Harper returns to Thunder lineup

Jan. 6—The captain is back in the lineup, and the Adirondack Thunder hope to continue the momentum they had as 2022 came to an end.

With team captain Shane Harper returning from injury, the Thunder hit the road for a 7 p.m. Friday game at Maine, before returning home for back-to-back games against the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday (7 p.m.) and Sunday (3 p.m.) at Cool Insuring Arena.

Harper, who remains the team's leading scorer with five goals and 15 assists, returns after missing seven games in three weeks. He was injured when he was slammed into the boards in a Dec. 16 game against Newfoundland.

"Honestly, I felt completely fine since I got injured. I just went through the (concussion) protocol slowly, did everything I had to do," Harper said by phone Thursday. "I felt ready to play last week."

Adirondack, 9-15-4 and still in sixth place in the ECHL's North Division, has won four of its last five games, including a 5-2 win over Trois-Rivieres on New Year's Eve. With 22 points, the Thunder are five points behind Trois-Rivieres and 12 behind Maine (16-11-2) in the standings.

The Thunder will also have as solid a lineup as they've had in weeks. Defensemen Jarrod Gourley and Ivan Chukarov and forward Sebastian Vidmar all returned from Utica, although red-hot rookie scorer Xavier Parent and goalie Isaac Poulter were called up to the AHL affiliate this week. Poulter was called up on Thursday.

"I was joking with Rivs (forward Nick Rivera) the other day that everything is working so well right now, we may not want to play," Harper said with a laugh.

"Hopefully that just adds to what we have going on right now," head coach Pete MacArthur said earlier this week. "There's no pressure on him, and he'll add to a skilled lineup with veteran leadership. They won four out of five without him — I don't want to take anything away from what the guys have done."

What the Thunder have done is play solid hockey and get some wins under their belts, developing a nice flow and getting good production out of newer additions like Travis Broughman and Grant Jozefek.

"We're playing much more cohesively," said Harper, who has watched the Thunder's last several games from up above or on live streams. "We're not giving up those odd-man rushes, which has been a problem the last couple of years. We're breaking the puck out a lot better and that giving us more time in the (offensive) zone."

"It's not a secret potion," MacArthur said. "We have to keep playing on the right side of the puck, keep back-checking, playing as a five-man unit. It's a process. They need to come back every day with the same work ethic as they have for the last five or six games."

The Thunder have not opened with a lead in most of their games this season, but have found success when they have. In too many games, Adirondack has spent energy playing from behind.

"If you get off on the wrong end, it can be mentally draining," Harper said. "You have to train yourself to be a winning team. We just have to learn as a team to get that killer instinct back, and at least give ourselves a chance to win."

As of Thursday, the Thunder had only one goalie on their roster: regular starter Jake Theut. Poulter was called up for the second time this season, and Mareks Mitens — who has been out for months with an injury — was seen on crutches last week at Cool Insuring Arena. Harper said someone may meet the team in Maine on Friday to back up Theut.

Follow Pete Tobey on Twitter @PTobeyPSVarsity

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