On Saturday night in Albany, the undefeated Halifax Thunderbirds went to battle against the FireWolves. The FireWolves had an offensive explosion in the first half of the game and withstood a second-half Thunderbirds resurgence to win 8-6.
Within a minute of the game, Albany’s Andrew Kew opened up the game’s scoring. Albany would then score again less than four minutes later from Charlie Kitchen who scored during a delayed penalty on Halifax. Albany then found their third straight goal thanks to a rocket shot from Joe Resetarits. Less than a minute later, Colton Armstrong gave Halifax their first goal of the night. Going into the 2nd quarter, Albany held a 4-1 lead.
Just 12 seconds into the second quarter, Nick Chaykowsky scored for Albany to give the FireWolves a four-goal lead. Then eight minutes later Tony Malcom went storming towards Halifax’s goal and dangled a goal past goalie Warren Hill. Doug Jamieson had a dominant first half only letting in one goal in the half and recording an assist on the Andrew goal.
To start the third quarter, Halifax’s Chris Boushy fired a nifty shot into the back of the net to get his team back in the game. Albany’s Ryan Benesch countered a few minutes later to push the lead back to five. Less than two minutes later Austin Shanks scored a power play goal for Halifax. To finish the quarter Eric Fannell scored Halifax’s second straight goal while falling to the ground which took the lead down to three heading into the fourth.
Charlie Kitchen scored a power play goal right in the first 30 seconds of the period to put the lead back to four. Halifax got two more goals before the end of the quarter but ultimately their effort was not enough as time expired and the FireWolves won their third straight game.
The FireWolves player of the game was Doug Jamieson who record 46 saves and only let in six goals on the game. He currently boasts a 9.02 GAA, which is the second best average in the league only behind San Diego’s Frank Scigliano. The Thunderbirds player of the game was Chris Boushy who recorded three points (2G/1A) on the night and was a key part of his team’s second-half comeback effort.
Albany will go for their fourth straight win when they go down to Georgia to take on the Swarm. Halifax will look to rebound from the loss when they host the New York Riptide on Friday, February 4th.
