Thunder promote Alex Loh to head coach

GLENS FALLS — The Adirondack Thunder have their new head coach.

On Wednesday morning the team announced that assistant coach Alex Loh has been promoted and will be the the third head coach in team history, an in-house hire. The two previous coaches are Cail MacLean and Brad Tapper, who Loh had previously served under.

“It’s an honor for me to be named as the next Head Coach of the Adirondack Thunder,” Loh said in a statement. “I know what a high standard this organization holds its coaching staff to and I am excited to continue the great hockey tradition here in Glens Falls. I have to thank Jeff Mead, Ed Moore and the rest of the Coalition for putting their trust in me, as well as Coach MacLean and Coach Tapper for all I’ve learned over the past three seasons. My family and I are very excited to stay with the Thunder and I can’t wait to get going on the upcoming season.”

Loh, 33 years old, replaces Tapper, who left the team on July 2 to take an assistant coach position with the Grand Rapids Griffins, the AHL affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings. In Tapper’s only season with the team, he led them to a 41-24-3-4 record and a trip to the Eastern Conference finals.

Loh knows the Adirondack Thunder well, as he has spent the last three seasons in Glens Falls as an assistant coach under both MacLean and Tapper. Before that, he was part of the coaching staff for three years for the AHL’s Portland Pirates (now Springfield Thunderbirds) from 2013-2015. Previously, he was a coach in Division III hockey for Colby College in Maine, and was the varsity head coach for the Peoples Academy in Vermont from 2009-2011.  In addition to Loh’s head coaching duties, he will serve as the director of hockey operations.

“We are proud to be able to promote from within as we’ve seen firsthand what Alex is capable of,” Thunder Governor Ed Moore said. “He has worked under some great leaders in Cail and Brad and now it is his time to continue the progress that has been made since the franchise’s beginning. With his years of experience at the AHL and ECHL levels, Alex was absolutely the best candidate for the job and we are excited to see what he can do as the leader of our team.”

The Thunder open up their season on October 13 on the road against the Maine Mariners, before the home opener against the Brampton Beast on October 20.