Orlin & Cohen Postgame Report: Thunderbirds Defeat Riptide 15-6

A 1-8 effort on the power play and goaltending heroics from Warren Hill severely hurt the New York Riptide as they dropped their penultimate game of the season 15-6 to the Halifax Thunderbirds on Saturday night.

Jeff Teat had 4 assists for New York while Reilly O’Connor and Larson Sundown scored twice each, and Scott Dominey had a goal and 10 loose balls. Cam Dunkerley made 31 saves, and Steve Orleman made 10 in the New York net

O’Connor opened the scoring with a long range shot, though Halifax responded immediately through Ryan Benesch and then took the lead off a goal from Eric Fannell. Mike Burke tied the game for New York when he snuck in behind the defense and scored from the doorstep, but Halifax got three straight goals to end the quarter up 5-2.

After no goals for the first 7 minutes of the second quarter, Colton Armstrong scored on a shorthanded breakaway, and then following a fight that led to the ejection of Connor Kearnan, Randy Staats added a power play goal. Shanks tacked on another to further extend the lead before O’Connor was finally able to stop the bleeding with a 4-on-3 power play goal, however Clarke Petterson and Staats responded with power play goals of their own to end the half, where the Riptide trailed 10-3.

The third quarter picked up where we left off with a Chris Boushy goal before Sundown beat Hill on the short side. Staats and Boushy tacked on more goals for Halifax before the end of the quarter, and Dunkerley was replaced by Orleman in the Riptide net, with New York going into the fourth quarter trailing 13-4.

Boushy added one more early in the final period, then Scott Dominey got on the board with a dunk for New York. Shanks got another for Halifax, though Sundown responded almost immediately with a twister off a Teat feed for the game’s final goal.

The Riptide take the floor for the final time this season next Saturday, April 29 when they head out west to face the Vancouver Warriors with opening faceoff scheduled for 10:00 PM at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC. The game will be available to watch on ESPN+, and listen to on WRHU 88.7 FM, WRHU.org and the WRHU iPhone App. Live stats and periodic in-game updates will be available via Twitter @ NewYorkRiptide.