Thunderbirds beat Mammoth in front of sold out crowd
Apr 21, 2024
(HALIFAX, NS) April 20, 2024 -- The Halifax Thunderbirds took care of business in front of a sold-out Scotiabank Centre on Saturday night, beating the Colorado Mammoth 14-10.
Clarke Petterson led the way for the Thunderbirds, scoring a pair of goals along with five assists, while Randy Staats had three goals and five points. Cody Jamieson and Austin Shanks also chipped in four points apiece.
Ryan Terefenko had a pair of points in transition, and Halifax got transition goals from Jake Withers and Johnny Pearson.
The game opened with a back-and-forth between the two squads. Zed Williams opened the scoring in the opening minute with a transition goal coming off the bench. But he was immediately answered with a goal from Ryan Terefenko, who burst through the middle of the defence off the ensuing draw and buried Halifax's first of the evening.
Aaron Woods quickly added another marker, cutting through the middle and finishing off a pass from Cody Jamieson on the crease. But the visitors bounced right back with a two-goal run of their own. Connor Kelly knotted the game up at two before Sean Kriwokon put Colorado up 3-2 in transition.
Jamieson stung a shot to tie the game up again, and Withers won a draw and split the Mammoth defence to put Halifax ahead once again. Theede added a power-play tally, but an Eli McLaughlin goal on the man advantage to end the first made it 5-4 for the Thunderbirds after the opening 15 minutes.
The second quarter saw the Thunderbirds start to swing things in their favour off the strength of a four-goal run and a strong defensive effort.
Jamieson got his second of the night off a tremendous behind-the-back feed from Staats into the middle of the floor. Shanks followed up with a short side tuck on the power play just over a minute later to make it a 7-4 Halifax advantage. Pearson kept the run going with a transition finish, and Petterson capped off the half with a dunk goal off some crisp passing in the offensive zone.
The 9-4 lead put Halifax in a good spot heading into the second half.
But Colorado did chip into the lead in the third, with back-to-back goals in the opening 3:30 of the quarter from Owen Down and Williams. But it was a personal two-goal swing from Staats that helped the Thunderbirds stave off the run from the Mammoth. McLaughlin added a goal with just over five minutes to play in the third to cut the Thunderbirds lead to 11-7.
Going on the power play to open the fourth, the Thunderbirds got another goal from Petterson, this one coming off a tic-tac-toe play. From there, Colorado tried to make its run to close the gap in the final frame, and they did come up with some big goals. McLaughlin, Williams, and Kelly cut the deficit to two.
But insurance goals from Theede and Staats sealed the deal for Halifax in their final regular-season home contest and send the record 10,595 Thunderbirds fans home happy.
With the victory, the Thunderbirds finish the season at 10-8. For more information on the team's first-round playoff matchup, stay tuned to the Thunderbirds' social media channels.