The Halifax Thunderbirds narrowly beat the Ottawa Black Bears 17-16 on Friday night in front of 9,547 fans at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
“It obviously wasn’t pretty. We just trusted our guys and made plays when we did. We had a bunch of players step up and make some great individual efforts,” said Thunderbirds defender Graeme Hossack. “(Drew) Hutchison stepping in was awesome today, and that’s all we can ask. Even if it’s not pretty, we lost our composure at times, but we managed to pull together to win the game.”
Hossack was huge for the Thunderbirds tonight. The usual shutdown defenceman stepped up offensively. He scored the game-winning goal, a shorthanded goal and a game-tying goal, all in the second half for his first career hat trick. He added two assists to lead the team with five points.
“I think it was just opportunities and the ‘O’ (offensive) guys trusting what we do,” said Hossack. “It was happening to drop for me today. Usually, I like giving it to the ‘O’ guys and letting them do their thing because they are pretty to watch; they move the ball so nicely. But today, it was just falling for me.”.
This was a tough loss for the Black Bears, who are fighting to get into the playoffs. They started strong this season with five wins and four losses but have now dropped four straight, including two to the Thunderbirds.
“It’s tough, obviously, we knew what was at stake with playoff implications. Losing this is going to make that much harder,“ said Black Bears defender Luc Magnan. “But you know, I’m proud of just how we competed. Last weekend, we got punched in the mouth a little bit with Rochester, and our competitive level and effort was there tonight. It was just little mistakes, and when you play a good team like Halifax, they’re going to make you pay. If we cleaned up some of those mental errors, it’s probably a different ball game.”
Magnan was another original Thunderbird to return this season, joining Austin Shanks last week and Eric Fannell earlier in the season when he played for Albany before he coincidentally got traded to Ottawa. Magnan was a reliable defender for the Thunderbirds and ceremonially was one of the first players to represent the team in Halifax. He and three teammates joined owner Curt Styres on the last leg of his three-month canoe trip from his home in Six Nations, Ont. to Halifax during the summer they moved to the city in 2019. Magnan brought his family to celebrate his return to Halifax.
“As you can see, I brought my family. Halifax is a very special place to us, and I’ve been a part of the Thunderbirds/Knighthawks organization for eight years,” said Magnan. “A lot of my best friends are on the other team. Curt, an unbelievable owner, you know, being a part of the inaugural year here and the canoe trip over was something I will always be proud of. I obviously love those guys, it sucks losing, but it’s been amazing to be back for sure.”
“He’s a great team guy, I have nothing bad to say about him,” said Hossack, Magnan’s longtime defensive teammate. “He is a phenomenal player; he knows how to make the guys laugh and bring them all together. It’s sad that he’s not on our team anymore, but that is professional sports. It goes that way sometimes.”.
Cole Kirst opens the scoring for the Thunderbirds three minutes in.
Jeff Teat answered for Ottawa two minutes later. He received a pass in the slot from some quick ball movement by the Black Bears and put it into the back of the net.
Ottawa kept coming. Travis Longboat, Jeff Teat and Taggart Clark scored to stretch their lead to 4-1. Halifax pulled goaltender Warren Hill and replaced him with Drew Hutchison.
Ryan Terefenko scored on a transition breakaway goal to give Halifax some life, but Reilly O’Connor answered back for Ottawa to take a 5-2 lead into the second quarter.
Ottawa broke open the scoring in the second quarter when Travis Longboat sniped another goal.
The Thunderbirds wouldn’t be down for long as Jason Knox dove over the crease to score.
That started the charge for the Thunderbirds. Cody Jamieson scored two goals within a minute of Knox’s goal to bring the team to life. Thomas Hoggarth tied the game at six.
But Ottawa wouldn’t allow Halifax to take the lead. Larson Sundown, from behind the net, passed it to O’Connor in the slot for a goal. Sundown caused more problems from behind the net by dunking the ball three minutes later.
Reilly O’Connor completed his hat trick to stretch Ottawa’s lead to 9-6 with five minutes left in the second quarter.
“We were just sitting on our heels,” said Hossack about the defence’s poor performance in the first half. “We had to get them on the run, stay physical with them and take away that space. It paid off in the second half.”
