Halifax Thunderbirds heading to NLL finals for first time in franchise history

Fans and businesses are glad to see the Halifax Thunderbirds advance to the National Lacrosse League final.

The Halifax Thunderbirds are heading to the National Lacrosse League’s finals for the first time in franchise history.

The Thunderbirds defeated the visiting Georgia Swarm 15-11 Sunday night to win their best-of-three semifinal series 2-1.

The T-Birds advance to the best-of-three final and will meet the Toronto Rock, who beat the San Diego Seals 14-8 Saturday to win that semifinal series in three games.

The all-Canadian matchup begins Friday night in Toronto, with Game 2 coming to the nest in Halifax Sunday night.

Game 3, if necessary, will be the following Saturday in Toronto.

Tickets go on sale to the general public Monday afternoon.

‘A long time coming’

Thunderbirds forward Clarke Petterson says going to the finals is “a long time coming.”

“And it’s been, not even just the culmination of this season, but the whole six years of the organization and the teams that have been here before and kind of getting one step closer every single year. We’ve been a strong team for a long time, making the playoffs, home playoff game, semifinals and now semifinals win. And we’re in the finals. And we’re hoping to kind of go all the way this year,” he told CTV Atlantic’s Brianne Foley.

Dawn Delaney, director of marketing and communications at Events East, says the Thunderbirds have some of the best fans in the league.

“We always love to add to the diversity of the events that we bring to the city and to the province. And the Thunderbirds just have a special atmosphere that they bring with them,” she said.

“They’ve got a great fan base, they always have a great turn out, and there’s just always tons of energy when they’re in the building. You can hear it from quite a distance away. You can feel it, and it’s just a really, really great opportunity to come out and have some fun with the team and cheer them on.”

Jesus Rodrigue is a sous chef at Antojo Tacos + Tequila on Argyle, just down the street from the Scotiabank Centre.

He said the area is a “sea of purple” before and after Thunderbirds games.

“For us, it’s really busy nights, and we want to support the fans also by doing a special feature for them. So every night they play we have a special feature,” he said.

“It’s great for the city, looking down Argyle and seeing so many people, so many fans, it’s great for the businesses.”

With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Atlantic’s Suzette Belliveau

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