On Saturday night the NLL preseason kicked off with a battle between the Toronto Rock and the Edmonton Rush. This was expected to be a great warm up match for both teams as they both had success in 2012.
The Rush opened the scoring in this game and grabbed a quick 2-0 lead over the Rock. Edmonton’s first overall pick Mark Matthews scored the first goal of the game and is already proving his worth for the Rush while Ryan Ward picked up the second goal for the Rush. The Rock would answer back on a goal by Blaine Manning who has been one of Toronto’s top players in recent years. The score was now 2-1 but not for long as the Rush answered back to make it 3-1. Brendan Thenhaus would score for the Rock to bring the score within one as he battles for a spot on this team. The Rush though continued to be one step ahead as they scored once again to make it 4-2. The Rush would then continue to build upon their lead as they added another goal to make it 5-2. The Rock would fight back as Kyle Belton their third round pick made an impact as he scored two goals back to back to bring the Rock within 1 as the score was now 6-4 as Edmonton continued to stay ahead of the Rock.
Blaine Manning would add another goal for the Rock in order to make it 6-5. The Rush would continue to play with the lead though as they added another goal to make the score 7-5 until Rob Hellyer scored to bring the game within 1 again 7-6. Hellyer will have to continue to play like he did Saturday in hopes of making the team. The Rush would take control of this game as Zack Greer helped power the Edmonton offense to a 10-6 lead. The Rush would continue the pressure as they made it 11-7 after Belton added a goal for the Rock. The Rush would not let up as they defeated the Rock 12-8.
The Rush were in control of this game from the beginning and appeared to be running on all cylinders all ready even though it is only pre season. For the Rush they need to keep this pace going and continue to get their offense off to quick starts. If the Rush can continue this type of play into the Regular season they will be a tough team to beat.
For the Rock they got outmatched by the Rush as the Rush were constantly a step ahead and never relinquished the lead. Two bright spots for the Rush definitely were Kyle Belton and Rob Hellyer. Belton made quite the impression with his hat trick and has to be in the running for a spot on the Rock’s opening day roster if he can continue this strong game over the rest of the pre-season. While Hellyer also made a statement with 2 goals and showed he is back to full strength despite being injured last eyar and will want to continue his strong play in the pre-season. The Rocks next pre-season game comes from Montreal where there is rumor brewing of an NLL return.
