Former Halifax Thunderbird, Austin Shanks, scored six goals in the Saskatchewan Rush’s 16-7 win over the Thunderbirds during game one of the NLL semi-final match-up at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, N.S.
Shanks scored a hat trick in the first quarter, and another hat trick in the third quarter to propel the Rush to victory. Shanks was a Thunderbird for the past four seasons but signed with the Rush in the offseason. In a post-game interview with TSN, he didn’t take personal credit for himself but credited his team’s full effort.
“You saw Halifax lose their heads tonight and we didn’t. (Saskatchewan’s defence) played mentally smart and mentally strong and we did it for sixty full minutes tonight,” said Shanks.
That comment directed at Halifax was a result of how the game ended. With the Rush up 14-7. Ryan Keenan threw a reverse hit which struck the ire of the Thunderbirds. Nonkon Thompson grabbed Keenan and started throwing punches at him. The referees tried to intervene, but Thompson didn’t stop and eventually they let Thompson and Keenan fight. Afterwards, Tyson Bell gave a late slash on a Rush player after a routine shot, and later on Jake Withers wanted to fight Jake Boudreau. The fiery end led to Saskatchewan getting three penalty shots because Halifax had so many consecutive penalties and scoring on two of them.
Due to logistical issues, an interview was unable to be organized with a member of the Thunderbirds
Even with the loss, the Thunderbirds opened the scoring. Randy Staats ran low and passed it back to Clarke Petterson who used open space to fire the ball past Saskatchewan Rush goalie, Frank Scigliano.
Then the Rush poured it on. Clark Walter had the ball alone in the high slot and fired the ball past Drew Hutchison to tie the game. Zach Manns and Robert Church scored to make it 3-1.
Austin Shanks then scored his first of the night. Keenan found him alone in the slot and Shanks dove over the crease to score. He added another one a minute later to stretch Saskatchewan’s lead to 5-1.
Randy Staats answered back for the Thunderbirds. Afterwards, Dawson Theede weaved his way in on goal to score to cut the lead to 6-3.
But Shanks was a killer tonight. Twenty seconds later he scored a dunk to complete his first quarter hat trick.
The second quarter was much more subdued as both teams only scored one goal each. Thomas Hoggarth scored for Halifax off a rebound goal. While Matt Hossack scored a transition goal for the Rush. The first half ended with Saskatchewan up 7-4.
Halifax got into penalty trouble in the third quarter, and it cost them. They were down with both Nonkon Thompson and Ryan Terefenko in the box and Ryan Keenan made them pay scoring from the side of the net.
Austin Shanks then scored a goal from far out and that was the end of Drew Hutchison’s night. He finished with allowing 11 goals on 32 shots. Warren Hill entered the game and played pretty well stopping a few great scoring chances. His first shot was Mike Messenger firing the ball after a cross zone pass in transition. Hill allowed four goals on 18 shots. Hutchison took over as the starter during the second last game of the regular season after Hill was pulled for fifth time. Hutchison had a strong quarter-final game against Calgary, stopping 39/51 shots. But it will be interesting to see if Halifax goes back to Hill for an elimination game two.
Ryan Terefenko responded for Halifax. He grabbed the rebound and ran down the floor to fire it past Scigliano.
The excitement was short lived. Shanks scored another goal from outside on the power play. And with two minutes left in the third quarter, he casually shot the ball from the side of the net over Hill’s shoulder to complete the sock trick. Saskatchewan didn’t score on three power play chances in the first half but converted on all three power plays in the third quarter.
Mike Messenger added another goal, sending the Rush into the fourth quarter with a 12-5 lead.
Thomas Hoggarth scored five minutes into the fourth quarter to give the Thunderbirds some life.
But the hot power play continued for the Rush. Quick ball movement led to Robert Church firing from the left side to score.
Dawson Theede answered for Halifax to make the game 13-7 with three minutes left.
The Thunderbirds pulled their goalie for an unlikely comeback attempt. However, Calgary scored four goals against them with the goalie pulled in the last game. It didn’t work for Halifax as Zach Manns scored the empty net goal.
After the rough stuff started, Brock Haley scored on two penalty shots. The Rush won the game 16-7.
While Saskatchewan’s offence and power play showed up, it was their defence and goaltending that made a difference, only allowing Halifax, the second highest scoring regular season team, to seven goals. Preventing the Thunderbirds from getting back into the game. This shows why Saskatchewan was the top defensive team in the league. Halifax tried to score more and maybe deserved a better fate, they hit numerous of posts, but Frank Scilangelo was brilliant. He made several difficult saves, stopping 41/48 shots.
Leading the way for the Rush was Shanks with a sock trick. Zach Manns had seven assists and nine points, Ryan Keenan and Robert Church both had five points. Matt Hossack had a goal, two assists, eight loose balls, two blocks and two caused turnovers.
For Halifax, Randy Staats led the way with a goal and five assists, contributing on six of Halifax’s seven goals. Dawson Theede and Thomas Hoggarth scored two goals each.
Game two will be on Saturday, May 10 in Saskatoon. How that game will go is anyone’s guess. This is the third meeting between the Rush and the Thunderbirds this year. The first game was close with Saskatchewan making a comeback to win 9-8 in overtime. The second game was a blowout in Halifax’s favour, winning 17-9. This game was a blowout in Saskatchewan’s favour. Saskatchewan and Halifax were second and third in the standings. With how potent these teams are, it would be likely that game two is a close one.
