oronto Offence Rolls At Home
Hamilton, ON – The Toronto Rock (4-3) played their most complete game yet and it paid off in the form of a 17-10 win over the Ottawa Black Bears (4-5) on Saturday night at TD Coliseum in Hamilton in front of a boisterous Rock City crowd on Indigenous Heritage Night.
“I think the first six games had some lulls and some positive things to take away,” said Chris Boushy who scored five goals in the win. “A 3-3 record going into this game was okay but not what we want. This is a great turning point that we’re going to look back on in a few months and say this is where we found our game.”
There was no shortage of goals in this game and the Rock led 5-2 after the first quarter. It was only the second time this season that the Rock led after the opening 15 minutes, the only other time was a week ago against Georgia and it ended in an OT loss.
Tonight was not going to be a night that would end in disappoint, and it was clear the Rock are getting their mojo back. Ottawa scored a pair of power play goals in the second frame, but so did the Rock and Toronto held the edge in the quarter and opened up a 10-5 lead at halftime.
Boushy had a pair of goals entering the second half and scored a third quarter hat trick to run his game total to five. The Rock led 14-8 heading for home.
The fourth quarter was much of the same and the Rock took care of business on their way to victory. Troy Holowchuk was exceptional at various point in the game and made some ten-bell saves in the Rock cage.
“We got some execution early on and it was nice to play with a lead,” said Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer. “This past week, I hope we can look at as a turning point but we have to play the game proper and do it week-in and week-out.”
Mark Matthews delivered a superhero-like performance of his own scoring twice and adding an eye-popping 9 assists for an 11 point night. It’s the second time he’s hit the 11-point mark as a member of the Rock with the other occurrence being against the same franchise, accomplishing the feat (4G-7A) against the New York Riptide (now Ottawa) on February 16, 2024.
But that wasn’t it for Matthews. Entering the game, he only needed 7 assists to pass Shawn Williams for 10th in all-time NLL helpers, so his 9-pack of apples had him surge into the top 10.
The Rock went 4-for-4 on the power play while Ottawa was 3-for-4. Toronto outshot their opponent 52-47. The Rock have now outshot their opponents five times this season but have only been victorious twice.
The Rock will be back at home again next Saturday against the Oshawa FireWolves at TD Coliseum in Hamilton on Saturday, February 7 at 7pm ET for Rockin’ Rodeo Night.
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.
