Halifax Thunderbirds’ goaltender, Drew Hutchison, entered the game with four-and-a-half minutes left in the first quarter, down 5-2. He stopped 39 out of 44 shots the rest of the way to backstop Halifax’s 13-10 comeback victory over the San Diego Seals in front of 10,783 fans at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax. With Colorado’s loss to Buffalo, the win secured the Thunderbirds’ ticket to the playoffs.
“I just feel like I just played my angles the way I normally do, and the defence gave me the shots that I want to see that I know I can save. I came up with a couple that were breakdowns, and that’s going to happen. That’s what we need to win games like this when it is tight. Everyone has to work together and do our job to get it done,” said Hutchison.
Hutchison was terrific in this game. The Seals were all over the Thunderbirds early. It’s hard to blame starting goalie Warren Hill. All the goals were quality scoring chances, but Hutchison came in and settled things down. He stopped former Thunderbird Ryan Benesch on a breakaway on his first shot and locked down the Seals from there. San Diego couldn’t gain offensive momentum and didn’t score consecutive goals for the rest of the game.
“It’s always good to have a back-up goalie like that who can come in and save the game,” said Thunderbirds’ defender Curtis Romanchych, who scored his first NLL goal tonight. “I know we have all the faith in the world in both our goaltenders back there, but it’s nice to see (Hutchison) come in and do his job back there.”
This is the fifth time Hutchison has come in relief of Hill this season. He has been reliable when called upon. Hutchison shut out Albany for a quarter-and-half in January, allowing the Thunderbirds to return from a 9-3 deficit to win 13-9. He came in when the Thunderbirds were down 4-1 against Ottawa, and they came back to win 17-16. He’s also allowed two goals on 14 shots in a loss to Toronto. He has had a few subpar outings, like allowing 18 goals in his only start of the season against Rochester.
Hutchison doesn’t put much focus on when he enters the game. He’s focused on doing his job regardless of when he comes in.
“At the end of the day, it’s just lacrosse. I’ve been playing it since I was four or five years old, so the game hasn’t changed, the rules don’t change, it’s all lacrosse,” said Hutchison. “So you just settle in and do your job like I said earlier. You just try to have fun out there. Some days it goes your way and some days it doesn’t, and today I was the lucky one and it went our way for the team.”
San Diego opened the scoring 11 seconds into the game as Danny Logan got free for a break away off the faceoff and scored. San Diego got another a minute later from captain Wesley Berg.
Halifax responded on the power play. Randy Staats had the ball at the left side and fired it past San Diego’s goalie, Christopher Origlieri.
San Diego’s Ben McIntosh and Halifax’s Thomas Hoggarth traded goals afterward.
Former Thunderbird Ryan Benesch scored for San Diego. He received a pass at the side of the net to score and celebrated with a passionate fist pump. Benesch was an original Thunderbird, playing every season in Halifax except for the 2021-22 season after he was claimed in the expansion draft by Panther City. He led the Thunderbirds last year with 42 goals but was one of a few players who left as Halifax added size to their offence.
Zach Currier scored to put the Seals up 5-2 with under five minutes left in the first quarter. This resulted in Hill being pulled and Hutchison coming in.
Hutchison didn’t wait long to see action. Benesch was on a wide-open break away off a turnover, and Hutchison stopped the five-hole shot.
“Those are never fun to see when you’re coming right off the bench,” said Hutchison jokingly. “We had a little chuckle after I made that save. It’s good to see (Benesch). He was on the team during my first two years on the team, and he’s just an all-time guy. It was kind of funny to see him with a different jersey on, but I was happy to make that save on him.”
Randy Staats scored again to finish off the quarter with the Thunderbirds down 5-3.
The Thunderbirds opened the scoring after Hutchison stopped a three-on-one break. Halifax took the ball the other way, and Tyson Bell passed it to Staats, coming off the bench for the hat trick goal.
Wesley Berg answered back for San Diego on the power play. But Mike Robinson scored off the ensuing face-off for Halifax.
Dawson Theede scored two straight goals for Halifax to take the 7-6 lead. This is Theede’s second game back after missing games with a hamstring injury. It’s a big bonus for the Thunderbirds during the stretch drive. Despite missing six games, Theede is still third on the team in goals with 26.
Thomas Hoggarth added another goal for the Thunderbirds.
Currier answered for San Diego. He dove over the crease trying to score, but Hutchison stopped him. Currier tried the same move a few minutes later and made no mistake.
Staats scored again for Halifax by bouncing the ball off the floor to fool up Origlieri. He led the way with four goals and six points tonight. Halifax went into the second half up 9-7.
Cody Jamieson opened the scoring for the Thunderbirds two minutes into the third quarter.
Ben McIntosh broke San Diego’s ten-and-a-half-minute cold streak by scoring from in close to shorten Halifax’s lead to 10-8.
The game then went into a scoreless deadlock for 17 minutes until an unlikely hero broke he deadlock.
Curtis Romanchych took the ball in transition and used a perfect screen from Johnny Pearson to get in on the net and score for his first career NLL goal. He opened the scoring eight minutes into the fourth quarter.
“It was a tight game there coming into the end, and when I saw Johnny coming out of the box late, I decided to go down and try for it, and obviously, it feels pretty good that it went in,” said Romanchych.
Romanchych has been a stable depth defender for the Thunderbirds. The 25-year-old has spent time with Albany and Philadelphia, but this has been his breakout season with 14 games played, with one goal and three points.
“It’s a great group of guys, very talented. There are a lot of veterans back there, so it’s easy to insert yourself. I’m pretty used to the style of defence that coach (Suitor) plays back there. I played in Orangeville under that style quite a bit, so it feels pretty good to get into that system and fit right in,” said Romanchych.
“He’s been great since he’s got in,” said Hutchison. He’s definitely fought his way into the line-up, and he’s one of the hardest working guys. It’s great to see him have so much success this year and finally have his first goal off of his back. He’s just the best guy, you can’t say any more about him.”
But Ben McIntosh answered back for San Diego, which was their first goal in 18 minutes.
The game remained tight, with neither team scoring until Clarke Petterson knocked the ball off Zach Currier’s stick in the defensive zone. Petterson scooped up the loose ball and scored to put Halifax up 12-9.
San Diego pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with a minute-and-a-half left, and Tyson Bell scored to seal the win. Ben McIntosh scored another goal with six seconds left, and the Thunderbirds won 13-10. McIntosh finished with three goals and six points.
The Thunderbirds have two games left against Buffalo and Toronto. Even though they have cliched the playoffs, they’re still battling to finish in the top four and host the first NLL playoff game in Halifax.
“Our motto is to focus on us to focus on what we can control, and the rest will follow. No matter who we’re playing, it never really changes. We focus on the guys in the locker room, and we go out and play our game, get the job done and play here in playoffs and see these fans again,” said Hutchison.
