[Originally published December 14, 2019]
We had the pleasure of connecting with Brian Brown, Laurel Rigney, and Melissa Belli, who might just be some of the Adirondack Thunder’s biggest fans! With a whole room at their house dedicated to Thunder memorabilia, they’d be tough to beat! Read on to find out how they caught the hockey bug, what they love most about going to the games, how their awesome “Thunder Room” came to be, and how a heartwarming surprise played out…right at the rink!
Tell us a bit about yourselves!
Brian: I’m a Veteran of the Navy and moved back to the area after I retired and got into the glass business. That’s how I met my now fiance Laurel and her daughter Melissa.
What do you love about living here in Glens Falls?
Laurel: Living in Glens Falls is awesome. We love it here. We enjoy going to Rauls, Davidson’s, DownTown City Tavern, and The Bullpen, to name a few. Sometimes we’ll go to the Ambrosia Diner after a game as well!
Brian: One of our favorite things (other than hockey) is to take motorcycle rides on the trike I have. We will take rides all over the place and then stop for dinner or lunch. I'll take Laurel and then the next time I take Melissa. When Laurel’s son Eric Belli comes up on his bike we take rides as a family.
On nice days we like to barbecue on the deck with family and friends and play cornhole on our custom Adirondack Thunder cornhole boards. I usually play Laurel’s brother Bobby and usually lose [laughs].
We also love to spend time with my sister Bonnie Sindel and her husband at their camp at Galway Lake.
How did you become big fans of the team?
Melissa: Growing up in Glens Falls, I went to almost every Red Wings game with my best friend - it was either that or Skateland! Over time, my friend moved away and I wanted to find someone to go to games with since it’s more fun that way. That was when got my mom involved.
Laurel: All my life, my brother and my dad were into sports, but I was never really a big sports fan. Then one night, Melissa just said, “Why don't you go with me to a game?”. And that was it!
Melissa: I remember the first night we were walking to the Cool Insuring Arena and she asked me, “What do I do?” and I said, “It’s simple, you just sit and watch.” And that night, there was a fight on the ice and my mother jumped up and started shouting at the opposing player - it totally shocked me!
Laurel: The opposing player hit our guy in the face and it really upset me! I didn’t even realize until I heard myself shouting, and that was it - I’ve been hooked ever since.
What’s your favorite thing about going to a Thunder game?
Laurel: That we do it as a family. And that it started with Missy loving hockey as a kid, and now we all go together. It’s really awesome, we all love it.
Melissa: I love the fast paced energy. We always sit in the same spot, so we’ve made a lot of new friends and they’ve become like our hockey family. And as a whole, the hockey players are just the best to their fans.
Brian: The players are always very engaging and friendly. They’re approachable, and they don’t mind talking with you, which is great. They’re also really great with the kids.
Do you all have favorite players?
Brian: We do! Melissa's is Shane Conacher #19, Laurel's is Mike Szmatula #91, and mine is Connor Riley #44.
How did the Thunder Room come about?
Melissa: We had gotten the back to back Division Championship banner, and I jokingly mentioned that we should hang it in the living room! My mom of course said no, so I said, “How about the spare bedroom?”. She finally agreed - anywhere but the living room!
Brian: Since my kids are grown, following hockey turned into a nice hobby and something I really enjoy and can share with others. I became a hockey fan over time and as we began going to more games, it became more understandable. And it’s fun to support the home team. As far as the Thunder Room, I was an aircraft mechanic in the Navy and I’m pretty mechanically inclined, so it’s been fun to do the renovations.
We’d love to hear some of the details on the room!
Brian: It’s been a collection over time - player sticks, pucks, gloves, etc. There’s always an end of the year sale after the final game where you can find a lot of items. I own every hat they have. Also, there’s auctions for good causes that I’ve found a lot of great things at, like jerseys and helmets and such. I’ve been able to use some of the jackets that were no longer in use for the team and customize them with patches and names. I’ve had some of Andy Camp’s photos (the team photographer) put on canvas to hang..with permission, of course! I’ve got to give a big thanks to Andy for all the pictures. It wouldn't be what it is if it weren't for his talents.
We keep all of our winning game tickets in a Thunder cup and the losing ones are ripped up and thrown out, except of course for the night we got engaged!
It’s really a comfortable space. I did the painting and customization with frames. Laurel helped with finding matching items on Wayfair like the curtains and the carpeting.
Laurel: My grandkids really love this room… it’s lots of fun. They started going to the games as well! They didn’t really think they would like hockey at first until they came to a game. It was a really good game with lots of excitement, great energy in the crowd, and fun music - they were taken with it at that point and really love it now.
We hear you got engaged recently at a Thunder game - congratulations! We’d love to hear more about how it happened.
Brian: The engagement was a month in the making. I had Melissa go with me to help pick out the ring. I decided to ask Laurel to marry me at a Thunder game for obvious reasons. So I reached out to Alexis Macy of the Thunder to see if they would do it for me. She immediately agreed and we got the details worked out. I was going to ask her at the second intermission of the game during the Kiss Cam. I was so nervous because there were so many people there that night, but I did it. Everyone from the Thunder wouldn’t look at me so they wouldn't give it away. It was a great night and Dan Miner did an awesome job with the commentary as always.
Laurel: It was the biggest surprise ever pulled off because all of our friends, and the people that worked there - everyone around me knew what was going on and I knew nothing! The process was very thoughtful and sweet...he had asked my whole family for permission like a true gentleman.
Brian: I’m actually not that good at surprises, so it was fun to pull this off. I kept telling her that I had a big surprise for her for the house since we’ve been planning lots of projects.
Laurel: I had no idea the surprise was going to be the engagement! He threw me off since he told me the surprise was going to be delivered to the house on the 9th, but then he proposed on the 8th!
Any plans for the wedding?
Brian: I told her we should get married in our Thunder jerseys, but she doesn’t like that idea.
Melissa: But you might be able to compromise with red, white, and black as the colors for your wedding!
