The story of the night started as the battle of the coasts at the Scotiabank Centre; do the Thunderbirds have what it takes to compete against the top teams in the league? It quickly became up to Ryan Terefenko and the Thunderbirds defense.
Goals from Jamieson, Terefenko, and Hoggarth had Halifax up 3-1, until a bad defensive lapse from the 3:10 mark in the first quarter to 14:31 saw them down 5-3. All four goals in that stretch were scored on Halifax goalie Warren Hill’s doorstep; two came from Adam Charalambides and Keegan Bal, both players who can’t be given an inch of space.
Petterson, unsurprisingly, was first on the score sheet in Halifax’s journey back to the lead, scoring a diving goal halfway through the second quarter. Two shorthanded Thunderbirds goals followed, one being a Terefenko quick stick tuck from beside the net, less expected.
A Theede overhand bomb beat Vancouver goalie Aden Walsh to open the second half. Terefenko’s third breakout goal put Halifax up 7-5 and had the crowd on its feet.
Thunderbirds goalie Warren Hill wasn’t surprised to see Terefenko’s hat trick.
“[Terefenko] has something you can’t teach, that pure athleticism and grittiness,” Hill said. “When we give him the ball, we know no one is taking it away from him and no one is catching him.”
Terefenko said he has a lot of thoughts when he decides to rush as a defenseman, including how far he is from the net and how far someone is from him. Sometimes, though, “you just have to shut your mind off and let it go,” said Terefenko. Something else you can’t teach: the ability to get out of your own way.
Terefenko and the defense didn’t, and Halifax got back in the win column. Walsh was a wall in net making 43 saves. Hill, who was benched for Aidan Hutchison in weeks six, seven and eight, followed up his impressive performance last week with a solid 29 saves. The Thunderbirds held Charalambides and Bal scoreless in the final three quarters.
Can the defense keep this up against the twotop point getters in the league – Joe Resetaris and Mitch Jones? What about standout rookie Brennan O’Neill, who is already breaking records becoming the first player with eight points in the NCAA (field lacrosse), the PLL (field lacrosse) and the NLL?
Terefenko said the Warriors game shows the Thunderbirds are better than their record suggests. They’ll need to be much better than a 3-4 team against the highest scoring offense in the NLL over the next two weekends.
Halifax will need to have the whole machine in fine working order for the third overall Philadelphia Wings. Jamieson and the Thunderbirds offense need to be ready for this one to turn into a shootout; another 50 shots on goal will help, but this time, those shots need to drop.
Possession, as always, will be a decider in these games. Jake Withers’ season faceoff win rate of 50 per cent is down 16 per cent from his career average. A repeat of the Vancouver game with only 7/23 faceoff wins won’t cut it here. He’ll need to use these next two games against the Wings’ shaky face-off men Tyler Burton and Nathan Fehr to find his form.
The Thunderbirds play in Philadelphia on Saturday Feb. 8 and in Halifax on Saturday Feb. 15.
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