Adirondack's Youth Pays Dividends In Win Over Norfolk

NORFOLK, VA. – The Adirondack Thunder (22-13-4-3) used two early third period goals to beat the Norfolk Admirals (15-23-4-0) on Wednesday, 4-3.

An early double minor for high sticking to Thunder forward Dennis Kravchenko gave the Admirals the first power play chance of the evening, one they would cash in on. Defenseman Mike Krieg made a strong play against the glass to keep the puck in the zone, shuffling it down to captain Brodie Dupont. Dupont found a wide open Joey Benik sitting back door, where he would bury for his eighth of the year.

Later in the period the Thunder would tie it with a power play goal of their own, rifling off the tape of 19-year-old defender Stepan Falkovsky. The 6’7″ tower from Belarus waited to unleash a blast from the point as Mikkel Aagaard and Alex Wall set him up to even the score for his team.

In the second period the trend of goals with the man advantage continued as Brodie Dupont was able to beat J.P. Anderson while set up in front. Frankie Simonelli displayed patience and eventually worked the puck from the right circle down low to Paul Rodrigues. Rodrigues’ initial shot trampolined off the pads of the Adirondack netminder but right onto the tape of Dupont, who put it back behind him, giving his team the lead once again.

Adirondack had an answer to that though, evening the score at 2-2 with the first even strength goal of the night. Aagaard, who already had one helper, lost the puck in transition but was able to gather in time to send if through the slot to Greg Wolfe. Wolfe, a right-handed shot, went upstairs on Summerhays from the top of the circle to his right to make the red light flicker.

The Thunder continued their momentum to start the third period, striking twice in the first five minutes to take their first lead of the game and build off of it. First, James Henry spun from below the goal line and beat Summerhays up top, catching him just off of his glove side post. Then, just a minute and a half later Brian Ward made it 4-2 Adirondack, cleaning up the scraps of a Ty Loney shot.

Domenic Alberga scored with just over three minutes to go but ultimately it was too little, too late for the Admirals, who dropped the Wednesday night battle by a score of 4-3.

The Admirals now hit the road for Glens Falls, where the team will take on the Thunder in their building on Friday and Saturday at 7:00 EST. Fans can catch the game on 102.1 FM The Tide, the official radio station of the team. Both games will be available to watch on ECHL.TV on a pay-per-view basis.

Following the road trip the team will welcome the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to Norfolk Scope on Wednesday, February 8 and the South Carolina Stingrays on Friday, February 10 at 7:15 PM. Tickets for the game are on sale now on Ticketmaster.com and at the Scope box office.