The Halifax Thunderbirds took Marvel Superhero night very seriously.
Their Friday night home game against the Buffalo Bandits mirrored a script from a superhero movie. The Thunderbirds were down 8-2 in the second quarter against a team that has caused them the most trouble out of anyone in the regular season. Coming into this game, Halifax had lost five-straight games to Buffalo. However, the Thunderbirds came back and scored the game-winning goal with under five minutes left to win 14-12.
“Every team in this league is good, but I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say playing those guys adds a little extra motivation,” said Jake Withers, who had a monster game winning all 30 faceoffs and collecting 30 loose balls. “To be able to (win), especially in that fashion where we’re a little down and out at halftime. I think it speaks volumes to the character that we have in that locker room and that coaching staff.”
Clarke Petterson, who, along with Austin Shanks, scored 9 points, said there wasn’t one moment in the game that turned it around for Halifax.
“I think it is just consistently hammering against the nail. We pound it and point it and keep going and sooner or later, you’re going to make a breakthrough. That was our mentality, we just had to keep going,” said Petterson.
This game will be remembered for its epic comeback. But no matter what happened, it was going to be a memorable game for Thunderbirds’ defenceman Nonkon Thompson. He tore his ACL during the 2022 MSL season with the Six Nations Chiefs and this was his first game since the injury.
“It was a bit emotional, I didn’t know what to feel or what to think. I was just kind of in a bit of a shock. But stepping on that floor when they first called us out, everything in the world went away and it was kind of a lacrosse game then. I couldn’t be more thankful to play this game and show future generations what Indigenous kids can do,” said Thompson.
Thompson said it took him five months after the injury to receive surgery. The recovery process was so long at times he wasn’t sure if he would play again. Last week, Halifax’s coach Mike Accursi told him he would be playing in this game.
“It was the longest week of my life. Every day I woke up, I wanted it to be game day.”
Nonkon Thompson finished the game with two caused turnovers, two loose balls, one shot on goal and a minor penalty.
“It was a huge emotional boost. He (Thompson) is a guy who is all heart and hustle. He plays a hard, physical game and I think you saw that out there tonight, he was laying the wood, throwing his body around, just kind of disrupting their offence, so I was really happy to see him. It was a long time coming for him, and he put in a lot of work.”
The game started with Buffalo’s Chris Cloutier and Halifax’s Ryan Benesch scoring five minutes in. Then Buffalo took over.
Dhane Smith started the run for the Bandits, taking advantage of a pick from Christian Watts to score from the left side. Chase Fraser and Kyle Buchanan also scored for Buffalo to give them a 4-1 lead.
Dawson Theede answered for Halifax right before the first quarter expired, but that didn’t slow down the Bandits.
Chase Fraser danced around Johnny Pearson to get himself alone to score the opening goal of the second quarter. Josh Byrne and captain Steve Priolo scored within three minutes of Fraser’s goal to put Buffalo up 7-2, 20 minutes into the game. Accursi pulled Warren Hill and put in backup Drew Hutchison in for his first action of the season.
“That’s the job of the backup goalie, you’ve got to be ready for anything,” said Hutchison. “I felt Warren was playing well, they have a lot of good shooters on Buffalo, they were just scoring some nice shots. Obviously, coach Accursi wanted to change up the pace of the game and change how we were playing on defence and we were able to lock it down. Personally, it was my first action of the year, but it is like riding a bike, it comes back right away, I wasn’t too worried about it.”
The change didn’t immediately help. Dhane Smith made two moves to get himself free to go in on goal and score to make the game 8-2 with six minutes left in the second quarter.
But Halifax caught a break when Matt Spanger and Cam Wyers both got cross-checking penalties on the same play to send Halifax on a 5-on-3 man advantage.
Austin Shanks gave the crowd some life and scored on the power play. Clarke Petterson followed that up with a beautiful goal bursting past Ian MacKay and diving over the crease to score. Aaron Woods added another goal for Halifax to get them back in the game, down 8-5 at half-time
“Buffalo is a great team, they’re defending champs, they have a lot of skill up front and a hall of fame goalie back there in Matt Vinc. But at the same time, we’re a great team as well. And I think sometimes we give them a little too much respect,” said Withers. “I think we got a little shell-shocked there in the first and second quarter… I think those last five minutes kind of saved us in the second quarter, and we built on that.”
The Thunderbirds kept coming in the third. Benesch opened the scoring but Buchanan answered for Buffalo.
Halifax wouldn’t be deterred. Shanks and Theede scored a minute apart to get Halifax within one. With a minute left to go in the third, Benesch ripped a shot from the left side on the power play to tie the game at nine. The fans gave the Thunderbirds a standing ovation when the quarter ended.
“I remember walking out to give Hutch a bump at the end of the third quarter, and everyone’s on their feet. Tied game at that point, we clawed all the way back, and I was like, alright, fresh game,” said Petterson.
Byrne silenced the crowd 40 seconds into the fourth quarter with a goal from up-high. But Petterson scored a minute later to tie it.
The teams kept trading goals. Benesch and Theede scored for Halifax, while Cloutier and Buchanan scored for Buffalo. The game was tied 12-12 with 4:43 left in the quarter.
Twenty seconds later, Aaron Woods got wide-open in the slot and Austin Shanks passed him the ball. Woods deked Vinc to score to pull Halifax ahead. Ten seconds after Woods’s goal, Petterson found Benesch down low and he scored to give Halifax their first two-goal lead of the game. Halifax locked the game down after that and won 14-12.
Jake Withers led the way for Halifax being perfect at the face-off dot and picking up 30 loose balls. Petterson and Shanks had nine points, Benesch scored five goals and Theede scored a hat trick. Warren Hill had a tough game stopping 14/21 shots. Drew Hutchison stopped 22/27 shots.
Hutchison did benefit from having a better team in front of him than Hill did, but Hutchison played excellently. He held the Bandits to one goal for 20 minutes between the end of the second quarter and all of the third to give Halifax time to come back.
“It was funny, he was awesome in shoot around this morning. I was like, ‘oh, Hutch, you’re awesome this morning’ when we were walking away off of shoot around,” said Petterson. “He hopped in there really early and was really steady to start, and was kinda able to cool their run off a little bit before half-time… Then he continued his stellar play, shut them down from the outside, and controlled his rebounds really well. We know he’s capable of doing that, he’s a great young goalie, and he has a bright future.”
For Buffalo, Dhane Smith’s nine points and Josh Byrne’s eight led the way. Kyle Buchanan scored a hat trick and Ian MacKay had two assists and picked up 14 loose balls. Matt Vinc stopped 38/53 shots.
This, unfortunately, was the only meeting between Halifax and Buffalo this season.
The weekend was a double header for Halifax; they lost to the Calgary Roughnecks at the Rough House on Sunday evening 17-11. They’re in Saskatchewan this weekend, while Buffalo plays on Saturday at home against the Albany FireWolves.
