Photo Credit: Buffalo Bandits
On Saturday night the Toronto Rock (3-4) took on the Minnesota Swarm (1-6).
The Swrm opened the scoring as Brock Sorensen found the back of the net to put the Swarm ahead 1-0. The lead would be short lived as Stephan Leblanc had the answer for the Rock just minutes later to tie the game at 1-1. The Swarm would regain the lead just 15 seconds later as Jordan MacIntosh scored to put the Swarm ahead 2-1. The Rock would kick their offense into high gear for the rest of the quarter as Damon Edwards kicked off a three goal streak from the Rock that saw them lead 4-2 at the end of one quarter of play.
In the second quarter Sanderson scored to keep the Rock goal streak going and put the Rock ahead 5-2. The Swarm would finally stop the Rock streak as Jordan MacIntosh and Greg Downing scored to make the score 5-4. The Rock would end the quarter the same way as the first as Colin Doyle scored two goals to put the Rock in front 7-4 at halftime. In the third quarter the Rock absolutely dominated as they scored six unanswered goals in the quarter which gave them a 13-4 lead. This third quarter streak was highlighted by two goals and an assist from Josh Sanderson and four points from Garrett Billings.
In the fourth quarter the Swarm flipped this game on its head as rookie Logan Schuss scored to get the Swarm back in the game making the score 13-5. Schuss’s goal seemed to wake up the Swarm as they would score six unanswered goals to make the score 13-11. The Swarm were right back in this game as they began to push towards completing the huge comeback. Jesse Gamble of the Rock would halt the Swarm comeback as he score to put the Rock in front by three making the score 14-11. Jordan Mcintsoh would score to keep the Swarm’s hopes alive and make this a 14-12 game but the Rock would stay strong and hold on for the 14-12 victory.
The Rock won this game due to their ability to dominate the third quarter as they extended their lead and shut the Swarm out. While the Swarm were able to mount a comeback in the fourth it was too little, too late as the Rock bent but did not break. In the end it just shows that you need to play every minute of every game.
