Withers starting new chapter off the floor
Mar 26, 2025
Austin Owens I Halifax Thunderbirds
Jake Withers has had many achievements in his career, but three weekends ago, in Las Vegas, the Halifax Thunderbirds defender had one of the most memorable experiences of his life.
Withers and his longtime partner, Claire, had been engaged for two years, but unforeseen circumstances had pushed back their initial wedding date. Withers said that Claire usually makes one trip on the road every year, so they decided to have a Vegas wedding after the team’s game against the Las Vegas Desert Dogs.
“It started as something that was going to be very subtle and lowkey. At first, it was just going to be me and her, and then I told one guy, and he told another guy, and it just spread through the locker room, and everyone wanted to come. It was just the more, the merrier at that point,” Withers said with a laugh. “I didn’t really want to make that weekend bigger than the actual game itself, but the guys were all great and receptive to it, and it just added onto the weekend. It went from a few guys staying to basically the entire team. So it just snowballed into something big and we’re glad that we did it.”
It was an eventful weekend for the entire Thunderbirds team, and it started with a big victory on the road. Halifax took a 9-5 final at Lee’s Family Forum to capture their fifth straight win. After the game, the team was able to celebrate by going to a Steve Aoki show at Hakkasan at the MGM Grand.
On Sunday, it was time for the couple to tie the knot.
“People preach all the time that they’re more than just buddies or teammates; they’re family. It sounds cliche in some situations. But I truly believe it with our team, and I think it starts from the top down with Curt (Styres). He instills that in us from the moment we step into the room at ILA to start the year,” Withers said. “Being able to have (the wedding) and have 28 guys that I consider my brothers and their significant others, it was a special experience.
“It really hits home when you’re standing up there and your wife-to-be is walking down the aisle, and you have guys that you’ve never seen cry just bawling their eyes out. I think I said to Johnny (Pearson) that was probably the best weekend of my career and life.”
Once the wedding was finished, everyone headed to T-Mobile Arena to take in a Vegas Golden Knights game in the party suite.
The wedding is just one of the major life accomplishments Withers has had over the past two years. In 2023, the couple welcomed their first child, Charlotte, into the world. Last June, they had their second child, Wesley.
On the floor, the Thunderbirds assistant captain has been a veteran leader for the team. Last season, he had seven goals and 16 points with 282 loose balls and 28 caused turnovers. He set the NLL single-season record for loose balls – smashing the previous record by 40 – and took home the league’s Transition Player of the Year award.
Withers has become a Swiss Army Knife during his time in the NLL, excelling at both ends of the floor while also being one of the best face-off players in the league. He finished with 360 face-off wins in each of the last two seasons, coming up just three wins shy of the league record. Sitting at over 70 percent for win percentage is virtually unheard of in lacrosse, and Withers had accomplished the feat in both 2023 and 2024, respectively.
This season has been no different for Withers. He’s currently on pace to set a new career-high in points while sitting just below 60 percent from the stripe. He has had to take a smarter approach to this season because of the influx of face-off specialists that have been brought into the league this season. In previous years, Withers had some marquee draw matchups to look forward to, but this year, he sees an elite face-off athlete on almost a weekly basis.
“In the past, you’d get a team that didn’t have a face-off specialist, and I’d kind of be able to coast through that game. Now, like 80 percent of teams have a guy who’s very good at draws. The guys like me that were at the top end of the stats kind of forced the league to take notice and acknowledge the importance of the position,” Withers said. “It’s been an adjustment. In the first three or four games this year, I had to play some top guys, and it took a lot out of me. So now, I’ve just got to try and pick and choose my battles to save my energy for later in the game.”
After starting out the year 0-3, the Thunderbirds were in need of a “Get-right game”. That came against the Albany FireWolves when Halifax staged a 10-goal second-half run to take over momentum and run away with the game in The Nest.
Withers put an exclamation mark on the game during a post-game speech, as he talked about the team’s high expectations and their ability to bounce back from adversity. That mindset has been on display during the middle portion of the year. Halifax has gone on a tear that took them from the bottom half of the league standings to the playoff picture.
Winners of seven of their last nine games, the team’s success in transition has played a big part in the mid-season turnaround. Withers, Ryan Terefenko, and Graeme Hossack have been crucial in stinging opposing teams on the offensive end when they get looks.
Withers and Terefenko have known each other for nearly a decade now. The former graduated from Ohio State the same year the latter was in his freshman campaign. Now in their fourth year as teammates with the Thunderbirds, Terefenko is trying to make it back-to-back years bringing the Transition Player of the Year award to Halifax. The pair have always pushed each other on the floor to be the best they can be.
“We all expect the same amount of excellence out of one another. And I think we also have that burning desire to finally win it all together,” Withers said. “It’s hard to describe the level of despair you share with someone when you get to the end and come up short. That’s what happened to Terry and me in the National Championship in 2017. The bond that we and Johnny share is something that burns deep in us and helps to motivate us to finish the job this time around with the Thunderbirds.”
The team has proven its ability to be resilient multiple times during this year. Whether it’s a fourth-quarter comeback or pulling themselves out of the early hole to start the season, the never-say-die attitude of this Thunderbirds squad has them flying into the home stretch with confidence that they’re never out of a game.
Withers and the leadership group of the team will look to help land the Thunderbirds in a top-four position in the league, which would get them their first-ever home playoff date in Halifax.
“One of the things I think we pride ourselves on is being resilient. Guys know how hard it is to win in this league and what it takes to make a championship team,” Withers said. “We have multiple guys that have won championships on our team. The resiliency is great, but at the end of the day, everyone knows how good we are and the pieces that we’ve got in that locker room and what it’s going to take to win a championship.”
