Saturday night the 8-5 New England Black Wolves will pay their first visit of 2016 to the Air Canada Centre to take on the 4-9 Toronto Rock.
In their only meeting this season, New England defeated Toronto 17-16 in overtime on Valentine’s Day in Connecticut. New England was led by Shawn Evans (as always) with 12 points while Rob Hellyer led the Rock (also as per usual) with 10 points. Toronto thought they had picked up their first win of the season when Stephan Leblanc broke a 15-15 tie at 14:41 of the fourth quarter, but Shawn Evans spoiled the party, tying the game at 16 with just seven seconds left. Kyle Buchanan scored the winner just 49 seconds into overtime.
Brandon Miller was in goal that game for Toronto but the Black Wolves should expect to face Nick Rose this time. Rose has carried the bulk of the play late in the season and has been one of the Rock’s leaders. New England started backup Tye Belanger on Friday night but he was replaced by Evan Kirk after giving up six goals. The plan was probably for Kirk to start Saturday and that probably hasn’t changed, but New England does have options.
Since their meeting in February, New England has received inspirational leader (and team captain) Andrew Suitor back, while the Rock have suffered a barrage of injuries, including the announcement on Friday that captain Colin Doyle will have season ending surgery this coming week. Doyle has an upper body injury suffered away from lacrosse. Sandy Chapman, who sat out last weekend, will return on defense.
Toronto is coming off an 13-11 emotional victory in Vancouver last week. The Stealth are the only team the Rock have beaten twice this season. The game was chippy and both teams were lucky to escape with no suspensions.
New England defeated the Saskatchewan Rush on Friday night 14-13 at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Wolves came back from a 7-1 deficit in the second quarter to score the go ahead goal at 11:54 of the fourth quarter.
Saturday’s game will be a big test for the Rock as they look to fight their way into a playoff spot. New England has hopes of stealing first away from Buffalo, so there is a lot to play for on both sides. Game time is 7:00 p.m.
