Rock strikes back with big win over top-ranked Warriors

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The capacity is there. But the main issue for the Toronto Rock as it navigates the final third of its National Lacrosse League season, is consistency.

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Friday’s effort in a 13-10 win over the Vancouver Warriors at Rogers Arena showed the Rock can make noise in the post-season. Now, the team must prove it can replicate that performance over several weeks.

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“(Vancouver) are one of the top teams in the league and we came out here with a purpose and got the job done that we had prepared for all week,” goaltender Nick Rose said.

Playing for the first time since returning from a Jan. 21 injury, Rose was solid in a 37-save performance including a number of huge stops late in the contest. The Rock offence fired early, building a 10-3 lead at halftime. The Warriors got to the front of the net often and climbed back with a four-goal run in the third quarter but a fine individual effort from CJ Kirst and a no-look backhanded goal from Mark Matthews put the Rock in control for good.

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Kirst, the first-overall pick in last fall’s draft, was sensational again with a five-goal performance. Challen Rogers had a hat trick including a goal scored from very long range as the shot clock was expiring. Rogers passed the 300-point mark in his career. Sam English, Chris Boushy and Hugh Kelleher had goals as did Nick Rowlett, who was picked up by the Rock two weeks ago as a faceoff specialist. The goal off the faceoff in the first quarter was his first in the NLL. Lucas Hucal made his career debut for Toronto (7-5) in the game and contributed to a solid defensive effort.

“We played our best, everybody was doing their job,” Rock head coach Matt Sawyer said. “Offensively we were getting quality shots from the middle of the floor, which is always the goal, and defensively we didn’t give them much and when we did break down Nick (Rose) was there to hold the fort.”

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Marcus Klarich had a five-goal night for the Warriors (9-4). Jesse King scored twice with Owen Grant, Curtis Dickson and Keegan Bal getting a goal each.
The Rock will travel to Halifax to face the Thunderbirds on Friday.

FIREWOLVES SNAP SLUMP

The Oshawa FireWolves will likely be sellers at Monday’s trade deadline but the current group enjoyed one more win together on Sunday.

The FireWolves ended a six-game skid with a 13-12 win over the Philadelphia Wings at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Oshawa broke a 9-9 third-quarter deadlock with three early goals in the fourth quarter and some big saves by goaltender Doug Jamieson including one with just seconds left.

The FireWolves opened the game with five goals in the first quarter but allowed a Philadelphia run in the second to go to the break tied 7-7.

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Tye Kurtz led the way with four goals for the FireWolves. Dyson Williams had three and Dawson Theede had two. Singles went to Alex Simmons, Mike Byrne, Ethan Walker and Taggart Clark.

Brennan O’Neill scored five goals for the Wings. Dalton Young had a hat trick and Joe Resetarits scored two goals. Alex Pace, Mitchell Armstrong and Ryan Wagner had a goal each.

The FireWolves and Wings, now both 3-10, will face off again at Tribute Communities Centre on Friday.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NLL

The Thunderbirds kept in the thick of the NLL playoff race with a 13-11 win over the Las Vegas Desert Dogs. Clarke Petterson and Stephen Keogh had three goals each for Halifax (5-7). Chris Cloutier and Jonathan Donville had five points for Las Vegas (4-7).

The Black Bears were dominant defensively in a 10-5 road win over the Colorado Mammoth. Jeff Teat led Ottawa (8-5) with four goals and three assists. Andrew Kew had four of the five goals for Colorado (9-4).

The Calgary Roughnecks improved to 3-9 on the season with a 14-7 win over the Rochester Knighthawks. Tanner Cook led Calgary with five goals while the Knighthawks (5-6) had a three-goal effort from Ryan Smith.

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