The Georgia Swarm limited the Halifax Thunderbirds to one goal in the second half to win their third straight game 11-7 at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
“I think it is just settling in games, and we’re really offensively and defensively starting to know our roles and mesh together really well. It is a great environment in our locker room and we’re making it work on the floor, ” said Nolan Byrne, who led the Swarm with four goals.
Halifax’s second-half scoring woes was not for a lack of trying. They had some excellent scoring chances but couldn’t bury them. Brett Dobson was fantastic in net. He made one save where he had to fall backwards and knock the ball away as it was heading into the net.
“That’s just our defensive systems going to work that our coaches put in, and Dobber at the end of the day was standing on his head for us. He’s the best goalie in the world, so we can lean on him sometimes when we need to,” said Byrne.
Halifax has lost five out of six games, and the lack of scoring has been a big reason why. They’ve scored 8.9 goals a game and have only twice scored 10 or more goals. The team’s head coach, Mike Accursi, said they need more from their secondary scorers. Halifax has 48 goals from their top four scorers, Clarke Petterson, Randy Staats, Cody Jamieson and Dawson Theede, and 13 from the rest of the offence.
“One, it’s a product of us trying to do too much with the ball. We end up turning the ball over,” said Accursi. “And we’re not getting enough secondary scoring from guys. We only had three (offensive) guys score tonight, and you’re not going to win any games like that. We dressed seven, and we need seven guys scoring goals. It’s easy to shut us down if we only have a few guys producing goals. We got lots to work on and lots to get better at. There’s lots of talent in that room. Right now we have to put it together for sixty minutes, and we’re not doing that.”
Suprisingly with the scoring issues, the Thunderbirds traded Dawson Theede to the Oshawa FireWolves for a 2028 first-round pick last week. He’s tied as the team’s third leading scorer with 21 points in seven games. The rationale is that by removing Theede, Halifax cannot limit the offence to four players, forcing more players to get shots. It would make their offence more unpredictable and share the scoring load. It didn’t work tonight, but it did get Jason Knox going. He had two goals coming into the game and scored a hat trick tonight with an elevated role on the right side.
From the top four players, Theede was the logical one to move. Clarke Petterson and Randy Staats are their two best offensive players, and Cody Jamieson is the heart and soul of the franchise. The Thunderbirds also have Knox, who is similar to Theede as a big, physical and talented left-shot forward, so they can replace Theede’s loss a bit easier internally.
“That was a tough decision. I like Dawson, he brings a lot to the table. But we’re also looking to get more secondary scoring, and we got to take the ball out of some guys’ sticks and try to get other guys the ball,” said Accursi.
Halifax signed former Thunderbird Stephen Keogh to add to the offence. Keogh has played parts of nine seasons with the Knighthawks/Thunderbirds franchise. The soon-to-be 39-year-old took a year off last year. However, he scored 20 goals and 38 points in 15 games with the New York Riptide in the 2023-24 season. He is getting reps on the practice roster, and Accursi said he should be ready in the next game or two.
Bryan Cole opened the scoring for the Swarm, running into the slot to fire the ball past Thunderbirds goalie, Warren Hill.
Halifax answered with two goals courtesy of Clarke Petterson and Jason Knox. Michael Grace answered for Georgia, and the first quarter ended 2-2.
Nonkon Thompson opened the scoring in the second quarter. Ryan Terefenko passed him the ball at the side of the net, and Thompson’s shot went in and out of the net so fast it wasn’t originally called a goal. But Halifax challenged, and the goal was awarded.
But that would be the last time Halifax would have the lead in the game. Nolan Byrne took off in transition and scored a break away goal 20 seconds later to tie the game. Shayne Jackson added another transition goal. Byrne rounded out the scoring to stretch Georgia’s lead to 5-3.
“Dobson was throwing the ball in transition, so I had a couple in transition. I had a couple of good feeds from my teammates and good picks. Guys don’t get assists for good picks set, but there is a lot that helps me succeed out there,” said Byrne about his four-goal performance.
Jason Knox scored another goal to limit Georgia’s run, but Lyle Thompson and Shayne Jackson added two more goals for the Swarm to make the score 7-4. The last of which was a great heads-up play by Dobson to find Jackson in transition to score on a break away. Georgia scored five transition goals in the game.
“Dobson played really well for them, but they scored five goals in transition, and that’s on our offence not getting off the floor. We gotta be better,” said Accursi.
However, Jason Knox answered for Halifax with his hat trick goal. Good ball movement led to Knox being open down low, and he charged to the net to score. Randy Staats added another for Halifax, and the score was 7-6 heading into half-time.
The third quarter is where Dobson really shone. Halifax had many excellent scoring chances but couldn’t find the back of the net. Shayne Jackson would score to stretch Georgia’s lead to two goals heading into the fourth quarter.
Randy Staats opened the scoring in the fourth quarter for Halifax. Cody Jamieson found him high in the slot, and he scored to make it a one-goal game.
But that is as close as Georgia would allow Halifax to get. Bryne scored from up high to complete his hat trick. He would add another, and Jordan MacIntosh scored to lead Georgia to an 11-7 win.
Nolan Byrne led the way with four goals. Shayne Jackson scored a hat trick and scored five points. Bryan Cole also scored five points, Lyle Thompson scored four and Jordan MacIntosh scored three. Brett Dobson stopped 47/54 shots. The win propels their record to 5-3. They will play at home next Saturday against the Las Vegas Desert Dogs
For Halifax, this is their third straight loss and drops their record to 3-5. Jason Knox led the way offensively with a hat trick. Cody Jamieson had four assists, and Randy Staats scored two goals. Warren Hill stopped 36/47 shots. They have a bye week and will look to get back on track on Feb. 14 against the Buffalo Bandits at home.
