Report: Rhys Duch “probably done for the year”

Rhys Duch (Trevor MacMillan/Halifax Thunderbirds)

Already without Cody Jamieson for a second straight game, and more recently Austin Shanks, who was moved to the team’s injured reserve list this past Friday, it appears the Halifax Thunderbirds have lost another of their formidable forwards, potentially for the rest of the season.

Rhys Duch, who scored a hat trick in the team’s season-opening win over the Saskatchewan Rush in Week 1, went down awkwardly in the Thunderbirds’ game against the Toronto Rock on Friday night. In visible pain, Duch was helped off the floor and did not return.

The Chronicle Herald is reporting that Duch tore his patellar tendon, Halifax Head Coach, Mike Auccrsi, telling the paper that he is “probably done for the year.”

The significant losses to the Thunderbirds’ lineup have not deterred them, however, the shot-handed squad beating the Rock 11-7 on Friday evening and improving to 2-0 atop the league standings.

Halifax received a sensational performance from starting backstop Warren Hill, in addition to an outstanding offensive effort from Clarke Petterson & Chris Boushy, the pair combing for nine of the Thunderbirds’ eleven goals in their decisive 11-7 win over the Rock.

The Thunderbirds signed Duch to a one-year deal about a month before the start of the 2021/22 National Lacrosse League season.

Halifax’s next game isn’t until December 30th against the Calgary Roughnecks. While the nearly three-week break won’t help Duch if post-game reports are true, they may Jamieson, who the team had previously indicated was only sidelined due to “a little tweak” and the decision to scratch him was merely “cautionary”.