Thunderbirds cease two-game slide with ‘ugly’ win over Riptide
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It wasn’t fairly however the Halifax Thunderbirds will take the much-needed victory.
The Thunderbirds snapped a two-game shedding streak and moved again to .500 for the season after defeating the pesky New York Riptide 13-12 in a Nationwide Lacrosse League matinee Sunday at Scotiabank Centre.
In search of their first win since Jan. 27, the veteran Thunderbirds had been making their voices heard in an try to rally the troops. Though they relinquished one other lead within the fourth quarter, the host facet bent however didn’t break and finally persevered.
RANDY STAATS ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!
Staats goes no-look, behind-the-back, top-corner, for the Thunderbirds objective.
🗣️ #SCtop10…RT to let ’em know pic.twitter.com/yYSfrEna10
— NLL (@NLL) February 19, 2023
“Plenty of guys had been extra vocal on the bench,” stated Thunderbirds ahead Clarke Petterson, who collected two objectives and 4 assists within the sport. “(Defenceman) Luc Magnan was tremendous vocal. On the offensive finish, Randy (Staats) and Benny (Ryan Benesch) had been doing an important job of simply speaking to everyone.
“We did a greater job of simply not dwelling on our errors and persevering with to play properly. You’re not going to attain each time you go on the market, so that you’re going to make errors. It’s the way you’re in a position to rebound from these.
“It wasn’t fairly, sort of ugly, however I feel it was a giant step for us.”
Benesch (two objectives, 5 assists) and Staats and captain Cody Jamieson (three objectives every) led the Thunderbirds (5-5), who trailed by scores of 3-1 and 5-2 early on after which led 10-7 halfway by means of the third quarter. The Riptide (2-7) twice fell behind within the fourth solely to rebound and tie the rating.
Riptide star ahead Jeff Teat – the 2022 NLL rookie of the yr who leads the league with 34 objectives this season – scored six instances, tying Petterson and Halifax’s Austin Shanks for many objectives scored in an NLL sport at Scotiabank Centre.
“You possibly can’t take him evenly in any respect. They’re a harmful group simply due to how good their offence is and that’s due to Jeff,” Petterson stated. “He’s going to get his, he’s that sort of participant. You simply should attempt to restrict the affect that he can have on the sport.
“When you make a mistake, mess a change up, he’s going to attain. You bought to have the ability to shut him down on the following shift. I feel our protection did a great job of that.”
“It’s good to maintain the our bodies wholesome as a result of on the finish of the day, you simply don’t wish to win in February, you bought to win in Might.”
The Thunderbirds head right into a bye week and can return to motion on Friday, March 3 after they host the Buffalo Bandits, who’re tied with the Toronto Rock atop the East Convention at 8-2.
“A bye week is at all times good,” Petterson stated. “We’ll nonetheless practise arduous on Wednesday to proceed to maintain that momentum going however it’s good to have that little bit of a relaxation and reset.
“It’s good to maintain the our bodies wholesome as a result of on the finish of the day, you simply don’t wish to win in February, you bought to win in Might.”
Notice: Dartmouth’s Brett Draper made his Nationwide Lacrosse League debut with the Colorado Mammoth on Saturday night time. He collected 5 unfastened balls in a 13-7 loss to Panther Metropolis in Fort Value, Texas. Draper is the third Nova Scotian to play within the NLL this season, becoming a member of Philadelphia’s Alex Tempo and Toronto’s Jordan McKenna.
