Tapper’s career engineered at RPI
GLENS FALLS, N.Y. » Brad Tapper’s Capital District hockey career came full circle this year.
The Toronto native scored 65 goals during three seasons at RPI from 1997-2000, before turning pro and reaching the NHL the very next year.
After hanging up his skates, he spent seven years learning the ropes as a minor league assistant coach before getting a long-awaited break, as head coach of the Adirondack Thunder, whose second-round playoff series against Manchester begins Friday in Glens Falls.
“I believe in being vulnerable in life,” Tapper said. “That’s what being a head coach is all about. It’s not easy to get up in front of 25 guys, getting them to buy in. But our guys have done that right from the beginning this year.”
The Thunder advanced to Round 2 by defeating Worcester in six games, while the Monarchs swept Reading 4- 0. This marks the third straight season Adirondack and Manchester have faced each other in ECHL postseason action.
The Thunder won in 2016, while the Monarchs came out on top last year en route to the Kelly Cup Finals.
“It’s going to be a hard series,” Tapper said. “They’ve got really skilled forwards. Goaltending and special teams will decide the series, I believe.”
But Tapper’s mantra -- “attitude and effort” -- is another key reason for Adirondack’s success to date. He learned it from Greg Poss, head coach of the 2012 Kelly Cup champion Florida Everblades, where Tapper was his assistant.
“You learn something from every coach,” he said.
And he’s played for and worked with some of the best such as John Paddock, Mark Hardy and Bob Hartley, his coach with the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers.
Tapper, a forward, was given a full scholarship to play at RPI and chose the Engineers over Michigan in order to join his older brother, Brian, a defenseman.
“I came down quite a few times to watch him play,” he said. “I loved the Houston Field House and the rivalry with Union.”
Brad’s freshman season, 1997-98, was Brian’s senior campaign.
“It was really cool,” Brad said. “He protected me. I’ll never forget my first game at Boston University. Some guy crosschecked me pretty hard. Brian got him back and took a four- minute penalty for roughing.”
Tapper learned about the Thunder job from his agent, Steve Bartlett, whom he credits -- along with Associate Coach Alex Loh -for helping build a winning team with key player signings. Adirondack didn’t have a single first- or second- round All- Star this year, but Tapper is more concerned about the char- acter, competitiveness and camaraderie players possess, on and off the ice.
He felt the season’s turning point was a critical three- game series, at home, against Florida on from Jan. 24-27. The Everblades came to Glens Falls with the best record in the Eastern Conference, while Adirondack had struggled through a roller- coaster of ups and downs during the season’s first half.
But the Thunder sensed the importance of the Florida series, which took on a playoff-type atmosphere. They won the first game, 4-2; the second, 5- 4, in an overtime shootout; and lost the third, 4-3, in overtime before a sold- out full house -- earning five out of six points against one of the league’s best teams.
Afterward, Tapper said the Thunder realized they were now capable of beating anyone.
“We became men during that series,” he said. “We weren’t boys any more.”