Both teams came into Sunday’s matinee playing their second game of the weekend and looking to finish it off on a high note. The New England Black Wolves (7-3) took their previous game on Friday in New York while the Halifax Thunderbirds (7-4) were looking to rebound from a Saturday night loss in Buffalo.
With the 16-10 win over Halifax on Sunday, New England jumped Philadelphia to get back into first place in the East, while the Thunderbirds dropped out of first in the North for the first time this season. The Black Wolves are now tied with Toronto and Buffalo for the top spot in the National Lacrosse League.
The Black Wolves were coming off a 12-8 victory on the road in New York on Friday and put up their third highest offensive outburst of the season as Callum Crawford’s five goals led New England to a dominant win over a strong Halifax team.
Crawford and the Black Wolves’ offense has looked to be back to their early season dominance as of late, scoring 46 goals in their last three games, all wins. Crawford has scored 12 of those goals and also added 16 assists over the last three games.
After being a healthy scratch on February 22nd against Rochester, rookie Andrew Kew has answered the challenge from Coach Glenn Clark. Kew had a goal and four assists in his first game back on Friday in New York, and then scored three of New England’s first five goals on his way to a seven point night on Sunday against Halifax.
New England got offense from all over, as nine players had multiple points and nine guys found the back of the net. Even goalie Doug Jamieson found the scoresheet and added two clutch assists to keep the Black Wolves offense rolling.
Jamieson added 41 saves to his two assists and continued to be the stalwart back end to the Black Wolves’ three headed monster of offense, defense, and goaltending. Non offensive players Colton Watkinson, Adam Bomberry, Jackson Nishimura, John LaFontaine, and Jordan Durston each added timely goals for the Black Wolves.
The Black Wolves scored eight of the last 12 goals of this game to overwhelm the Thunderbirds and put their squad back atop the National Lacrosse League standings.
Cody Jamieson led the Thunderbirds with four goals and two assists after sitting out Saturday’s loss due to a suspension. Clarky Petterson added two goals and two assists for Halifax.
New England outshot Halifax 52-51 and the Thunderbirds can credit their power play with keeping them in the game going three-for-three on the man advantage. New England’s power play also had a solid night scoring on two of their six opportunities.
The Black Wolves are back in action on March 7th when they travel to Philadelphia in their last of three regular season contests with the Wings. New England will be back at Mohegan Sun Arena the following weekend when Calgary visits The Den on Sunday, March 15th.