A Tight Toronto Rock Victory

Tonight the 7-3 Toronto Rock took on the 2-9 Rochester KnightHawks in front of 12,873 enthusiastic fans. It was a wild affair.

Being the night before St Patrick's Day, a drum and pipe band joined in the opening ceremonies.

Rona and Jacob joined Teena and I for the game. It was the first time for both and they loved it.

Team meeting before the action starts

Opening face-off. Rona pointed out that the Rock were losing the majority of face-offs. The end of game stats proved her right. The Rock only won 33.3%.

Some game action.

The game was tight throughout with the Rock leading by 5-4 at the end of the first quarter and 10-8 at the half.

Iggy was there working the crowd.

More action.

The Toronto Rock cheerleaders performed a few times.

 Nope. We didn't win today. It would have been nice.

At the end of the third quarter, the Rock still led by two goals 13-11.

With just over a minute to go, Rochester scored to come within a goal of tying it up. With their goalie pulled, Damon Edwards charged down the court and put in the empty net clincher for a 15-13 Toronto win.

Game stats.

The win puts the Rock into second place in their division. They have a chance of clinching a playoff spot with their two away games next weekend. The top 4 teams make the playoffs with 1st place taking on the 4th place team and 2nd and 3rd clashing in the other.

In two weeks the Rock are at home against the Philadelphia Wings. We'll be there.

I'll end with an artsy, unexpected photo of the game.

Toronto Rock Clip Wings in Overtime

Tonight Teena and I were at the second home game of the season for the Toronto Rock. Last week they lost in a tight game against the Swarm to bring their record to 1-1. Tonight they were playing the 0-2 Philadelphia Wings.

Toronto Rock Cheerleaders are always at the gate to greet the fans.

As usual, Scotty Newlands did a great job with the national anthems.

The opening face-off of what would prove to be a wild game.

It was a close low scoring affair in the first half. At the end of the first quarter, it was tied at one-all and the half ended with Toronto up by just a 3-2 score. Most quarters have as many goals as the first half.

Some first half action.

The Rock Cheerleaders put on three great performances.

Iggy kept the crowd going throughout.

He loves to show off his abs to the crowd.

Teena took this shot of Iggy, Trish and I.

In the second half, Toronto went up 6-3 and it all was fun. The Wings didn't think so and after the Rock and Wings exchanged goals, Philadelphia went on a five goal run putting Toronto down 9-7 half way through the fourth.

Toronto battled back with two of their own to tie.Then, with under two and half minutes to go, the Wings took the lead. What made it even worse was a Toronto penalty with less than two minutes to go. In lacrosse when a penalty is given, there isn't a face-off. The team the infraction was against starts with the ball in the penalized teams end.

Not good.

But Tom Schreiber came through, short handed with his fifth goal of the night and only 20 seconds to go in the game.

I told you it was a wild one. Sudden death overtime is tense and this was no different. Both goal tenders, Buchan for the Wings and Nick Rose (Rosie!) for the Rock, were sensational. Finally, with both teams having great chances, Adam Jones, my favorite Rock player, put in the winner. 8,299 fans went crazy!

Jones and Schreiber account for 10 of the 11 goals the Rock. Not a bad night for either player!

It was just the second overtime game we have seen. In the other, we came away disappointed.

We may not have won this jackpot but we came away happy.

The team, as always, salutes the fans.

The next home game is on Friday, January 18, and yes, we'll be there!

Rock Stung in Last Minute by Swarm in Home Opener

Tonight was the home opener for the Toronto Rock. Having won their first game last week against the Buffalo Bandits, they were going into tonight's game against the Georgia Swarm who also won their season opener.

There was lots of pregame pomp and ceremony. Scotty Newlands sang the national Anthems, chief Ava Hill of the Six Nations of the Grand River gave the Territorial Acknowledgement recognizing Toronto as the traditional meeting place and territory of the Indigenous people and participated in the ceremonial face-off.

The opening face-off.

The Rock took a 2-0 lead only two and a half minutes into the game. That was all they would get though and the first quarter ended with them behind 3-2.

The second quarter wasn't much better as they fell a little further behind 7-5 at the half.

Now this is how to protect your goalie from a charging forward!

Iggy kept the fans going.

So did the Toronto Rock Cheerleaders.

It was a close game throughout. The Rock hadn't led since the first quarter, they tied the game a few times but never led. At the end of the third, they were a goal behind 8-7.

The Rock Cheerleaders performed again at a break in the action.

No. We didn't take home this pot. It would've been nice!

The fourth quarter was exciting, the Rock down 10-8, stormed back putting in 3 in a row to take an 11-10 led with four and half minutes to go. It was looking good for the Rock until the Swarm scored two minute later to tie the game.

With just a minute to go, Georgia was awarded a penalty shot but Toronto goalie Nick Rose came up big with a huge glove save. I thought that would give them huge momentum but with just twenty-four seconds to go the Swarm put in the go ahead goal. They won the next face-offs and that was it for the Rock.

It was an exciting game throughout but we just came up short. As always, the Rock saluted the fans after.

The next Rock game is a week away with the Rock hosting the Philadelphia Wings. Teena and I will be there!