Clarke Petterson scored a shorthanded goal in the last minute to give the Thunderbirds some life.
Graeme Hossack opened the scoring in the second half with another shorthanded goal. He got the ball in transition, dropped the shoulder against Reed Kurtz and scored. But Halifax wasn’t done. While down on a 5-on-3 penalty kill, Mike Robinson and Trevor Smyth went on a break and Smyth scored to tie the game at nine.
“We had a lot of guys playing very confident in transition and shooting the ball well. We had a lot of man downs, so we had a lot of opportunities, and we took advantage of it today,” said Hossack. The Thunderbirds were shorthanded 10 times in the game.
Halifax finally regained the lead. Randy Staats found a hole between two defenders from an excellent pick by Petterson. Staats ran in on goal and scored to make the game 10-9 midway through the third quarter.
Clarke Petterson and Jason Knox scored to stretch Halifax’s lead to 12-9.
Ottawa answered right after with a goal from Jake Stevens. Then Thomas Hoggarth and Jeff Teat traded goals for both teams.
With 39 seconds left in the third quarter, Jake Withers got a delay of game and unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. He went early on the face-off and got called for it. Withers said after the game, he thought his opponent had gone early and debated the call, not allowing for a quick restart, which led to his delay in the game penalty. He also got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for continuing to challenge the call. Larson Sundown and Jeff Teat scored on the double-minor to tie the game at 13 early in the fourth quarter.
“It is what it is. I tried to reason with the referee, which you can never do, and he called me for a second one,” said Withers. “It was stupid and something I need to learn from.”
The game remained tight. Colton Armstrong and Graeme Hossack scored for Halifax, while Matt Marinier and Connor Kearnan scored for Ottawa to have the game tied at 15 with eight minutes left.
Matt Robinson scored another shorthanded goal for the Thunderbirds to take the lead.
Confusion led to Halifax’s next goal. Ottawa felt they were going on the power play and pulled goaltender Zach Higgins. However, there was no delayed penalty. Hossack scooped up the loose ball and ran down the floor. Higgins beat him back to the net but was never set, and Hossack scored his hat trick goal.
Ottawa answered right off the face-off as Stevens passed it to Teat in the high slot to score to make the game 17-16 with 1:34 left in the fourth quarter. Jeff Teat finished the game with five goals and 10 points.
“Jeff Teat is obviously a pretty special player, right.,” said Magnan. “He’s arguably one of the best players in the world. He’s our captain and leader. He’s the hardest-working player I know, and when he’s on, it elevates everybody else and makes everyone else that much better. It sucks when your offence does their job and puts up 16 goals, and we don’t hold up our end of the bargain on the defensive end. It’s tough.”
With a minute left, Tyson Bell got called for an illegal cross-check, sending Ottawa to one last-man advantage.
Halifax killed much of that power play with some excellent work from Ryan Terefenko. He used his athleticism to run, duck, and dodge sticks and bodies, and he held the ball for 30 seconds. Terefenko finished with a goal and four points. He has 33 points and 99 loose balls in 14 games this season. Making some noise about Transition Player of the Year, which Withers won last year.
“You put my statistics next to his, and we still have four games left, and he’s already blown me out of the water,” said Withers. “I know that Owen Grant kid in Vancouver is having a great season as well, but you just come out and watch one of the games, even if you’re just a casual fan, and you’re asking everyone who the heck is this guy right,” said Withers.
Ottawa had 12 seconds to go up the floor and score, and Jeff Teat had a point-blank chance, but Drew Hutchison stopped the shot to win the game.
Hossack led the way for the Thunderbirds with three goals, five points and 13 loose balls. Clarke Petterson and Randy Staats also scored five points, and Ryan Terefenko and Cody Jamieson scored four. Withers won 21/36 faceoffs, collected 24 loose balls and put up three assists. The Thunderbirds travel to Georgia next week, a team right behind them in the standings.
Jeff Teat led the game for Ottawa with 10 points. Reilly O’Connor had three goals and three assists, and Larson Sundown and Travis Longboat both scored two goals and two assists. They don’t have much time to dwell on this loss as they play the Colorado Mammoth on Sunday during a two-game weekend.
