The Toronto Rock have advanced to the Best-of-3 NLL Semifinals series following a 16-13 win over the Saskatchewan Rush on Saturday night at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, SK in their NLL Quarterfinals game.
“It’s win or go home and we got out to a good lead and we stuck with the game,” said Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer. “We felt if we could play our best, we were going to be successful and we found that for long enough here tonight.”
After the two teams traded goals, the Rock went on a 5-1 run to wrap up the first quarter and lead 6-2 after 15 minutes. Chris Boushy scored three goals in the opening frame and that set the scene for a big night from the fiery forward.
The Rush had a 5-1 run of their own in the second quarter to tie the game 7-7 before the half. With less than a minute to go in the quarter, Latrell Harris buried a go-ahead goal to give the Rock an 8-7 lead at halftime.
Saskatchewan came out of the break and started well, scoring twice to take the lead 9-8. A Josh Dawick power play goal less than two minutes later evened the game and Boushy’s fourth of the game restore a one-goal lead for the Rock. With just 4 seconds left in the quarter, former Rush Mark Matthews fired home a huge goal for the Rock to put Toronto up 11-9 heading to the fourth quarter.
Hugh Kelleher delivered another timely strike to push the Rock run to four goals and an 12-9 lead two minutes into the final frame. After former Rock Zach Manns scored for the Rush, Elijah Gash, Boushy, and CJ Kirst scored in succession to put the Rock up 15-10. The Rush scored three more, but Brad Kri wedged an empty netter in between those goals and the Rock secured the 16-13 win.
Nick Rose made 49 saves on 62 shots and was the far busier goaltender. Frank Scigliano made 31 saves in the loss.
The Rock power play was 2-for-2 while the Rush were 1-for-2 on the man up.
Next weekend, the best-of-3 NLL Semifinals series begins with Game 1 on Friday night at 7:30pm at TD Coliseum against the San Diego Seals. Game 2 of the series will be in San Diego on Sunday, May 3. If necessary, Game 3 will be played on Saturday, May 9 at TD Coliseum in Hamilton.
Tickets for Friday’s game will go on sale on Sunday morning at 10am.
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.
