Rookie Andrew Kew the catalyst for first-place Black Wolves

Has three goals and four assists in the NLL victory

Mohegan — It was a few days before the New England Black Wolves' Feb. 22 game against Rochester. Andrew Kew's phone rang and it was head coach Glenn Clark, the bearer of not necessarily such good news for Kew, the National Lacrosse League rookie.

The Black Wolves, then on a threegame losing streak, were scratching Kew, who had just one goal in the month of February to that point, for the game against Rochester.

"He was disappointed," Clark said. "I wouldn't want a guy who wasn't disappointed. There's value sometimes in stepping back. (He handled it) like a pro. He was great."

Kew, a lefty and the third pick overall in the most recent NLL entry draft, is back.

He finished with three goals and four assists Sunday, the catalyst for New England's 16-10 victory over the Halifax Thunderbirds before 5,502 fans at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The victory completed a weekend sweep for the Black Wolves (7-3), who began it with a 12-8 win Friday night against the New York Riptide at Nassau Coliseum, with Kew contributing one goal and four assists in his first game back after the scratch.

The Wolves now find themselves in first place in the NLL's East Divison, ahead of Georgia (6-4) and Philadelphia (7-5), headed to Philadelphia next week for a matchup with the rival Wings.

"It's huge," Clark said of the sweep, giving the Wolves three straight wins. "Getting double wins over the weekend, one, it's difficult, and two, it's massive. You breathe a sigh of relief coming out. No one's slowing down in these divisions."

Callum Crawford led New England with five goals and three assists against Halifax, followed by Kew with four. Joe Resetarits (2 goals, 1 assist), John LaFontaine (1 goal, 2 assists) and Stephan Leblanc (3 assists) each added three points and goalie Doug Jamieson made 41 saves.

It was Kew, named the first star of the game, who got things started, scoring three of New England's first five goals on the way to a 5-3 lead.

After Jake Withers scored for Halifax just nine seconds into the game, Kew made it 1-1, assisted by Leblanc and Crawford. Jackson Nishimura scored in transition on an assist by Jamieson to put the Wolves up 2-1 and Kew and Resetarits followed with two more goals to make it 4-1.

Kew, the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder, completed his hat trick just 3:41 into the second quarter assisted by defender Creighton Reid, giving the Black Wolves a 5-3 edge and Craw

ford followed, then Reilly O'Connor assisted by Kew to lengthen the lead to 7-3.

New England led 9-6 at halftime and 11-8 after three quarters.

Ryan Benesch scored to start the fourth to pull Halifax within two goals, but New England responded, generating two of the most thunderous reactions of the game from the crowd as LaFontaine first threaded a pass to Adam Bomberry in front of the Halifax goal to boost the margin back to three and LaFontaine followed with a leaping goal in transition to push it to 13-9.

It was the second hat trick of Kew's career and the first since Dec. 27.

"I think first off the bat was just confidence," Kew, the former All-American at the University of Tampa, said of his solid showing. "It was mostly because our offense was swinging the ball so well, swinging the ball side-to-side.

"... That's something (the scratch) that as a competitor is really tough. It's been awhile since that happened. For me, I think it was just a confidence thing, just sticking with the process and my teammates helping me."

Clark calls his offense "more dangerous" since the three-game losing streak which has now morphed into a three-game winning streak.

"We've really pushed them and done a lot of work," Clark said. "They've responded."

It was the second loss in as many days for Halifax, which started the weekend 7-2 overall and in first place in the NLL North Division, but fell Saturday night to Buffalo, 139, on its way to Mohegan Sun. The Thunderbirds now sit behind Toronto and Buffalo, both at 7-3.

Cody Jamieson finished with four goals and two assists for Halifax. v.fulkerson@theday.com