Thunderbirds Victorious In First Road Test

Dec 29, 2019

Buffalo, New York – The Thunderbirds dominated in their first road test of the season beating Buffalo, 15-10, in front of 13,000+ fans. The Thunderbirds saw goals from nine different players throughout the night.

 

The Buffalo Bandits came out of the gate hot scoring the first goal of the game on a power play goal by Josh Byrne. Dhane Smith followed suit for the Bandits giving them an early 2-0 lead. The Thunderbirds answered back as Austin Shanks found Cody Jamieson in front of the net who put it past Matt Vinc for the first Halifax goal of the game. Shortly after, Eric Fannell buried the ball in the back of the net with a pass from Mike Burke to tie the game up at two.

 

Buffalo’s Matt Gilray got called for a cross check at the ten-minute mark in the first quarter which gave Halifax the power-play. Knocking on the door was Clarke Petterson with a shot from deep, giving the Thunderbirds their first lead of the game. Jamieson scored his second of the game with a solo wrap around attempt adding to Halifax’s lead.

 

Buffalo scored two more to cap off the first quarter. However, the Thunderbirds defense would silence the Buffalo offense until more than halfway through the third quarter.  This led to 9-straight Thunderbirds goals. The Thunderbirds went into the locker room at half with an impressive 10-4 lead.

 

Buffalo attempted to cut into the deficit late in the game as they scored four unanswered goals within three minutes, but the comeback was not enough.

 

Mike Burke led the offensive charge for Halifax with a team-high eight points (2+6). Ryan Benesch contributed with a hat trick and three helpers. Jake Withers dominated at the X going 22-28 and collected 22 loose balls. Warren Hill earned the win turning away 39 shots.  The Thunderbirds defense held their own tonight allowing only two 5-on-5 goals. Assistant Captain Scott Campbell collected 12 loose balls, moving him into eighth place in Thunderbirds history with 633 in his career.

 

Mike Accursi liked what he saw from his defense’s performance tonight.

 

“That is the strength of our team,” said Accursi. “That’s what we expect out of them, and they continue to perform well.  It always gives us a chance to win when our defensive unit plays like that.”

 

Josh Byrne and Dhane Smith paced the Bandits with five points each. Matt Vinc made 27 saves before being relieved in net by Doug Buchan who made eight saves in his relief.

 

The Thunderbirds and Bandits will faceoff two more times this season; once more at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo and the other at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.

 

The Thunderbirds will head into the bye week 3-0. They return home on January 11, 2020 as they take on the Colorado Mammoth for both College and You Can Play Night, in support of Halifax Pride.   

 

 

 

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