Toronto Defeats Saskatchewan 13-9
HAMILTON, ON – Statement game or just another week of getting better. No matter how you want to frame it, the Toronto Rock (9-5) defeated the NLL’s top team the Saskatchewan Rush (11-4) by a score of 13-9 on Friday night at TD Coliseum in Hamilton.
It was win number 100 for the Toronto Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer in his NLL coaching career. 92 of those wins have come behind the Rock bench with 8 wins coming with the Boston Blazers in 2011.
“We were just good start to finish in all areas, everybody did their job and contributed to the win,” said Sawyer. “We played a real good team, we think we’re a real good team, it was a good test for us tonight.”
An early deficit became a two-goal halftime lead. The Rock fell behind 2-0 early but began chipping away before the end of the opening quarter. Ryan Keenan scored once more in the first for the Rush but Mark Matthews and Owen Hiltz bookended the visitors goal and the Rock trailed 3-2 after one.
The momentum swung in the Rock’s direction in the second quarter, outscoring the Rush 4-1 in the quarter to take a 6-4 halftime lead.
To begin the second half, the Rush showed why they’ve been NLL frontrunners for the bulk of this season as they scored twice before the third quarter was five minutes old. However, a three-goal run by the home side would push the Rock ahead 9-6. Saskatchewan would score once more to make it 9-7 Rock heading to the final frame.
The two teams exchanged goals and that set the stage for the Rock to seize control of the contest. Rock draw man Nick Rowlett battled through three Rush players to pick up the loose ball off a faceoff and as he was running the ball out of trouble, he somewhat miraculously got the ball to Latrell Harris, and he buried a shot into the Rush cage to ignite the crowd. Josh Dawick scored 38 seconds later to give the Rock a four-goal lead at 12-8, their biggest of the night.
Ryan Keenan scored an extra attacker goal for Saskatchewan before Elijah Gash scored an empty netter for the Rock to seal the 13-9 win for Toronto.
Nick Rose won his third straight game since returning from injury and made 41 saves while Frank Scigliano made 32 saves. The final shots on goal favoured the Rush 50-46.
The Rock will take to the road next weekend to face the Philadelphia Wings on Sunday, March 29 at 1pm ET.
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.
