Halifax Drops One to New England
Mar 1, 2020
Uncasville, CT (March 1, 2020) - The Thunderbirds fell to the Black Wolves 16-10 in Connecticut on Sunday evening.
Halifax started the game off strong with Jake Withers winning the face-off and almost instantly scoring for the ‘Birds just 9 seconds in. New England responded quickly with a goal of their own from forward Andrew Kew. The Black Wolves kept the pressure on starting goaltender, Peter Dubenski, with Jackson Nishimura burying a bouncer in transition less than 5 minutes into the game. Kew cut through the middle of the floor and sunk another goal for the Black Wolves. Joe Resetaris came in hot shortly after securing a goal of his own. With just 1:01 left in the first quarter, rookie Trevor Smyth scored his first goal of his NLL career, putting Halifax within two, with the score sitting at 4-2 for the Black Wolves.
Cody Jamieson opened the scoring for the second quarter, with his 20th goal this season, assisted by Clarke Petterson and Austin Shanks. Black Wolves rookie, Kew, scored again at 3:41, finalizing a hat trick. Forward Callum Crawford secured his first goal of the night for New England shortly after. The Black Wolves offensive unit, Reilly O’Connor and Resetaris each collected a goal putting the score at 8-3 in favour of New England. Jamieson scored another one, putting it past New England goalie, Doug Jamieson. Catching up to close the gap, Shanks picked up a goal with Jamieson following with his own to secure a hat trick and put the ‘Birds within two. The Black Wolves retaliated with Jordan Durston getting one past Dubenski. The Thunderbirds entered half trailing the Black Wolves, 9-6.
New England’s’ Crawford led the scoring in the third, putting one in the corner from outside at 3:05. Captain Jamieson kept up his scoring versatility, with his fourth goal of the game putting the ‘Birds within three. Crawford held true to his title of the number one scorer in the NLL, after he sunk another past Dubenski and closing in on a hat trick. With less than a minute left in the third, Petterson scored his first goal of the game, with the score sitting at 11-8 for the Black Wolves.
With a quick start to the fourth, Ryan Benesch secured his first goal of the game at :51 in. Following the same theme of the game, the Black Wolves responded with two sharp goals from Adam Bomberry and John LaFontaine, after the back and forth on transition. Petterson closed the gap once again, putting the ‘Birds within three after dropping one over Doug Jamieson’s shoulder. New England fought back with top scorer, Crawford scoring three straight goals, one on an open net after Dubenski was pulled for an extra attacker. Unfortunately, Halifax wasn’t able to recover and fell short of a win with the final score sitting at 16-10 for New England.
Dubenski with his first NLL start made 36 saves in net. Withers went 19-30 from X and collected nine loose balls. Smyth had 3 caused turnovers on top of his goal.
The Thunderbirds are back in action on March 8th at 7PM for Kids Day. The ‘Birds will face-off against Northern Division rivals, the Buffalo Bandits. Can’t make it to the game? Tune into B/R Live to stay updated on the action.