Laval, QC – The Toronto Rock (7-2) started slow but put the pedal to the medal and floored it on the way to a 16-10 win over the New York Riptide (5-5) on Friday night at Place Bell in Laval, QC.
While this was a New York Riptide home game, the Rock faithful turned out in droves to help power the Rock to victory on the road.
“It was great, we were just talking about it in the room that it was a pretty good game for the fans to see,” said Rock forward Mark Matthews. “A lot of goals, a lot of action and a fight. They were into it the whole game and we fed off it.”
The Rock suffered an eerily similar fate in the early going, falling behind 3-0 less than three minutes into the opening quarter. Toronto traded goals with New York for the rest of the quarter, trailing 5-2 after 15 minutes.
Momentum swung in the Rock’s favour in the second quarter. Justin Martin finished a pretty give and go with Mark Matthews to make the score 5-3. New York answered and then Matthews took over the quarter. The very sniper scored three of the Rock’s next four goals and Nick Rose settled in to hold the Riptide to just a goal over the remainder of the frame. The Rock had come all the way back to tie the game 7-7 at the half.
The Rock also drew some juice from a second quarter fight. After the two teams came together, some pushing and shoving ensued, and Brad Kri got the better of New York’s John Lafontaine in a spirited scrap.
“Things happen out there but it was good to get the crowd going for a city that hasn’t really seen box lacrosse, so fighting is a part of our game and it’s kind of good to give them a taste of a little bit of everything with goals, saves, hits and a fight too,” said Brad Kri. “Hopefully they got the whole package, and they go home happy.”
Coming out of the half, the Rock lefties did the damage. Dan Craig, Corey Small and Matthews with his fourth of the game gave the Rock a 10-7 lead. Rose and the Rock defence were absolutely flawless shutting out the Riptide.
A couple of Dans and a couple of power play goals to begin the fourth quarter and jump ahead 12-7 with Lintner and Craig burying man-up tallies. For the Riptide, it was an old friend of the Rock’s, Stephen Keogh scoring a pair to draw New York back to within three, down 12-9. Another Rock power play goal, this time from Tom Schreiber, gave the Rock a 13-9 lead. From there on out it was all Rock, scoring three more times to the Riptide’s lone tally and a 16-10 win.
Matthews finished the night with four goals and seven assists for 11 points to lead the point parade. Not far behind him was Schreiber with one goal and eight assists for nine points.
The Rock were 6-for-7 on the power play while the Riptide were 1-for-2 with the man-up.
Rose made 35 saves to earn his league-leading seventh win of the season. Cam Dunkerley made 39 saves getting the loss for the Riptide.
The next Rock home game will be on Saturday, February 24 at 7pm ET at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton against the Vancouver Warriors. It’s Indigenous Heritage Night, a celebration of the roots of the game of lacrosse.
For more information on Toronto Rock tickets, please contact a Toronto Rock account executive by phone at 416-596-3075, by email at tickets@torontorock.com or visit torontorock.com.
