LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 21 last year. Our season tickets are seventh-highest in the league, even more than Jacksonville (Fla.), which has a population of almost a million people." "Our staff is really engaged and works really hard," he said. "Players are out in the community. Everybody knows the Adirondack Thunder, they know what we're doing. So there are advantages to being such a small, tight-knit community." On game nights, the fun never stops during inter- missions and time-outs. Billy Floyd, a born showman, works his way through- out the crowd with microphone in hand, giving away free prizes to lucky fans while getting kids to join him in yells of, "Let's Go Thunder!" One moment he's firing T-shirts into the stands. Or between periods he might be helping a fan bowl a frozen turkey toward the goal mouth where plastic soda bottles are set up like ten pins, in yet another zany contest. The arena's huge video scoreboard is almost worth the price of admission itself, as it shows kids and adults alike gyrating during Dance Cam sessions. Loud music, ranging in genre from The Who to John Den- ver, fills the rafters. When Neil Diamond sings "Good times never seemed so good" ("Sweet Caroline"), the 4,000 -strong crowd responds, "So good! So good!" The massive jumbo-tron is also an important reve- nue generator, with colorful ads from local business backers. It's one of many major capital upgrades to the arena totaling millions of dollars, from state and local sources, in recent years. Six new luxury suites were installed last season over the main seating area, with plans in the works for more. Heritage Hall, a large event space, has been over- hauled with new flooring, ceilings, walls and electrical wiring along with multi-colored lighting and a long, stone countertop bar, which serves fans between peri- ods. That makeover alone cost about $1 million. No detail has been overlooked, from a new $120,000 Olympia ice machine for keeping the skating surface smooth, to a state-of-the-art skate sharpener for Thunder players. The locker room and training facilities have also been improved. At MacArthur's request, walls outside the locker room are now adorned, floor to ceiling, with captivating graphics depicting the team logo set against a backdrop of lightning bolts and dark, thun- der storm clouds. The locker room door looks like a rough-hewn Adirondack cabin. "I just thought it would be cool," MacArthur said. "It's so important for your locker room to be a tight- knit group. I thought it would be neat to put a pan- oramic view of the Adirondacks with some mock cabin doors and make it feel like that's our house, that's our home. I'm pushing for green jerseys, too. The roof's The ECHL is a developmental league. Many players such as former Thunder goaltender Evan Cormier, right, have seen considerable AHL action and 12 players have reached the NHL . Defenseman Blake Thompson, left, spent two years in England after four seasons with the Thunder from 2017-22. He's now back in the ECHL with the Tahoe Knight Monsters.

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