Toronto Bounces Back With 13-9 Victory
Hamilton, ON – The Toronto Rock (6-4) scored a bounce back win over the Colorado Mammoth (8-3) by a score of 13-9 on Saturday night at Hamilton’s TD Coliseum. The Rock win snapped the Mammoth’s seven-game winning streak and provided a bit of payback to Colorado after Toronto lost 16-8 in Denver last weekend.
Right off the bat, this was a terrific lacrosse game. Both teams came to play and the fans in attendance, along with those watching at home on NLL+, were treated to a sensational display of Canada’s National Summer Sport on Great White North Night in Rock City.
“It’s lacrosse, especially at this level, that’s what makes it entertaining,” said Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer after his team’s biggest win of the season. “It’s nice to come out on the right side of that one and credit to our guys. It was a tough week for us but we’ll be better for the last couple of weeks, last week included.”
The Rock struck first on a Mark Matthews goal less than a minute into the game, but Colorado responded with a pair of their own before CJ Kirst would strike on the power play to tie the score 2-2 to close out the opening quarter scoring. The stage was set for a see-saw battle.
Isiah Moran-Weekes, playing in his first NLL game, provided a huge spark for the Rock 5:35 into the second quarter driving to the goal and finding the back of the net. It was something to get excited about, and the Rock City faithful rewarded Moran-Weekes with a showering of noise following the announcement that it was his first NLL goal.
Colorado answered by rattling off three goals to lead 5-3 at the half. The Rock’s Troy Holowchuk and the Mammoth’s Dillon Ward had already put on a clinic in their respective creases and we were only halfway done.
Rock Captain Challen Rogers opened and closed the scoring in the third quarter that saw the home side outscore the visitors 4-2 in the frame. It was Rogers’ tally with under a minute to go in the third that was just one of those goals that shifted the balance of power. He took the ball to the cage like was leading his troops into battle and buried a shot past Ward to tie the game 7-7 heading for the final 15 minutes.
After Sam English scored a go-ahead goal, that was an absolute beauty going up and over the very tall Mammoth netminder, Colorado showed they weren’t going anywhere by scoring two goals in 28 seconds to retake the lead 9-8 with just 6:43 to play.
From there, it was all Rock, and it was beautiful to watch. Owen Hiltz, Matthews, and Kirst scored in succession to put the Rock up 11-9. But once again, it was the captain delivering the knockout blow on a hall-of-fame feed from Matthews giving the Rock a 12-9 lead with 1:43 to play. The Rock got the ball with just over a minute to go and coming out of a timeout they trusted the ball to Kirst, something that’s becoming the norm. The 2025 first overall pick in the NLL Draft delivered his third goal of the game into an empty net, and it was over.
“It was dream come true, to be honest,” said Moran-Weekes who the Rock selected with their third round pick, 35th overall in the 2025 NLL Draft. “It was a great experience, it was a great night, it was unreal.”
Holowchuk stopped 41 of 50 shots on goal in what was maybe his best start as a pro. Ward was excellent as well at the other end of the floor making 47 saves of his own. The final shots on goal favoured the Rock 60-50.
The Rock were 4-for-7 on the power play while the Mammoth were 2-for-2.
The Rock will be back at home next Saturday night, February 28th at 7pm against the Buffalo Bandits at TD Coliseum in Hamilton. It’s the only regular season meeting between the two rivals on the 2025-26 schedule.
For more information on Toronto Rock tickets, please contact a Toronto Rock account executive by phone at 905-426-4744, by email at tickets@torontorock.com or visit torontorock.com.
