Thunderbirds drop close game to Knighthawks

Jan 18, 2025

The Halifax Thunderbirds dropped the second half of their home and home with the Rochester Knighthawks on Saturday night, losing 10-9 at Scotiabank Centre. 

Randy Staats had a team-best five points while Mike Robinson, Clarke Petterson, and Thomas Hoggarth all had three points apiece.

Warren Hill turned away 47 shots on the night. 

Mike Robinson opened the scoring at the 13:33 mark of the first and Clarke Petterson doubled the lead just over a minute later. But Rochester ended the quarter with three of their own. Chad Tutton scored in transition to get the visitors on the board, and Connor Fields and Ryan Smith followed with goals to put the Knighthawks up by one after the opening frame. 

Despite the high-scoring nature of the last game between these two teams, this matchup was a lower-scoring affair, and in the second, there was just three combined goals. Staats got his first of the game, but he was answered with a transition goal from Jacob Piseno. However, Staats got his second straight for the Thunderbirds to make it a 4-4 game at the half. 

Halifax made their biggest run of the game in the third, starting out fast again to open the second half. Robinson and Staats went back-to-back in the opening two minutes. Fields got his second, but another pair of goals from Cody Jamieson and Petterson gave Halifax a three-goal advantage going into the final quarter. 

But Rochester turned it around in the fourth, scoring three unanswered. Colton Armstrong got the Thunderbirds back in front with a transition goal, but the Knighthawks scored another two goals to jump in front. 

Halifax pushed for the equalizer, but they couldn't find the tying goal in the closing minutes.

Now sitting at 2-4 to open the season, the Thunderbirds go into a bye week before returning home for a matchup with the Vancouver Warriors on Jan 31. Opening face-off is at 7:30 p.m. AT.