The Halifax Thunderbirds defeated the Rochester Knighthawks 15-10 on Saturday night at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax to keep themselves tight in the playoff race. It was an excellent win for the 100th game in Halifax Thunderbirds’ history.
The Thunderbirds came into this game with six wins and nine losses (6-9), right behind the Rochester Knighthawks, who were 6-8. Both teams are chasing the Las Vegas Desert Dogs for the eighth and final playoff spot, along with San Diego. With Halifax winning and Las Vegas and San Diego losing this week, the Thunderbirds are now right behind the Desert Dogs in the standings. Las Vegas has a record of 7-8, while Halifax is 7-9.
“I think everyone understands the magnitude of the games moving forward, right. I feel like we’ve kind of been in due-or-die playoff mode for the past three or four weeks now. We’ve let a couple slip, and now our destiny is really in our hands. So, everyone has that mindset coming into each and every game,” said Thunderbirds’ assistant captain, Jake Withers.
The Thunderbirds had a boost on defence tonight with Trevor Smyth returning. The steady defenceman has been hurt the whole year after fracturing his arm in the pre-season. He played his first game tonight and scored the empty net goal to seal the win.
“A lot of hard work, a long year of rehab and everything and being stuck at home, watching. To get back and be with these guys is an amazing feeling,” said Smyth.
Smyth was steady the whole night for the Thunderbirds. Keeping good gap control and blocking passing lanes.
“He’s huge. He’s a guy that doesn’t get a lot of praise, to be honest, but if you’re one of the most elite defenders in the entire league, staying under the radar is what makes you elite, right. He does all the little things very well, he’s a great team guy, and great in the locker room. He can play both sides of the ball; he’s a little sneaky in transition like we saw there at the end. He’s a reliable guy, and we love having him back,” said Withers.
Rochester opened the scoring two minutes into the game. Blaze Riordan passed it across the crease to Ryan Smith, who shot the ball past Halifax’s goalie, Warren Hill, for the goal.
Halifax’s captain, Cody Jamieson, responded two minutes later, firing the ball up high through a small opening through traffic to beat Rochester’s goalie, Riley Hutchcraft. Shortly after, Jason Knox collected a rebound off Colton Armstrong’s shot to make it 2-1.
Halifax and Rochester traded goals to finish the quarter. Thomas McConvey and Ryan Lanchbury scored for the Kighthawks while Jake Withers and Jason Knox scored for Halifax. The quarter ended with Halifax up 4-3.
The Knighthawks opened the scoring in the second. Riordan fired a shot over traffic in the high slot, and the ball came down and went into the back of the net.
Halifax responded eight seconds later. Withers won the faceoff and took the ball himself up the floor. He slid it to Graeme Hossack, who had some space coming down the floor and scored. Seconds later, Lanchbury ran on goal and put the ball above Hill’s shoulder to score, but his foot touched the crease before the ball went into the back of the net, so it was called off.
Halifax struck back immediately. Quickly after the goal was called back, Clarke Peterson ran in on goal, stopped and turned back to Mike Robinson, who fired it into the back of the net.
Matt Gilray scored to keep the game close at 6-5, but then Halifax blew the game open.
Clarke Petterson started the run with a power play goal. Off the ensuing face-off, Ryan Terefenko took the ball down the floor and scored to make it 8-5. Jason Knox scored his hat trick goal from the left side to put Halifax up 9-5. They scored five goals in the first six minutes of the quarter.
The Thunderbirds weren’t done. The ball was swung to Stephen Keogh on the right side, and he fired a shot past Riley Hutchcraft from far out with no traffic in front to make the game 10-5. Hutchcraft was pulled for Rylan Hartley.
It didn’t take long for Halifax to generate some offence on Hartley. Just over two minutes after he came in, Clarke Petterson beat him to make the score 11-5 to finish the first half.
Eleven goals is by far the most Halifax has scored in the first half this year, and one goal shy of their most in a half this season.
“I think our offence is starting to be clicking over the last couple of games. Having eight guys up there and they are all gaining some chemistry now. Being able to chip in in other aspects of the game, off the faceoff, between the lines, playing great defence, and transition from there is something that bolsters that goal total,” said Withers.
Rochester came out strong to start the third quarter. Connor Fields passed it to Ryan Smith up high to score a shorthanded goal. They added another goal three minutes later when Thomas McConvey fired it into the top corner on the power play.
Withers responded 16 seconds later for Halifax. He stole the ball from Dan Coates and dodged around him to score his second of the game, to make the game 12-7 halfway through the quarter. Withers finished the game with two goals, four points, 11 loose balls and won 18/28 faceoffs. He earned his 100th point and 2,400 career faceoff win tonight.
“He’s a phenomenal player. If you really take the time to watch him, he does everything out there. Seeing the offensive capabilities as well with the six points, he’s one of the best defenders in the league and probably the best faceoff guy out there, too. Having a guy like him out there with this team, his value is just tremendous for us. I’m happy for him, that’s a great game,” said Smyth.
Halifax opened the scoring 11 seconds into the fourth quarter. Withers won the faceoff and took the ball into the high slot. He passed the ball down to Clarke Petterson, who scored his hat-trick goal. It was also the fourth goal Halifax scored off faceoffs.
“I think having everyone on the same page is something we worked extensively on this week. It is something I think we had opportunities with the first three quarters of the year. We haven’t really capitalized on many of those opportunities, unfortunately. I think over the last two games we got better and better, and tonight was the accumulation of that,” said Withers.
Twenty seconds after Petterson’s goal, Brendan Bomberry scored to stretch Halifax’s lead to 14-7.
Rochester answered in transition. Cody Jamieson missed his shot and the ball bounced all the way to the Thunderbirds’ bench, where Taylor Jensen picked it up, outmuscled Clarke Petterson, and went in on goal to score.
The Knighthawks wouldn’t go away. Ryan Lanchbury and Connor Fields added goals to make the score 14-10 with two minutes left to go.
Rochester pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker, and Trevor Smyth scored on the empty net to seal the win for Halifax. About five players ran off the bench in excitement to celebrate Smyth’s first goal in his first game back.
“Empty netter at the end, it does feel good to get back and get one of those under my belt, that was nice,” said Smyth.
Jake Withers led the way for Halifax with two goals and six points. Clarke Petterson scored three goals and three assists, Jason Knox also scored a hat trick. Brendan Bomberry, Mike Robinson and Will MacLeod scored three points. Warren Hill stopped 41/51 shots.
Ryan Lanchbury led the way for Rochester with two goals and five points. Connor Fields was limited to one goal, but he had five assists. Thomas McConvey and Ryan Smith added two goals and two assists. Riley Hutchcraft stopped 22/32 shots, while Rylan Hartley stopped 19/24 shots in relief.
The loss drops Rochester’s record to six wins and nine losses. They are now a win back of Halifax and Las Vegas with three games left to play, but it won’t be easy. They play Buffalo next week and have a back-to-back against Georgia in the final week of the season.
With the win, the Halifax Thunderbirds are tied in wins with the Las Vegas Desert Dogs with seven wins, but Las Vegas has a game in hand. The Thunderbirds will travel to Vancouver next week to play the second-place Warriors, trying to keep pushing for the playoffs.
“We have a good litmus test next week against Vancouver, who’s already clinched. They are a good, young, hungry team that is good on both ends, so we need to have another good week and come ready,” said Withers.
