Thursday, 09 March 2023 13:13

Adirondack Jr. Thunder Making Noise in First EHLP Season

Photo by Andy Camp Design and Photography. Photo by Andy Camp Design and Photography.

GLENS FALLS — The Adirondack Jr. Thunder are making waves in their first season as members of the Eastern Hockey League Premier, and doing so with a roster made up almost entirely of local players. 

The EHLP is a junior hockey league based in the Northeast. The Jr. Thunder have clinched first place in the league’s New England Division, with a record of 30-6-4-2 for a total of 66 points.

Several players said the team’s location was one of the things that drew them to the squad. Many of the team’s players spent previous seasons with other junior hockey teams.

“I live two minutes over the bridge, why wouldn’t I want to sleep in my bed every night and play at (Cool Insuring Arena), where I grew up watching games?” said forward Damon Warren. “It’s awesome.”

“It feels nice to be home,” added defenseman Jim Fitzgerald, a Queensbury native. “I know the area, I’m not going somewhere that I have no idea.”

Like the ECHL’s Adirondack Thunder, the Jr. Thunder team practices and plays home games at Cool Insuring Arena. They are coached by Glenn Merkosky, who spent 11 seasons in professional hockey, including 66 NHL games. 

Merkosky has an extensive history at the arena, spending parts of six seasons with the AHL’s Adirondack Red Wings from 1985 to 1991, including Calder Cup championships in 1986 and 1989, and serving as the team’s head coach from 1996 to 1999.

Merkosky said he hadn’t coached since his stint with Adirondack, but was asked by fellow members of the Jr. Thunder’s board of directors.

“It wasn’t really something, to tell you the truth, that I had even thought about,” said Merkosky. “After I did think about it, I said, ‘Yeah, that would be something I would probably enjoy doing.’”

While it has been more work than he had anticipated, Merkosky said the job came around for him “at a really good point” in his life.

“To be honest with you, once I took this job, I kind of found you do everything,” Merkosky said. “It’s been probably three times as much work as I thought it’d be. But I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been good for me at this point in my life.”

He said the team’s overwhelming volume of local players has been “a little bit of a talk” around the league this season, with a majority of EHLP teams recruiting players from across the United States, Canada, and beyond.

“It’s a real feather in the cap for the youth hockey programs in this area, from Glens Falls down to Saratoga and in the Capital District area, that they’re producing some real good players,” said Merkosky.

This includes players such as Warren, a South Glens Falls native who said the decision to join the team was a “no-brainer.” Warren spent the previous two seasons playing for the NA3HL’s Bay State Bobcats in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

The team includes products of several local high school hockey teams: Saratoga Springs, Queensbury, Adirondack, and G/M/S/V/S. 17 of the 24 players listed on the team’s roster formerly played for one of the four high school squads.

Brockport native Zack Geitner, one of the few players hailing from outside the Capital Region, said Merkosky’s credentials were a large factor in his decision. Geitner spent the previous season with another EHLP team, the New England Wolves.

“I saw the credentials that Coach had, and I thought it was a good idea,” said Geitner. “Plus, it was closer to home to the Rochester, New York, area.”

The team gelled together quickly, with Merkosky saying the squad “built really good team chemistry early on.”

“Everyone’s just trying to make each other better,” said Kian Hodgins, a goaltender from Ottawa, Ontario. “If someone makes a mistake, we’re going to let them know about it, but it’s ultimately to make that person better.”

“It’s a very welcoming environment,” added Geitner. “You can definitely build off that and take advantage of it, and I think we’ve done that.”

And the opportunity to play at Cool Insuring Arena, a professional facility, has also been a major advantage for the players, they said.

“Even in practice, you look up and nobody’s in the stands, but you see all the seats, and it’s awesome,” said Warren. “You feel like you have to work. It’s just a different feeling than any other rink I’ve played in.”

And with the regular season coming to a close, the Jr. Thunder have capped off their inaugural season with a division title, but with the playoffs approaching, the team has larger goals.

“We do have a big goal, we do have a big picture,” said Geitner. “Sometimes it’s hard to get away from that, but we’re just focused on one game at a time, just winning.”

“Doesn’t matter our record, we’ve still got to go into the playoffs,” Warren said. “It’s 0-0 when the playoffs start.”

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