, until the Monarchs folded in 2019.
Season-by-season records
| 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 | Season and playoffs cancelled | |||
| 2020–21 | Opted out due to COVID-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 | |||
Team captains
- Rob Bordson, appointed in 2015
- Pete MacArthur, served during periods of 2016–2017 and again in 2021–2022
- Mike Bergin held the role from 2017 to 2018
- James Henry, captain between 2018 and 2020
- Shane Harper, led the team in the 2022–2023 season
- Patrick Grasso, captain for the term of 2023-2024
- Darian Skeoch, held captaincy during the 2024–2025 campaign
- Ryan Wheeler, serving as captain from 2025 onward
Head coaches
- Cail MacLean, head coach from inception in 2015 until 2017
- Brad Tapper, guided the team during the period of 2017 to 2018
- Alex Loh, coached from the start of the 2018 season through to the end of the 2022 term
- Pete MacArthur, took over coaching duties between years of 2022 and 2025
- Sylvain Cloutier, appointed head coach beginning in the year 2025 and continuing to present
External links
- Articles with short description
- Adirondack Thunder players
- ECHL teams
- Minor league affiliates of the Calgary Flames
- Minor league affiliates of the New Jersey Devils
- Professional ice hockey teams based in New York (state)
- Ice hockey teams founded in 2015
- 2015 establishments within New York (state)
- Sports organizations located in Glens Falls, New York
- New Jersey Devils minor league affiliates