On Feb. 21, the Halifax Thunderbirds lost a close 9-8 game to the San Diego Seals, putting their record at three wins and seven losses. The Thunderbirds had a low 8.7 goals per game at that point, and it looked like they were on their way to a disappointing season. Fast forward two-and-a-half months, and the Thunderbirds defeated the Georgia Swarm 15-11 in game three of the NLL semi-finals at home to punch their ticket to the NLL Finals against the Toronto Rock.
This is the ninth time the franchise has made it to the finals, and they’ve won four championships. But that was all under the Rochester Knighthawks before they moved to Halifax in 2019. This will be the Thunderbirds’ first trip to the finals.
“We just kept getting better as the year went on,” said Halifax’s captain, Cody Jamieson. “The season’s a roller-coaster, there’s ups and downs, and you just gotta ride it. Obviously, you build as the season goes on, and as you see that’s what we’ve done. There’s been non-stop belief in this group and the dressing room…It may be a surprise to everybody else, but to us around here, we’re not surprised, we’re right where we expected to be.”
“It’s amazing,” said Thunderbirds forward Randy Staats about going to the NLL Finals. “I’ve been one other time in 2017 (won with the Georgia Swarm), so nine years ago, so obviously it doesn’t come around too often. This is going to be one of the best weeks of our lives, and we have to take advantage and prepare, and this week is totally focused on us and what we have to do to beat Toronto.”
Since that loss in San Diego, the Thunderbirds won five out of their next eight games to squeak into the playoffs as the bottom seed. They had a come-from-behind victory over the Vancouver Warriors, advancing to the second round against Georgia. Halifax took the first game in Georgia 12-7. Due to scheduling conflicts at Gas South Arena in Duluth, GA, just outside of Atlanta, games two and three were played in Halifax. Georgia crushed Halifax in game two, winning 21-10. But the Thunderbirds responded with a huge win tonight.
“It’s just the nature of our team, we’ve lost games all season long. It’s always next game mentality, we’ve been battling for our lives since (Feb. 21), we’ve had our backs against the wall,” said Jamieson. “We won that game in Georgia, and we knew winning that game in Georgia gave us some leeway. We didn’t want to have to use it, obviously, we would have wished we could have won last night in front of that great crowd. But we didn’t. But it’s that room, it’s no panic, it’s belief in each other, well, they gotta beat us again, and we like what we have.”
Kean Moon opened the scoring for Georgia two-and-a-half minutes into the game. Quick movement by the forwards up high gave him a shooting lane, and he beat Halifax’s goalie, Warren Hill.
Jamieson responded 12 seconds later. He had the ball on the left-hand side and bounced a shot behind Georgia’s goalie, Brett Dobson.
Georgia responded with a goal from Toron Eccleston in front of the net. Eccleston had an elevated role as Nolan Byrne, who scored four goals in game two, was a late scratch. No one from Georgia was available to speak post-game, so it is unclear why Byrne didn’t play. Shayne Jackson added another goal for Georgia to take an early 3-1 lead.
However, goals from Jamieson and Casey Wilson tied the game at three halfway through the quarter.
Then the game went crazy.
Shayne Jackson jumped over the crease to score, but the goal was called back. The ball went into Georgia’s end, where Jason Knox hit Jack Travassos from behind, and he stumbled headfirst into the boards. Mike Manley went after Knox, wrestled his helmet off and started throwing uppercuts at him. This resulted in Knox receiving a roughing penalty and Manley receiving a major for fighting. After the fight was over, Georgia challenged the no-goal call on Jackson, and it was awarded a goal upon review. However, Halifax went on a major power play.
On the power play, Clarke Petterson set up Brendan Bomberry and Bo Bowhunter to score two goals. Jacob Hickey scored a shorthanded goal for the Swarm, but that didn’t deter the Thunderbirds. Jason Knox scored and Randy Staats fired a shot from the left side to beat Dobson to give Halifax a 7-5 lead.
One of the many remarkable aspects of the Thunderbirds turnaround is that they did so without one of their best players. Randy Staats led the team in scoring last season with 102 points, but was hurt his leg (I don’t know the specific injury) on Feb. 27 against Calgary and hasn’t played since. Staats was hopeful the Thunderbirds could close out the series on Saturday night so he could rest until the finals, but he came in and had a huge game, scoring a goal and adding four assists.
“I felt pretty good. Obviously, I haven’t played in two months, so I was a little rusty. But I think I bring a little bit more to the team than just on the floor stuff, like helping guys out, staying positive and bringing them up,” said Staats.
