On Saturday Oct. 24, 2026, professional hockey returned to Trenton, New Jersey when the Trenton Ironhawks played their inaugural home game against the Adirondack Thunder at Cure Insurance Arena in front of 7,032 fans.
After 13 years, professional ice hockey is back in New Jersey’s capital city.
The Trenton Ironhawks won their first home game in franchise history in their inaugural season opener in the ECHL, defeating the Adirondack Thunder 4-1 on Saturday night.
Mikey Colella got the hosts on the scoreboard first, notching the first goal in franchise history at 15:43 of the first period. Colella poked the puck through the legs of an Adirondack defenseman in the neutral zone, split the defense and wired a wrist shot far side past Adirondack goalie, Jeremy Brodeur (son of New Jersey Devils great Martin Brodeur).
Eight minutes into the second, the Ironhawks doubled their lead when Colella took a body check and made a pass to John Gelatt, who skated in on a breakaway and finished to make it 2-0.
The Thunder clapped back in the third period, when Shane Harper scored a rebound past Ironhawks’ goalie Ryan Fanti at 4:05 gone by in the period, making it a two-goal deficit.
However, it was to no avail as Ironhawks’ defenseman Brennan Kapcheck scored on a high shot from the point with 2:42 remaining to make it 3-1 and, one minute later, Kyle Penney scored an empty net goal to seal victory for the Ironhawks.
Ironhawks’ forward Liam Coughlin had a game-high three points (all assists), while Colella and forward Ryan Bottrill were tied for second-most points in the game with two. Fanti made 28 saves while Brodeur made 23.
The Ironhawks’ next game is Wednesday on the road against Reading Royals at 7 p.m.
