Hill, defence stand tall; Thunderbirds beat Desert Dogs
Mar 2, 2025
(LAS VEGAS, NV) March 1, 2025 -- The Halifax Thunderbirds took home their fifth straight victory on Saturday night, beating the Las Vegas Desert Dogs 9-5 at Lee's Family Forum.
Randy Staats (3A), Clarke Petterson (1G, 2A), and Cole Kirst (1G, 2A) all tied for the team lead in points for the night. Cody Jamieson also added a pair of goals while Thomas Hoggarth had a goal and an assist.
Ryan Terefenko had another big outing, posting a goal and an assist to go along with eight loose balls and two caused turnovers.
Warren Hill took home his fifth win on the campaign, turning away 41 Vegas shots in the process.
The first half was tight between the two teams, with only five combined goals finding twine in the opening half hour. Luckily for Halifax, four of them dropped for them.
Thomas Hoggarth opened the scoring for the Thunderbirds at the 5:46 mark, slipping a pick in the two man game before reeling in and finishing a Staats feed in close. Colton Armstrong made it a two-goal advantage with a transition tally that was deemed a goal after a review.
Hill and the Thunderbirds' defence shut things down in the first quarter, keeping it 2-0 through 15 minutes.
Josh Jackson scored his first career goal in transition to get the Desert Dogs on the board to start the second quarter.
But the Thunderbirds answered back with a pair of their own, with Cody Jamieson scoring a five-hole shot before Jason Knox went bar-down in transition coming off the bench with just over two minutes left in the half, sending Halifax into the break up 4-1 on the road.
The third quarter was opened by a goal from Cole Kirst, who scooped up a rebound and outwaited goalie Landon Kells and multiple Desert Dogs defenders to score his first of the game.
Holden Cattoni scored his first on the power play at the 4:24 mark of the third, but he was answered once again by back-to-back tallies by the Thunderbirds.
Petterson hammered a short-side shot home from distance and then off the ensuing draw, Ryan Terefenko stepped into a laser of a shot that pinged off the far-side post to put Halifax up 7-2 in the final minute of the third. Jonathan Donville got one back as the clock expired in the frame, leaving the visitors with a 7-3 advantage with a quarter to play.
Cattoni added another on the man advantage to start the fourth, but Cody Jamieson scored a power-play goal of his own -- The 350th goal of his career.
Brandon Goodwin scored a transition goal with 4:07 left, but Tyson Bell sealed it with an empty netter after scooping up a missed chance on the net from the other end by Hill.
With the 9-5 victory, the Thunderbirds have now won five straight games and seven of their last eight games. They'll now return home for their next three contests, where they'll welcome the Toronto Rock (Mar 7), Saskatchewan Rush (Mar 14), and the Ottawa Black Bears (Mar 21) to The Nest in March.
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