“He’s an all-star, he’s an all-pro player, he’s one of the best in the world. When you can add a guy like that to the line-up, the other team has to rethink things. He proved why he’s one of the best,” said Jamieson.
Richie Connell scored the final goal of the quarter for Georgia, and the high-scoring first quarter ended with Halifax up 7-6.
Halifax opened the scoring in the second quarter. Petterson fired a shot, but Dobson made the save. Knox grabbed the rebound and jumped over the crease for the goal.
Jason Knox and Clarke Petterson have been a lethal duo for the Thunderbirds throughout the post-season. In four games, Knox has scored 15 goals, while Petterson has 26 assists and 32 points.
“There’s not too much to say, but they’re carrying the team right now,” said Staats. “In playoffs and these situations, it doesn’t matter who it is. We’ve been riding on Clarke’s back for a couple of years now, and Knoxy is finally coming around. It is amazing for him to step into this role.”
Georgia responded with a power play goal from Jackson. Mike Robinson and Toron Eccleston traded goals for both sides, and the half ended with Halifax up 9-8.
The third quarter belonged to the goalies. Warren Hill stopped two transition breaks, while Dobson stopped Graeme Hossack on a breakaway to open the quarter.
Even with the great goaltending, the Thunderbirds found the back of the net. Clarke Petterson faked a shot on Jacob Hickey to freeze him, then ran around him to score. Later on, Bo Bowhunter ran the ball up the floor and fired it past Dobson stick side, and Halifax went into the fourth quarter up 11-8.
Georgia opened the scoring in the fourth quarter. Kason Tarbell got open in front of Hill in transition and scored. But Halifax responded with Jason Knox and Brendan Bomberry scoring to take a 13-9 lead halfway through the quarter.
The Swarm wouldn’t surrender. Lyle Thompson and Bryan Cole passed the ball to each other multiple times before Cole fired it from the top of the horseshoe for the goal.
With two minutes left, Clarke Petterson grabbed a loose ball by the boards and dove across the crease to score to send the crowd into a frenzy with a 14-10 lead with two minutes left.
Bryan Cole scored one more goal, but Ryan Terefenko scored an empty net goal to seal the victory for Halifax.
Clarke Petterson led the way for Halifax with seven assists and nine points. Jason Knox had a hat trick and six points. Jamieson and Staats both had five points and Mike Robinson had four points. Jake Withers was terrific tonight, winning 26 out of 30 faceoffs, picking up 29 looseballs and adding two assists. Warren Hill stopped 37 out of 48 shots.
For the Swarm, Shayne Jackson led the way with three goals and six points. Bryan Cole and Toron Eccleston both had two goals and three points, Lyle Thompson had four assists, and Kaleb Benedict had three assists. Brett Dobson stopped 43 of 58 shots.
Halifax is fortunate to have a few players who have played in the NLL Finals before. Cody Jamieson, Stephen Keogh and head coach Mike Accursi, during his playing days, won three straight championships with the Rochester Knighthawks from 2012 to 2014. Jamieson was named the championship game MVP in two of those seasons before the finals became a best-of-three series. Randy Staats and Ethan O’Connor won together with Georgia in 2017. While Jamieson, Graeme Hossack and Jake Withers lost in 2018.
The Thunderbirds will now face the Toronto Rock. Toronto missed the playoffs last year but are rejuvenated this year with an excellent class of rookies.CJ Kirst is tied for first in team scoring with 71 points, and is nominated for rookie of the year. Owen Hiltz is third in team scoring with 64 points. Sam English scored 28 points in transition, and he’s up for transition player of the year. Surrounding them is an excellent group of veterans, like 2018 most valuable player, Mark Matthews, 2024 goaltender of the year, Nick Rose, current defensive player of the year nominee, Brad Kri, and Latrell Harris and Challen Rogers, who’ve both won major awards in their careers.
Halifax and Toronto played one game this year, and Toronto won 14-13.
“We know our history with (Toronto), we know they’re a great team,” said Jamieson. “They had a down year last year, traded players away and got everybody back and they have some good rookies. They beat us by one in the regular season. We have to keep playing the way we’ve been playing, have a belief in each other, and hopefully we will get the job done.”
Game one is on Friday, May 15, in Hamilton, Ont. Game two is on Sunday, May 17 in Halifax. If necessary, game three will be on May 23 in Hamilton.
