Home has been sweet home for the Halifax Thunderbirds.
Their ascension to the perch of the National Lacrosse League standings has been, in large part, due to a perfect home record. Four of their league-best five wins have come at Scotiabank Centre.
The 5-0 Thunderbirds, though, will be road tested when they return for their next home game, Feb. 15 versus the Saskatchewan Rush.
On Jan. 31, they visit the Toronto Rock, a perennial contender for an NLL title. And this weekend, the Thunderbirds are in Calgary to battle the reigning NLL titleholder Roughnecks on Saturday night (10:30 p.m. AT) at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Calgary – off to a 2-3 start but each of the three losses have been by a single goal – will present Halifax with its toughest challenge yet.
“It’s another huge test for us,” said Thunderbirds head coach Mike Accursi. “Calgary, they draw huge crowds of 14-15,000 people. They are the defending champs and these are the teams that we have to beat and compete against if we’re looking to go anywhere this year.
“They have lost three games all by one goal so they could easily be 5-0. We know we’re going into a place that’s tough to play. But we also know that we have the confidence in our locker room that we have the guys that can do it. I think this will be one of those defining games for us where we have to come in prepared and be ready to compete for 60 minutes.”
The Thunderbirds, whose only road game to date was a 15-10 victory over the Buffalo Bandits on Dec. 28, are the first NLL team to win their first five games in a season since 2014.
They have found success in contrasting ways: by rolling over their opponent, locking down defensively or just by sheer hard work and hustle.
“We have found different ways to win,” Accursi said. “We have blown teams out, we have come from behind and we’ve had those tight games where it comes down to the last few minutes of the game.
“Those are all lessons that you learn and it has helped create that identity that you want as a team. It also helps create confidence in the team that no matter what the game situation is, as long as we stick to what we’re good at, we will have success.”
After averaging over 13 goals scored through their first four games, the Thunderbirds encountered their toughest test of the season thus far last Saturday night at home.
The San Diego Seals came into the contest with just one win in five games. But the Seals, in their second year of existence, gave their hosts all they could handle with a physical, tenacious game.
San Diego led 5-4 in the fourth quarter before the Thunderbirds – behind Stephen Keogh’s natural hat trick – battled back for an 8-5 victory. Warren Hill turned aside 57 shots in the Halifax goal.
Following the game, Accursi was asked what impressed him most about the comeback win.
“Work ethic,” Accursi said.
“It came down to those individual battles: the loose balls, the extra opportunities on offence, the big saves by Warren and we get the loose ball,” he elaborated in a phone interview Thursday evening.
“It’s those individual efforts that collectively as a team really make a difference. When you win those individual battles early in the game, it’s expected because everyone is fresh. But when you win them in the fourth quarter, that shows determination and shows pride in yourself and your teammates. Those are the things as a coach you look for. We just continued to grind.”
The Thunderbirds have eight players with five or more goals, led by Keogh’s 10. They also have seven players with 10 or more points.
Two-time NLL defensive player of the year Graeme Hossack has anchored a solid Halifax defence, Jake Withers has been a face-off wizard and Hill leads all NLL netminders with an 8.00 goals against average and .843 save percentage.
Confidence is exuding from every position. And Accursi and his staff are there to temper overconfidence.
“It’s all about controlling your emotions and taking things as it goes,” said Accursi, in his first year as a head coach after three seasons as an assistant.
“Lacrosse is a game of highs and lows. We have done a really good job of finding that level that we can compete at for 60 minutes. We’ve been winning games in the fourth quarter and that has a lot to do with how we’re practising, how we’re preparing. We are outworking teams and we’ve said, from the beginning, that’s the type of team we want to be and the boys have done a very good job in showing that.”
