Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer
Adirondack United, the highly successful girls hockey team comprised of players from several local high schools, will move from the Glens Falls Recreation Center behind the YMCA to the Harding Mazzotti Arena downtown as it seeks its third straight state championship.
“There were clearly some challenges in putting a locker room in,” he said. “We had proposed some plans to the city of Glens Falls. We had difficulty getting agreement on those plans.
“So we started to look at other opportunities. It just so happens that the Junior Thunder team that was housed at the Civic Center was moving out and that space became available. So we sought out the opportunity to potentially put the team there.”
The Adirondack Junior Thunder of the Eastern Hockey League Premier played at the then Cool Insuring Arena for three years before the franchise was purchased and relocated to Atlantic City in March.
“Junior hockey at that level changes so much every single year,” Thunder President Jeff Mead said. “Leagues come, leagues go, teams hop from one league to another. The Vermont teams left, which was really the only close team for the Junior Thunder here. So the economics didn’t really make sense anymore….”
Mead said of Adirondack United, “Long- term, it made sense for them to come over here. Obviously we have a locker room for them here. They’re one of the best girls programs in the state, and we thought it’d be a great opportunity to bring them over…We’re pretty excited. We have a pretty nice facility here for them.”
“We’re extremely grateful,” Willis said. “I think it’s going to be an awesome spot for us to have our home…The girls are very excited. They’ve already been talking about their warmups and how nice it’s going to be, being in a warmer environment. They actually want to get shorts for warmups….You just can’t do that at the Rec Center.”
How about playing in the bigger arena under the brighter lights?
“The girls are kind of indifferent to that,” Willis responded. “They’re used to playing under bright lights in big moments. Having been to the state championship game three years in a row, that’s nothing new to them.
“I think the bigger thing for me is just in practice and giving direction, the acoustics in there are dramatically different. So sometimes it’s difficult for some of the players to hear what I’m saying when we’re at practice.”
They may have to adjust to softer ice.
“The ice in the fall tends to be pretty soft and the building’s warmer in general,” Willis said of the HM Arena.
“I think they really like the hard ice at the Rec Center versus the ice at the Civic Center. But it just depends on how well they control the temperature of the ice. They tend to knock it down a little bit when they have the pro games, because of the volume of people that are in there creating body heat. I don’t know if they’ll make the same adjustments for us.”
He said the girls are looking forward with the change to earlier practice slots.
“We used to have to take the last slot of the night, 8:45-10 p.m., at the Rec Center, and now we’re going to be able to practice after school,” the coach said.
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