Thursday, October 1, 2026
In the New York Riptide’s home finale last Saturday at Nassau Coliseum, the Fan Appreciation night crowd of just under 5,000 got to witness two of their rookies set new league records and a stellar performance from a grizzled veteran making his return to the lineup. But they also watched a late New York rally fall short in a 16-13 loss to Halifax that eliminated the team from playoff contention.
Austin Shanks had five goals and three assists and Clarke Petterson added three goals and seven points for the Thunderbirds (10-7), who sealed a postseason berth despite winning for just the second time in their last eight contests.
Jeff Teat had two goals and eight assists to become the first rookie in league history to surpass 100 points while setting another freshman mark with 67 helpers on the season and Callum Crawford had five goals and eight points after missing three games with a groin injury for the Riptide.
Offense was at a premium in the first quarter as each team scoring six times, with neither club holding more than a one-goal advantage. Dan Lomas had an early hat trick for the Riptide and Teat set up four of the goals.
But the New York had trouble putting the ball into the net in the second quarter, with Crawford getting his team’s only tally 4:20 into the session that tied the game at 7. Halifax got goals from Chris Boushy and Shanks just over two minutes apart later in the quarter to take a 9-7 lead into the intermission.
Nonkon Thompson gave the Thunderbirds a three-goal lead 22 seconds into the third and the Riptide offense continued to struggle with just four shots in the quarter, but Connor Kearnan and Jay Thorimbert did find the net as New York closed to within one again at 10-9 with 5:43 left. The excitement, though, was short-lived as Shanks scored twice more late in the quarter for a 12-9 lead.
“I think they were just taking every opportunity to shoot, whereas us offensively, we were looking some off,” Riptide coach Dan Ladouceur said. “We were looking for one more pass and they were just getting more shots on net.”
The Riptide fell behind 14-10 early in the fourth before giving the home crowd one final taste of the resiliency they have displayed all season. Crawford converted Jake Fox’s feed for his fifth goal of the game and Teat added his only two goals on the night to move New York within one with 2:56 left. But anticipation quickly turned to deflation as Bouchy scored 24 seconds later to all but seal the Thunderbirds’ victory.
Teat downplayed his accomplishments after the game.
“I play the game to win and try to be the best teammate I can and let everything else fall into place,” he said.
But Crawford, who has over 400 goals and 1,100 points in his illustrious career, had tremendous praise for his teammate and first pick of the 2020 draft.
“I believe they have, in my opinion, the best player in the world right now on this roster,” he said. “It’s the first time in 14 years that I truly believe there’s a person on a team I’m playing on [that’s better than me].”
Riptide goalie Steve Orleman had 39 saves in the loss, but his 15th stop gave him 604 on the season, besting Matt King’s NLL rookie mark set in 2002. The record save came in style when he corralled Colton Armstrong’s second-quarter breakaway.
“The accomplishment is great,” he said. “I think anybody getting an achievement like that is going to enjoy it.”
The Riptide finish the season at Albany this Saturday.
