Halifax Thunderbirds’ coach Mike Accursi met the media frustrated. For the third straight game, his team outshot their opponents, dominated them in face-offs, and collected more loose balls. However, for the third straight time, they lost, this time 11-9 to the Toronto Rock at Scotiabank Centre on Friday night.
Halifax outshot the Rock 54-40, collected 78 loose balls to Toronto’s 62, and Jake Withers dominated face-offs, helping Halifax win all but five draws.
“I’m getting annoyed to keep saying to my team you’re playing well,” said Accursi. “Statistically, we beat them everywhere. We beat them on face-offs and loose balls and we outshot them by 20. But at the end of the day, we’re on the wrong side of a victory. It is frustrating, in one sense it’s good we’re playing well, but we got to bury our opportunities and we didn’t do that… no excuses, we gotta be better.”
For Toronto, they just keep rolling. The Rock push their winning streak to start the season to four games. They got off to a strong start, beating Halifax 5-1 at the end of the first quarter. While Halifax battled back, twice getting within one goal of tying the game, Toronto never allowed them to tie.
“I think (our team) goes into every practice and every game with the expectation that we should be an 18-0 team to start the season,” said Chris Boushy, a former Thunderbird, who scored two assists. “I think each guy goes into each game saying whatever I have to do to help the team win, I’m going to do. If the shots aren’t falling, the goals aren’t falling like they typically do as with my case, you have to find other ways to make sure your team is successful.”
This was Boushy’s first game back in Halifax and against the Thunderbirds since being traded to Toronto in the off-season. He was an original Thunderbird, coming over when the team moved from Rochester and led Halifax in goals last year with 38. However, he is currently working as a salesman for a software company in downtown Toronto, and the commitment he needs for that job was making it impossible for him to continue to travel and play for Halifax. He was happy to go to Toronto, where he can balance lacrosse and work.
“There was no specific conversation about it, (Halifax) just kind of knew that would have made my life a lot easier. Either keep my career going, or I never play another game again just because of work commitments. I owe (Halifax) my career for being able to continue it,” said Boushy.
Toronto opened the scoring a minute-and-a-half into the game. Mitch de Snoo caused a turnover and took off down the floor. He passed it to Dan Lintner, who shot and Halifax’s goalie, Warren Hill, made the save but the rebound went back to de Snoo and he scored.
Right after the goal, Dawson Theede and Billy Hostrawser got into a fight. The fight was even, but Theede immediately yelled at his bench, trying to get them going, knowing the importance of not extending the losing streak to three games. It worked because seconds later, a strong passing play left Ryan Benesch alone in front, and he shot the ball past Toronto’s goalie, Nick Rose, to tie the game.
Then the Rock took over. Captain Challen Rogers started the run for Toronto with a power play goal. Corey Small scored twice, and Dan Craig scored a gorgeous goal consecutively dodging two checks to get himself in alone and score. The Rock finished the first quarter up 5-1.
“Defensively, we were back on our heels, and they came at us pretty hard. We started panicking and overplaying, and they torched us for a few, which I think was because of defensive lapses,” said Accursi. “And defensively, they put a lot of pressure on us, and we couldn’t open up our hands to get shots. We did a much better job later in the game. Take away that first quarter, and we’re in a good position.”
Halifax opened the scoring in the second quarter. In transition, Staats fired the ball, and Ryan Terefenko collected the rebound to score. Two minutes later, Staats sniped a shot from the outside on the man advantage to make the score 5-3.
Toronto answered on a man-advantage of their own. Rogers made a cross-zone pass to Corey Small, who sniped his hat-trick goal, giving them a 6-3 lead at the end of the half.
Randy Staats opened the scoring in the third quarter, but Dan Lintner quickly answered for Toronto.
However, the Thunderbirds wouldn’t be denied. Staats completed his hat trick and then fed the ball to Terefenko, who ran right down the slot untouched to score and get Halifax within one to 7-6.
But Toronto stretched their lead with a snipe from the outside by Dan Craig.
With 30 seconds left in the quarter, Johnny Pearson and Chris Boushy got into a shoving match, with Pearson getting the double minor. During the altercation, Jake Withers also received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, putting Halifax down on a 4-on-3 penalty kill. Mark Matthews scored on the power play giving Toronto a 9-6 lead going into the fourth quarter.
“I think this is where we need more composure in a game,” said Accursi. “Both of them were going out, we knew we were getting the extra one for Johnny and Wiz (Withers), in my opinion, takes a bad penalty, and it ends up in the back of the net. We had all the momentum, and they end up taking it back, and it was a battle for the rest of the game. That’s composure, I expect more from our veteran guys than that, but at the end of the day, it is an emotional sport and sometimes emotion gets the best of you.”
Toronto opened the scoring five minutes into the fourth quarter with Small’s fourth of the game, deflating the hometown crowd.
However, nine seconds after Small’s goal, Withers answered for Halifax. He barrelled through two defenders to get himself into the slot to score. Fifteen seconds later, Clarke Petterson outmaneuvered his defender to get himself to the side of the net and score. Afterwards, Cody Jamieson dunked the ball into the back of the net to give Halifax three goals in just over a minute to put them down 10-9.
However, Toronto was not allowing Halifax to tie the game. Rogers had himself a one-on-one battle down low and spun to separate himself, dove over the crease to score to give Toronto the insurance goal.
With 30 seconds left and Halifax’s goalie pulled, Toronto went down on a two-on-one, looking to end the game. However, Petterson had other ideas. He played goal and stopped the shot, collected the rebound and sprinted down the floor. He passed the ball and got it right back for an excellent cross-crease scoring chance, but Nick Rose stretched out to rob him. Halifax scrambled for the rebound but couldn’t put the ball into the back of the net, and Toronto hung on for the win.
Rose stopped 45 shots for Toronto, while Warren Hill stopped 29 for Halifax. Corey Small led the way for Toronto with four goals. Rogers had two goals and five points, and Dan Craig had two goals and two assists. For Halifax, Staats led the way with a hat trick and six points. Cody Jamieson and Clarke Petterson both contributed four points. On defence, Jake Withers and Ryan Terefenko both put up three points. Withers grabbed a game-high 21 loose balls and dominated at the face-off dot.
The Rock look to continue their win streak at home next Saturday against the Georgia Swarm. The Thunderbirds have a bye week this week and look to snap their losing streak at home on February 27 against the Rochester Knighthawks.
“We got to stick with it, we can’t lose confidence in ourselves and what we’re trying to accomplish,” said Accursi. “Like I said before, (the championship) is not won in the first few weeks, it’s what we do and how we continue to get better week in and week out.”
