Thunderbirds win shootout over Black Bears

Mar 21, 2025

(HALIFAX, NS) March 21, 2025 – The Halifax Thunderbirds won a back-and-forth affair against the Ottawa Black Bears, defeating their Canadian rival 17-16 at Scotiabank Centre on Friday night. 

Both Randy Staats (1G, 4A) and Clarke Petterson (2G, 3A) each finished with five points apiece, while Mike Robinson (1G, 2A), Jason Knox (2G, 1A), and Thomas Hoggarth (2G, 1A) also chipped in with strong outings. 

Graeme Hossack had a career night, scoring his first career hat trick, five points, and 13 loose balls. Jake Withers also had three assists with a season-high 24 loose balls while going 21 of 36 on face-offs. Ryan Terefenko also had a goal and three helpers. 

Drew Hutchison came into the game in relief and made 33 saves to get his third win of the year. 

The hectic pace of the game was set from the get-go, with the Thunderbirds getting a goal from Cole Kirst at the 12:11 mark. But Ottawa came back with four of their own to gain an early advantage. Jeff Teat had a pair in the run, and Travis Longboat and Taggart Clark added on. A Ryan Terefenko transition tally cut the deficit to two, but Reilly O'Connor's first of the night made it 5-2 Ottawa after the opening quarter.

Longboat opened the second frame with his second of the game. But Halifax went on a run to get back into the game. Knox scored on a beautiful crease dive before back-to-back goals from Jamieson made it a one-goal game. Hoggarth made it three goals in under a minute with an underhanded finish to knot things at six. 

But a three-goal Black Bears run swung the momentum again. A pair from O'Connor and another from Larson Sundown put Ottawa up 9-6 at the end of the half. A transition goal from Clarke Petterson made it a two-goal contest with 30 minutes left. 

Like many of their other wins on the year, the Thunderbirds flipped the script with a big frame. This time, it was in the third. Hossack scored his first at the 9:43 mark. After going down two men, Halifax got a shorthanded goal in transition, with Mike Robinson flipping a ball behind the back to Trevor Smyth. He outwaited Zach Higgins for a big juice goal that fired up the bench and The Nest. That tied the game back up at nine. 

Staats got his first of the night with a beauty, pinging the crossbar with an outside shot, Petterson added another with a back-post quick-stick finish, and Knox came off the bench and tucked a transition goal to make it 12-9 Thunderbirds. Jake Stevens answered back off that ensuing draw to get Ottawa closer, but Hoggarth stung a shot top corner to get that goal back. 

But the Black Bears got goals from Teat and Sundown in the final 40 seconds to pull the game to 13-12 in favour of Halifax with a quarter to play. 

The final frame was back and forth the whole way. Teat and Matt Marinier scored for the Black Bears, but Colton Armstrong and Hossack scored back for Halifax. A power-play goal from Teat at the 8:10 mark tied the game again, but another two-goal run from the Thunderbirds was the ultimate difference. Robinson let a low-to-high shot go that went bar down while shorthanded to put his team back ahead, and then after a defensive stop, Hossack completed his hat trick, beating Higgins high on the run. 

Another from Teat with a minute-and-a-half left got the game back to within a goal. However, Drew Hutchison and the defence stood tall in the final minute to secure the 17-16 win.

Now, winners of two straight, the Thunderbirds will head on the road next weekend for a matchup with the Georgia Swarm at Gas South Arena on Mar 30. Opening face-off is set for 5:00 p.m. AT.