The Halifax Thunderbirds (known colloquially as the T-Birds) are a Canadian professional

box lacrosse Box lacrosse, also known as boxla, box, or indoor lacrosse, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in the 1930s in Canada, where it is more popular than field lacrosse. Lacrosse is Canada's officia ...

team based in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

, that competes in the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

(NLL). The Thunderbirds play their home games at Scotiabank Centre, which they share with the

Halifax Mooseheads The Halifax Mooseheads are a Canadian junior ice hockey team in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The team was founded in 1994 and began play in the Dilio Division of the QMJHL for the 1994–95 ...

of the

Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL; , LHJMQ), formerly the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The league includes teams in Quebec ...

History

On September 13, 2018, the NLL approved a franchise relocation to the city of Halifax. Curt Styres, the previous owner of the NLL's

Rochester Knighthawks The Rochester Knighthawks (also known as the K-Hawks) are an American professional box lacrosse team based in Rochester, New York, that competes in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team plays its home games at Blue Cross Arena. The Knighth ...

, moved the Knighthawks' franchise to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Knighthawks intellectual property (name and logo) was sold to

Pegula Sports and Entertainment Pegula Sports & Entertainment (PSE) was an American sports and entertainment company based in Buffalo, New York. The company was established after billionaire Terry Pegula combined his sports, property and entertainment assets into one company. ...

, owners of the

Buffalo Bandits The Buffalo Bandits are an American professional box lacrosse team based in Buffalo, New York, that competes in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team plays its home games at KeyBank Center. The Bandits played in the Major Indoor Lacrosse L ...

, which founded a new expansion franchise that started play in the 2019–2020 season under the Knighthawks moniker. While located in Rochester the franchise won 5 championships. The Halifax Thunderbirds made their league debut on December 7, 2019, defeating the

New York Riptide The New York Riptide were a professional box lacrosse franchise based in Uniondale, New York. They were members of the Eastern Conference of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and played home games at Nassau Coliseum and began their first season ...

12–4 in front of a crowd of 6,847 at the Scotiabank Centre. The Thunderbirds made their first playoffs in the 2022 season but were defeated in the first round in overtime 14–13 by their rival, the

Toronto Rock The Toronto Rock are a Canadian professional box lacrosse team based in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area that competes in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team was the first Canadian franchise in the NLL. The Rock play their home ga ...

Team name and logo

According to the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

, Curt Styres got the idea for the team's name when he saw a lacrosse stick made from the wood of tree that had been struck by lightning and wanted to reflect the "one in one thousand odds" that was the lacrosse stick's embodiement.

Previous location

The franchise was founded in 1995 during the Major Indoor Lacrosse League era and first played their home games at

Blue Cross Arena Blue Cross Arena, also known as the War Memorial, is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Rochester, New York. For hockey and lacrosse, its seating capacity is 10,662. The arena opened on October 18, 1955, as the Rochester Community War Memor ...

in Rochester,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The team made the playoffs their first 13 seasons in a row and won 5 championships between

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and 2014. In 2018 after losing to the

Saskatchewan Rush The Saskatchewan Rush are a Canadian professional box lacrosse team based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, that competes in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team plays its home games at SaskTel Centre. Formerly the Edmonton Rush, the team has ...

in the NLL finals, it was announced the franchise would move to Halifax. Franchise owner, Curt Styres sold the team's original name and logo to

Terry Terry is a unisex diminutive nickname for the given names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence (given name), Terence, Terrance (masculine). People Male * Terry A. Canales, American politician * Terry A. Doughty (born 1959), American district ...

and

Kim Pegula Kim S. Pegula (; born June 7, 1969) is a South Korean-born American former businesswoman and the wife of American multibillionaire Terry Pegula. She was the president of Pegula Sports and Entertainment, the holding company that managed the Buffa ...

(Owners of

) and relocated the franchise to Halifax. PSE founded a new expansion franchise with the same name but different logo that started play the following season. The new franchise based in Rochester is not a continuation of original franchise as all of the original team's championships and records were transferred to Halifax as part of the relocation.

Current roster

Awards and honours

All-time record

Playoff results

Draft history

NLL entry draft

First-round selections *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

: Clarke Petterson (5th overall), Trevor Smyth (14th overall) *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

: Ethan Riggs (11th overall) * 2021: Max Wilson (12th overall) *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

: Wake:Riat "Bo" Bowhunter (12th overall) * 2023: None

Notes

References

External links

Official Website
{{Nova Scotia Sports 2018 establishments in Nova Scotia Halifax Thunderbirds Lacrosse clubs established in 2018 National Lacrosse League teams Sports clubs and teams in Halifax, Nova Scotia