Thunderbirds Head West
Jan 24, 2020
The 5-0 Halifax Thunderbirds will head West this Saturday to take on the 2-3 Calgary Roughnecks. The North Division leaders will step away from home turf for just the second time this season.
The Thunderbirds continue to spread their offensive power evenly throughout the veteran and young players on their roster while averaging 12.2 goals a game. Cody Jamieson and Ryan Benesch lead the charge with 22 and 21 points respectively. Halifax faced one of their toughest tests so far against San Diego last weekend in a low scoring affair, coming out on top 8-5.
Along with their unselfish offence, Halifax’s defence, led by Graeme Hossack and Scott Campbell, has been stellar through the first five games. In net, Hill made 56 saves against San Diego last weekend and currently leads the league with an .843 save percentage. Some may argue that Hill has been the backbone of the team after multiple 40 plus save nights. Halifax leads the league with a goals-against average of 8.0.
Calgary is currently 2-0 at home. The Roughnecks are coming off a tough 13-12 road loss in Rochester last weekend. Curtis Dickson powered the Calgary offence with five points (2+3) while Dan Taylor scored three goals, all which came in the third quarter. All three of their losses this season have been by one goal.
Calgary is missing some of their key components from last years’ Championship team. In the expansion draft the Roughnecks lost their long time Captain Dan MacRae who lead their defensive unit. They will also be missing 2019 NLL MVP Dane Dobbie due to a six-game suspension. Their weakened left side is something that Halifax will look to take advantage of.
Calgary does return veteran Curtis Dickson who has 22 points thus far in his 10th season with the Roughnecks. In net, Christian Del Bianco is a key factor in the Calgary defence with a .833 save percentage this season.
Road games are always difficult but the Saddledome in particular is one of the hardest to play in the NLL.
“Calgary is always a tough building to play in, as defending champions they play a complete game that will be a good test for us,” said forward Mike Burke.
The Thunderbirds will look to get a hot start out of the gate.
“I feel our team is yet to play a full 60 minutes to the standard we have set for ourselves and this trip to Calgary is a perfect opportunity for a complete effort,” said Burke.
The Thunderbirds look for their second road win of the season at the Scotiabank Saddledome Saturday at 10:30 PM local time on B/R Live. This will be the only matchup between these two teams in the regular season.