For the second straight game, a poor first-half sinks the Halifax Thunderbirds as they lose 11-6 against the Colorado Mammoth on Friday night at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Thunderbirds were outscored 6-2 in the second. They tried to battle back, getting the score as close as 8-6 in the fourth quarter, but they ultimately couldn’t complete the comeback.
This has been a theme for the Thunderbirds in the past three games. They were outscored 5-0 in the second quarter against the Ottawa Black Bears two games ago. Fortunately for the Thunderbirds, they outscored Ottawa 5-1 in the third and won the game 13-11. They didn’t have the same luck against the Oshawa FireWolves. They were outscored 11-2 in the first half, digging too deep a hole to get back from.
“I think it is the first quarter, the second quarter and sometimes the third, we play well in spurts, we play well for seven or eight out of 15 minutes, but in this league, that isn’t enough. It’s a matter of finding that next gear of shift in and shift out of playing to our ability,” says Thunderbirds’ captain, Cody Jamieson, who scored three out of Halifax’s six goals in the game.
For the Colorado Mammoth, they’re looking for a bounce-back season. They haven’t made it to the playoffs since making it to their second straight NLL finals in 2023. This season is starting well. They have four wins and two losses and have won three straight games.
“I think we have a lot of new players and we’re slowly building chemistry in each and every game and learning to play with each other,” says Will Malcolm, who led the Mammoth with three goals and nine points.
The first quarter of the game was scoreless but chippy. Colorado’s goalie Dillon Ward came out of his crease to play the ball, and Nonkon Thompson nailed him. Jalen Chaster wanted to fight, but Thompson wouldn’t oblige. Near the end of the quarter, Dawson Theede hit a Mammoth player in the head, giving Colorado a five-minute power play.
Colorado capitalized on that power play in the second quarter courtesy of goals from Drew McIntosh and Jack Hannah. However, Clarke Petterson answered shortly for Halifax.
Then Colorado took over. Tim Edwards scored in transition, followed by Kew scoring two straight goals. Hannah rounded out the onslaught, leading Colorado to score four goals in five minutes.
Halifax pulled Warren Hill in favour of Drew Hutchison for the second straight game. Things settled after that. Randy Staats scored a power play goal for Halifax to round out the quarter with Colorado up 6-2. In fairness to Hill, most of the goals he let in were excellent scoring chances.
“Warren’s been playing amazing. Him coming out at that point was a little early, but we needed to find a spark somewhere. Last game that kind of gave us a spark, so I guess that is the reason Mike (Accursi) did it, I’m not positive,” says Jamieson.
Malcolm credited his team’s stamina for such a strong second quarter.
“I think part of it was our defence running the floor and tiring them out. I think we’re a pretty athletic offence too and we like to use that. I think teams slowly fade against us,” says Malcolm.
Jamieson scored the first goal of the second half with a power play goal. But Colorado answered immediately with a goal by Braedon Saris.
With under a minute in the third quarter, Jamieson scored over traffic to limit Colorado’s lead to 7-4 heading into the fourth.
One of the issues in Halifax’s up-and-down season is its difficulty scoring. They’ve only scored 10 or more goals twice this year. At the time of writing, Halifax is only better than Oshawa in goals-per-game. Last year, they were second in goals with largely the same offence; they even added transition threat Brendan Bomberry. Thomas Hoggarth, their third leading scorer last season, has been hurt since the first game of the year. But as a group, they’re below where they expect to be.
“It is not a secret to say we’re struggling to score goals. And I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s struggling; some other teams go through the same thing. But in this dressing room, we’re not used to it,” says Jamieson.
“Frustration on the offensive end only builds more frustration,” Jamieson later adds. “When we think we should score and don’t, that is what I will say is a turning point. The offence needs to score more goals. And it’s a cumulative effect. If we don’t score, we’re slow to get off, and they get a fast break.”
It didn’t help that the Thunderbirds were facing one of the best goaltenders in the league in Dillon Ward, who was named the league’s best goaltender in 2017 and Finals MVP in 2022.
“The main part is Wardo, the guy is an absolute stud, it’s hard to get the ball by him. And when our defence is playing to his tendencies and where he wants the shots, it’s pretty tough to score on him, “ says Malcolm.
Colorado scored the first goal in the fourth quarter. But Halifax wouldn’t let that deflate their energy. Ryan Terefenko took the ball off the face-off and passed it to Jamieson at the side of the net for a goal.
A minute later, Tyson Bell passed it to Clarke Petterson to score and narrow Colorado’s lead to 8-6.
But Malcolm wouldn’t let Halifax complete their comeback. He scored three straight goals to seal Colorado’s win 11-6.
“I was pretty snakebitten all game, and I figured I would find it eventually,” said Malcolm. It just so happened to be in the fourth, I found a couple of five-holes, and I was happy to see those go.”
Malcolm led the way for Colorado with three goals and nine assists. Andrew Kew also scored a hat trick, and Jack Hannah had five points. Ward stopped 49 of 55 shots. Colorado looks to continue their win streak at home against the Oshawa FireWolves next Saturday.
Jamieson led the way with three goals for Halifax. Randy Staats had five points and Clarke Petterson had three points. Hill and Hutchison combined stopped 36 of 47 shots. For the Thunderbirds, this loss drops their record to three wins and four losses. They have a bye week and will look to re-group at home on Jan. 31 against the Georgia Swarm.
“In that room, there’s no panic. We’re not even halfway through the season yet,” said Jamieson. “We’re still trying to find ourselves. But we know what we have in there, we know what we’re capable of in the long run. It’s a matter of everyone being on the same page and putting it together.”
