Albany, New York was the place to be on Sunday afternoon as quarterfinal playoff lacrosse hit the Capital Region for the first time in the FireWolves’ history. Albany welcomed in the Halifax Thunderbirds for the final one-and-done playoff game of the weekend.
Albany was downright stingy in this game. For a team with an average age of 26 years old, they looked like a group of grizzled veterans. Using a horrendous fourth quarter for Halifax, Albany stayed disciplined, tacked onto their lead when applicable, and rode this out to a convincing 9-3 win.
The first quarter was very bland as far as scoring was concerned, but it was extremely physical and showcased phenomenal goaltending and defense from both sides. There was one goal scored per side, specifically, Travis Longboat and Clarke Petterson on the power play. Doug Jamieson, who had a monster game, stopped a penalty shot early in the frame, and there was a total of 14 penalty minutes accumulated by both teams. 1-1 after one.
Albany’s defense really settled in in the second quarter, as they blanked Halifax. In addition to that, the FireWolves tacked on three more goals, and made the lead seem insurmountable going into halftime. Goals were scored by Alex Simmons, Tye Kurtz and Jackson Nishimura. 4-1 Albany at the break.
While the scoring was “low” by most standards, a huge part of that was because of both goaltenders. Jamieson was unreal, stopping 27 of 28. On the other side, Warren Hill was no slouch either, stopping 29 of 33.
Halifax made the score look a bit better in the third, but Albany matched it, so there was no real comeback. Austin Shanks opened the scoring with a sick jumping quick-stick goal from almost behind the goal line. Longboat and Ethan Walker answered that goal with goals of their own. Petterson got his second in the final seconds to close out the frame. 6-3 Albany after three.
The wheels fell off the Thunderbird bus in the fourth quarter. It was very evident that frustration was mounting, because no matter what they did, they couldn’t break through Jamieson and the FireWolves’ defense. Another blank quarter in the goal column wasn’t what the doctor ordered, along with multiple penalties and two game misconducts.
This is where I call timeout from the recap to tell you something you should already know. It’s perfectly acceptable to be a home fan and razz the opposing player in the penalty box. But if you get involved to the point where the player exits the penalty box and comes after you, chances are you probably shouldn’t have said what you said or thrown what you threw. David Brock was in the penalty box and took exception to something from the stands, resulting in him exiting the back of the penalty box and trying to scale the guard rail after a fan. Be smart. The other ejection was Jake Withers towards the end of the game, as he took his frustrations out on Simmons, as well as verbalizing them to the official.
Back to the game. Goal scorers in the fourth quarter for Albany were Colton Watkinson into an empty net and John Wagner twice, one in an empty net and the other a bizarre goal where it looked like he was undecided if he wanted to go in and shoot or let the clock run more. With all of that said, it gave us our final from MVP Arena, 9-3 FireWolves.
Players of the game for Albany were Wagner (2+1), Longboat (two goals), and Kurtz (1+2). Jamieson had arguably the game of his life, making 52 saves on 55 shots. For Halifax, Petterson (2+1), Shanks (1+1), and Randy Staats (two assists) led the way. Hill performed well, unfortunately there wasn’t enough goal support. He made 47 saves on 54 shots.
“The defense was great,” said Jamieson. “They gave me a lot of the shots I wanted to see, so a lot of it goes to them. I was pretty nervous coming into the game, so it’s good to get the first one and hopefully we can get a couple more here.”
“It’s been an interesting ride,” said Wagner. “It sure feels good to win. That was a hell of a performance by him (Jamieson) tonight. Everybody played their part, but he stood strong.”
The semifinal on the right side of the bracket is set. Albany makes the long trip over to San Diego for game one Friday, May 3rd at 10:30 p.m. Game two is back in Albany on Sunday, May 5th at 3 p.m. Game three, if necessary, is in San Diego on Friday, May 10th at 10:30 p.m.
