Toronto Keeps Rolling As Regular Season Finish Line Approaches
OTTAWA, ON – The Toronto Rock (11-6) were in a must-win situation if they wanted to keep their first-round home playoff game hopes alive and they did just that by defeating the Ottawa Black Bears (8-9) on Friday night in the nation’s capital at Canadian Tire Centre.
“It was a good team effort from start to finish and it’s not always going to go how you want right out of the gate,” said Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer. “Sometimes you appreciate these (type of) games more after the fact because it wasn’t easy for us early on and we found a way to get it done.”
Chris Boushy scored five goals in the Rock’s 17-10 win over Ottawa earlier in the season and he got the party started with the opening tally of the contest just 1:45 into the game. And that was enough to give the visitors the lead after one quarter up 1-0.
After the Black Bears and Rock exchanged goals, a two-goal run by the Rock on the strength of goals from Boushy and Sam English stretched their lead to three goals and established a 4-1 advantage. Ottawa scored two of the game’s next three goals but the Rock held a 5-3 lead at halftime.
English torched his defender with a world-class jab stab that gave him a clear path to the cage and he buried his second goal of the game past Zach Higgins in the Black Bears cage. Dawick then scored his second of the game with a hot rip to the far post that was again too much for Higgins to handle and the Rock were up 7-3. After Ottawa’s Connor Kearnan scored on a dunk from behind the goal, Josh Jubenville ran from the defensive end all the way down the floor on a clear-cut breakaway and abused the twine behind Higgins. Ottawa would score once more, but it was the Rock with an 8-5 lead heading to the final frame.
It was almost seven minutes into the fourth quarter before either team got on the board, but Ottawa’s Rob Hellyer scored a power play goal to cut the Rock lead to 8-6. But it wasn’t long before the Rock responded as English scored his third of the game to restore the Rock’s three-goal lead, 9-6. Boushy completed the hat trick with an empty net goal to seal the 10-6 win and it gave him 8 goals in two games against Ottawa this season.
“I took the chances when they came to me,” said English who netted his first career hat trick. “We’re building something pretty great here, good bus trip with the boys, happy to come out on top.”
The Rock were outshot 44-43 but Nick Rose turned in another single digit goals-against performance making 38 saves for an .864 save percentage. Number 66 is getting hot at exactly the right time of the year.
The Rock were 0-for-4 on the power play, while Ottawa was 1-for-1.
The Rock will wrap up the regular season next weekend in Saskatoon against the Saskatchewan Rush on Saturday, April 18. The Rock lead the season series against the Rush 1-0, so a Toronto win could put a home playoff game within sight pending the results of the rest of regular season games. This all could come down to the very last day of the season to determine the final standings.
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
