The Syracuse Crunch made a small transaction on Wednesday as they loaned Shane Conacher to the organization’s unofficial ECHL affiliate, the Adirondack Thunder. Conacher has appeared in two games with the Crunch this season recording zero points.
The 5’11” right-winger has previous ECHL experience as he played 25 games for the Orlando Solar Bears last season where he scored two goals and added nine assists. With forwards Michael Bournival and Carter Verhaeghe recently returning to action from injury, Conacher was caught up in a numbers game that prevented him from seeing any playing time.
His arrival in the organization this summer was a nice story as he was finally able to suit up alongside his brother Cory, another forward for the Crunch, for the first time as a professional. They did play against each other last season when Shane was a member of the Toronto Marlies.
Both players had attended Canisius College and were undrafted free agents. Cory has managed to find action in 152 NHL games and Shane is hoping to follow in his brother’s footsteps. For now the younger Conacher will be plying his trade a few hours northeast in Adirondack.
Since his ECHL rights were still with Orlando, the Thunder did have to make a small trade with the Solar Bears. The Florida-based ECHL team received the ever popular “future considerations” in exchange for Conacher. He should suit up for them this weekend as the 4-2-1-1 squad plays two home games before embarking on a long road trip that has them playing only two games in their home arena.
Conacher joins Nick Riopel, Ty Looney, and Troy Bourke as Thunder players that have contracts with Syracuse.
