Albany wins its third straight, topping Halifax
Jamieson stops 46 Thunderbirds’ shots to keep FireWolves ahead
ALBANY — Denied a normal pregame warmup and starting later than usual on Saturday night, the Albany FireWolves continued their winning ways and handed Halifax its first defeat.
Doug Jamieson made 46 saves and Charlie Kitchen scored twice to lead the FireWolves to their third consecutive victory, an 8-6 victory over the Thunderbirds in a National Lacrosse League match before an announced attendance of 5,038 fans at MVP Arena.
Albany improved to 3-2, while the Thunderbirds fell to 3-1.
“I think it’s huge for us,” Jamieson said. “Philly’s a good team too, we beat them (two weeks ago), and that was kind of a stepping stone, but Halifax has been kind of looked at as like, them and Buffalo are like the cream of the crop right now, rosterwise. So I think coming in and beating a team like that, we’re putting the league on notice. But now we’re going to get everyone’s best game, I think. Nobody’s going to sleep on us.”
The match started at 8:21 p.m., about 20 minutes later than scheduled, as the MVP Arena crew worked hard to put down the artificial turf following the Mayor’s Cup men’s and
women’s hockey doubleheader between RPI and Union earlier in the day. Players were able to get on the field for brief warmups.
“It’s just kind of something you have to keep out of your head, I think,” said Jamieson, who said he faced his usual number of pregame shots, just in a condensed period of time. “You can let it affect you, but at the end of the day, it’s just they (Halifax) have to deal with it, too, so it’s a fair game, that’s how I thought of it. I thought we came out strong, got a couple of goals early there and it made the difference at the end.”
Once the playing surface was ready, the FireWolves got off to a fast start and led 6-1 at halftime. Jamieson made a save that led to Andrew Kew’s transition goal off a pass from Colton Watkinson for a 1-0 lead just 48 seconds into the game.
Then Jamieson stopped a breakaway bid by Halifax’s Ryan Terefenko.
The FireWolves made it 2-0 on a delayed penalty as Kitchen scored on a pass from behind the goal from Reilly O’Connor, back in the lineup after missing a win at Philadelphia two weeks ago while in COVID -19 protocols.
“All of us have such good chemistry off the floor,” Kitchen said. “We pick up on each other’s tendencies and we know what each want to do, so it’s great playing with them and knowing what they want to do.”
They extended their lead to 3-0 with 8:22 left in the opening period on Joe Resetarits’ low, hard shot from the right side past Halifax’s Warren Hill, who entered the match as one of the NLL’s top goalies.
The Thunderbirds finally got on the board midway through the opening quarter on a goal by Colton Armstrong.
Then Albany took control on the power play. The FireWolves scored easily on Jacob Ruest’s goal on a 5-on-3 to go up 4-1 with 37.5 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
The resulting manadvantage carried into the second quarter and Albany’s Nick Chaykowsky charged down the middle to beat Hill for a 5-1 lead with 14:48 left in the first half.
FireWolves transition player Tony Malcom added to the lead by finishing a 3-on-1 opportunity that put Albany ahead 6-1 with 6:53 to play in the half.
As Halifax tried to fight back into the game, Albany’s Ryan Benesch fought off a check and scored a short-handed goal on an outside shot for a 7-2 lead with 8:32 remaining in the third period.
“Halifax is obviously a really good team, so the ability to have a quick start, it changes the flow of your game when you’re not chasing,” FireWolves head coach Glenn Clark said. “I’ll take that every game.”
The FireWolves return to action next weekend with a home-and-home against the Georgia Swarm and former University at Albany star Lyle Thompson. They play in Duluth, Ga. on Friday and at MVP Arena on Saturday.