Pete MacArthur had a gut feeling.
It was time for the dad of two and husband to venture and try a brand new challenge, head coaching.
After 13 professional seasons within the likes of leagues of the AHL, ECHL, DEL, EBEL, AlphsHL and Italy. The 37 year old after serving three seasons as Adirondack Thunder captain, wanted to name a captain of the team he was second in Franchise all-time points with 175, third with 53 all-time goals, second in all-time assists with 122 and finally third in all-time franchise games played at 202 it’s safe to say the Adirondack Civic Center Coalition made their decision a little bit easier when the job opened up and it might have surprised them a tad bit with who came calling for an interview.
Adirondack Thunder President Jeff Mead felt that after the initial interview with “Mac” as those close call him thought that the Thunder would be able to get back on track, of what Thunder hockey was from the years of 2015 through 2018 with the likes of former coaches Cail MacLean and Brad Tapper.
“We know that the last couple of years, as an organization we always pride ourselves in putting a hardworking competitive team on the ice, and after the hire of MacArthur we think that we will get back to our core values, and get back in the playoffs and compete for a Kelly Cup”.
Governor of the Adirondack Civic Center Coalition Claude Loiselle said that they wanted someone who resembles someone of the character of Adirondack hockey and there’s nobody better that resembles that work hard and compete mentality than Pete MacArthur.
“We were all pretty impressed with the quality of candidates that showed up that wanted to coach the Adirondack Thunder. We learned through the process, and part of the qualifications we wanted was character, and involved in the community first and foremost, secondly, a personable character, we also wanted someone who was detailed oriented and lastly someone who could communicate with young players, that’s so important for today because the need to know why, and that’s so important”.
Claude added that MacArthur really blew them away in his first sit-down interview and how well organized and having a game-plan in place, and he was so surprised he came in that organized and ready to go.
Since the first start of his weekly off-season Facebook and Instagram sessions you could tell the energy that the 37 year old brought, banding everyone together and turning more of the Thunder fan-base into a community having each others backs. His favorite word he loved to use this summer was “community” and for the first year head coach ever since he was hired on June 21st he was looking forward to getting to work “right away” and that’s exactly what he did.
“It’s about getting better every-day, it’s a developmental league, for myself, it’s a developmental league for infrastructure for the front office, it’s a developmental league for the guys that we have so whoever we have here we’re make them better people and players”.
It’s safe to say that MacArthur has a bit of dad instilled in him and is adding that to his coaching style.
“Every single day let’s get better in every single aspect of life, that’ll make you a better player, and you’ll gonna earn yourself a new opportunity out of the one you’ve got now.”.
It’s been absolutely no secret that the Thunder needed an upgrade to their blue line from last season and it was a given that, that was going to MacArthur’s focus heading into the upcoming season.
“Last year, we didn’t defend as a team well, we let our goalies hung out to dry and that was the emphasis this summer so you will see a different defensive infrastructure this year”.
In the pre-season Mac was very happy with the team’s effort. He was very happy that the tram was able to implement, what they worked on in practice. One thing is hoping that this team is that the team has learned over the course of the pre-season games is knowing how to be disciplined but he knows that’s going to take a little bit into the regular season.
“We have to learn to be disciplined, and use our skills in the right way, so we can be on the ice, to use those skills and not in the box, but it’s something to always touch on, but I was happy with their efforts”.
Rex Moe who came to this team on a PTO locked himself a SPC contract to start the season with the Adirondack Thunder but will start the season on the injured reserve but Mac had some high praise for a former product of Adrian College.
“He has a lot of heart, he’s actually a highly skilled power forward, he’s just got to find his identity in the pro game, he’ll be a good player, he’s created himself quite the guy in the locker-room which you love to see”.
Adirondack opens up their season in Worcester on Saturday against the Railers at 7:00pm at the DCU Center.
The Thunder announced their opening night season roster with the following:
Isaac Poulter, G; Mareks Mitens, G; Jeff Taylor, D; Jarrod Gourley, D; Filip Bratt, D; Ryan DaSilva, D; Ivan Chukarov, D; Daniel Maggio, D/F; Noah Corson, F; Nick Rivera, F; Colin Long, F; Ryan Smith, F; Billy Jerry, F; Shawn Weller, F; Shane Harper, F; Vladislav Mikhalchuk, F; Patrick Grasso, F; Sebastian Vidmar, F;
Yannick Turcotte, F; Garrett VanWyhem, F; Xavier Parent
Reserve – Jake Theut, G; Cory Dennis, D
Injured Reserve – Rex Moe, F; Jake Ryczek, D
Rosters for the ECHL need to be cut from down from 21 to 20 (by 3 p.m. ET) on November 20th.