When it comes to Buffalo, there are a few things that are for certain. As someone who lives there and was born and raised, I can vouch. The people are as nice, yet, battle tested as they come, the weather is as unpredictable as it gets and their sports teams sure know how to cause way-too-early cardiac issues. 14,896 fans braved some snowy weather to get down to the KeyBank…
It was a night of milestones in Halifax on Friday night. Ryan Benesch became sixth player in NLL history to reach 500 goals on a hat-trick goal. However, it was not enough for the Halifax Thunderbirds to overcome the Buffalo Bandits. Buffalo’s goalie, Matt Vinc, stopped a back-door shot to secure the 10-9 victory for the Bandits during his record breaking 262nd game, the most ever by a goalie. “I…
Jake “the Wiz” Withers has been living up to his nickname this year. The defenceman for the Halifax Thunderbirds leads the league in faceoff win percentage with 83, while the next closest player, Philadelphia’s Trevor Baptiste, has 69 per cent. Withers is battling with Vancouver’s Reid Bowering for the loose balls crown. Bowering has 153, while Withers has 145 with one fewer game. Those numbers have Withers on pace for…
The Halifax Thunderbirds accomplished a task they’ve struggled with this season- winning a tight game. They beat the New York Riptide 13-12 on Sunday afternoon at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax. Before this game, Halifax blew leads at home against the Calgary Roughnecks and Albany FireWolves. This game looked like it could be going that way. Halifax was up 13-11 with 1:25 left until Reilly O’Connor got the Riptide within…
The Rochester Knighthawks held off a late surge from Halifax to defeat the Thunderbirds for the first time in franchise history Saturday night 16-14. Conner Fields led the way for the Knighthawks with eight points, after four goals and four assists. Holden Cattoni added three goals, and assisted on four goals. “I don’t think that’s something that we really talked about; I know it’s part of the narrative of the…
Story courtesy of Luke Dyment A crowd of celebrating Calgary Roughnecks is likely the last thing the Scotiabank Centre faithful expected to see on Saturday night. Leading by four goals on three different occasions, the visitors just wouldn’t go away. Even defensively-dominant points for the Halifax Thunderbirds – like the entire second quarter – weren’t enough to nail Calgary’s coffin. But the visitor’s late-game brilliance took them the distance, holding…
The Halifax Thunderbirds beat the undefeated Rochester Knighthawks 17-7 on Friday night at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax. With 17 goals, many Thunderbirds had big nights, but stealing the show was rookie Wake:Riat BowHunter. The son of team owner Curt Styres scored his first career hat trick on four shots. “It means a lot, it wouldn’t happen without my teammates getting me open and passing me the ball so shout…
Kieran McArdle was not allowing the Albany FireWolves to drop two straight games against the Halifax Thunderbirds. McArdle scored two goals and added two assists, getting a point on all of Albany’s four fourth quarter goals to send the game to overtime. In the extra frame, McArdle ran into the high slot and fired the winner into the net. The FireWolves beat the Thunderbirds 11-10 in overtime at the Scotiabank…
It’s no surprise to anyone that wintertime in Buffalo, New York can be quite nasty. But this past week leading up to Friday night’s showdown with Halifax was another level. Snow, wind and bone-chilling temperatures all caused blizzard-like conditions in the Western New York area. Some even said that this topped the Blizzard of ‘77 (if you know, you know). With that, came people getting stranded, having no power, or…
If you’re looking for inspiration that a new year can be the new you, then don’t look any further than the Halifax Thunderbirds. Last year, they got off to a hot start winning eight out of nine games. But they lost four in a row in March and dropped seven of their last 10 games, including the playoffs, to end the year. In their first two games this year they…