Toronto Guarantees Top 2 Finish With Victory
Albany, NY – The Toronto Rock (12-3) fought off a late charge to defeat the Albany FireWolves (10-6) by a score of 10-7 on Saturday night at MVP Arena in Albany, NY. The Toronto win guarantees that the first-place Rock will finish no lower than second place in the NLL standings with two games to go.
It was a historic night for Toronto Rock goaltender Nick Rose who passed Bob Watson for most wins in Rock franchise history with 106. He also ties Pat O’Toole for second in NLL all-time wins with 107.
“Obviously, the focus is just the rest of the season and trying to keep stacking wins here but anytime you’re mentioned with ‘Whipper’ (is special). He was my favourite goalie growing up, so looking back on that in a lot of years that’ll be pretty special, I’m honoured to be mentioned with him,” said Rose.
The Rock defence was rabid all not long, led by Mitch de Snoo who finished the game with a goal, 10 loose balls, two blocked shots and two caused turnovers. Brad Kri was also a standout on the back end and TD Ierlan owned the dot winning 17 of 21 faceoffs.
The Rock trailed 2-1 after one quarter but a five-goal run over the first seven-plus minutes in the second quarter was the difference is this game. The Rock surged ahead 6-2 and led 7-3 at halftime.
Toronto built an 8-3 lead scoring the first goal of the third quarter, but Albany battled back with a pair to trail 8-5 through three quarters.
Mark Matthews broke up the FireWolves’ two-goal run, opening up the scoring in the final frame. Albany would notch the next two goals to make it a 9-7 game with over five minutes to play.
Late in the game, Albany pulled their goaltender to push for a goal and after a couple of missed attempts at the empty net by de Snoo, it was Rose that threw the ball the length of the floor, bouncing it into the yawning cage, to score his first goal since 2017 and the fourth of his career rounding out the Rock scoring.
The game also featured the return of captain Challen Rogers. The two-way superstar played primarily offensive shifts and saw plenty of the time on the power play. Rogers scored the first goal of the game for the Rock and added two assists and eight loose balls.
“It just felt great to be back with the boys on the floor and it’s been a long time coming,” said Rogers. “It’s special to be back out there, you get hurt and it gets taken away from you but what a pleasure to play with the boys tonight and get a big dub.”
The Rock were 1-for-3 on the power play while the FireWolves went 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
The Rock will return home next Saturday to face the Rochester Knighthawks on Fan Appreciation Night at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton at 7:30pm.
For more information on Toronto Rock tickets, please contact a Toronto Rock account executive by phone at 416-596-3075, by email at tickets@torontorock.com or visit torontorock.com.
