Thunderbirds drop Home Opener to Roughnecks
Dec 8, 2024
HALIFAX, NS (December 7, 2024) – The Halifax Thunderbirds came up short in a shootout in The Nest, losing to the Calgary Roughnecks 18-17 at Scotiabank Centre on Saturday night.
Clarke Petterson and Randy Staats led the way offensively for the Thunderbirds, posting nine points apiece. Dawson Theede (4G, 2A) had a strong first game of his campaign, while new additions Thomas Hoggarth (4G, 2A) and Jason Knox (3G, 2A) also made their marks in their respective Thunderbirds debuts.
Ryan Terefenko finished the game with a pair of goals, three loose balls, and two caused turnovers.
Warren Hill turned away 38 shots but dropped his first start of the year.
Halifax came out of the gates strong, jumping out to a 5-1 lead in the opening 12 minutes. Randy Staats scored in transition to get Halifax’s first goal of the season, and despite a Dane Dobbie marker two minutes after, the Thunderbirds went on a four-goal run to take control. Terefenko had another transition goal before Mike Robinson ripped a shot home for his first career NLL goal. Theede and Petterson got their first goals of the year to get The Nest rocking early.
But the back-and-forth nature of this contest was displayed early on. Tanner Cook and Jesse King score back-to-back goals to finish the first quarter, leaving the Thunderbirds with a 5-3 advantage.
Halifax continued their offensive push in the second quarter. Theede fired a laser of a shot from the outside for his second goal. From there, the newest Thunderbirds went on a run. Knox potted his first as a Bird off a solid passing play, and Hoggarth scored two straight directly after. Knox got his second at the 7:48 mark, making it 10-3 Halifax heading towards the half. But again, the game of runs saw Calgary punch back.
Dobbie ended the run, scoring Calgary’s first goal of the second frame, and despite Knox getting his hat trick goal, the Roughnecks got four goals in the final four minutes of the half to cut into the deficit.
King and Dobbie had quick strikes under 30 seconds apart, and Curtis Dickson got on the board with his first two goals to cap off the half. What was an 11-4 lead at one point for the hosts was just an 11-7 advantage heading into the locker room.
Calgary carried its momentum from the end of the first half into the third quarter. Cook scored 17 seconds into the second half. And back-to-back markers from Dobbie tied the game at 11 at the 6:43 mark.
But Halifax got their second-half scoring going in a big way. Petterson stung a shot home at 5:55, Hoggarth added another 24 seconds later, and then off that ensuing draw, Terefenko got his second in transition. It took under a minute for Halifax to restore a three-goal lead.
Dickson and Theede traded goals to end the third, leaving Halifax up 15-12 with one quarter to play.
Bennett Smith got his first NLL goal to pull the Roughnecks closer to open the fourth. Hoggarth answered with his fourth of the game, but from there, Calgary went on their biggest run of the game. Dickson added another pair, while Cook got the tying marker. After a late penalty call on Graeme Hossack, Brett McIntyre found the go-ahead goal on the Power Play.
Halifax pushed in the final minute for a tying marker, but Ethan Ticehurst got the insurance goal for the visitors on the empty net with 22 seconds to play. Theede got one back for the Birds with a second to go, but Calgary held on for the 18-17 victory.
Now sitting at 0-1 to open the year, the Thunderbirds have a quick turnaround and a chance to get in the win column on Dec 14, when they head on the road for the first time this year to play the Saskatchewan Rush. Opening face-off is set for 9:00 p.m. AT.