Thursday, October 1, 2026
Both the New York Riptide and Halifax Thunderbirds were coming off byes and opposite opening week results when they battled Saturday night at Nassau Coliseum.
And, unfortunately for the Riptide, both clubs continued their early paths in the 2022-23 National Lacrosse League season.
Halifax set a new franchise record for goals for a second straight game on the way to defeating New York, 20-11. The Thunderbirds got a combined 24 points from Ryan Benesch (5 goals, 4 assists), Randy Staats (4, 4) and Cody Jamieson (2, 5) and led from midway through the first quarter until the final horn.
“We’ve probably faced the top two offensive teams in the league back-to-back,” Riptide head coach Dan Ladouceur said. “Any kind of breakdown and they’re going to exploit it.
Halifax goaltender Drew Hutchison, making his NLL debut, turned aside 28 shots in a chippy game that featured 51 penalty minutes. The Thunderbirds were coming off an 18-8 win over the Philadelphia Wings in an opener that saw seven of their players register seven points.
The Riptide, which lost a 15-14 thriller in Week 1 to the San Diego Seals, got 8 points from Jeff Teat (2 goals, 6 assists) and a hat trick and three assists from Reilly O’Connor. Goaltender Gowah Abrams made 27 saves on 38 shots in relief of starter Steve Orleman, who yielded the first nine goals on 18 shots.
“We’ve been talking about playing a full 60 [minutes] and it starts from the first whistle,” said New York’s Connor Kearnan, who notched a hat trick including the 100th point of his career. “Honestly the first five minutes I thought we got off to a great start and then I don’t know what, we just got away from our game plan and reverse transition was killing us.”
The Riptide played without defender Dan MacRae for the second straight game as he recovers from a lower body injury, and also without veteran high-scoring forward and emotional leader Callum Crawford, who left halfway through the loss to San Diego with a lower body injury.
On the bright side, defenders Brent Noseworthy and Leo Stouros made their season debuts for the Riptide after recovering from lower body injuries. Noseworthy took part in some fisticuffs with David Brock late in the third quarter after Kearnan cut the margin to 14-10.
New York trailed 13-6 at halftime but staged a minor rally behind Teat’s four third-quarter points. Halifax scored the first two goals of the fourth to reestablish a comfortable six-goal cushion with about 7 minutes remaining.
“What seemed to be the theme all night was when we needed a stop we just couldn’t get it,” Ladouceur said.
The Riptide now have a three week break before returning to Nassau Coliseum to take on Toronto (1-2) on Jan. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Ladouceur said he’s optimistic Crawford will return to face the Rock, which is also idle until that evening.
“We’ll hit the reset button and continue to work,” Ladouceur said.
