As is usually the case in preseason, it was another capacity crowd on hand at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre for NLL exhibition action on Saturday night. The fans in attendance, and those watching around the lacrosse world on NLL+, were treated to a terrific contest that saw the visiting Colorado Mammoth defeat the Toronto Rock 11-10 in overtime.
Dylan McIntosh scored just 33 seconds into the extra period to seal the victory for Colorado who had surrendered a two-goal lead late in the fourth quarter. The goal was McIntosh’s third tally of the night.
In the opening 30 minutes, it looked like the Rock might run away with the game as their offence was firing on all cylinders. Toronto led Colorado 8-5 at the half in large part due to rookie Owen Hiltz who figured in on every one of the Rock’s first half goals, scoring four times and adding four assists. He would finish the night with nine points, adding an assist in the second half.
The Rock’s offence would stall following a Challen Rogers second quarter goal. They wouldn’t score again until Chris Boushy scored in transition coming off the bench with 4:09 remaining. It was a goal-less stretch of 34:51 by the Rock.
It was Rogers scoring again with just 2:40 remaining to send the game to overtime.
Between the pipes, Nick Rose started the game for the Rock playing the opening 30 minutes and allowing 5 goals on 18 shots. Troy Holowchuk played the second half and overtime and was far busier goaltender, facing 37 shots and posting 31 saves.
“Obviously not the outcome we wanted, but that’s why we have preseason games, to get the kinks out,” said Rock veteran defender Brad Kri. “There were some nice things out there, and some not-so-nice things out there, but we’ll move forward and get back at it on Tuesday.”
Rock Goal Scorers: Hiltz 4, Rogers 2, Boushy 2, Mark Matthews 1, CJ Kirst 1
Mammoth Goal Scorers: Andrew Kew 5, McIntosh 3, Ryan Lee 1, Connor Nock 1, Nate Woods 1
On Tuesday night, the Rock will resume training camp at 7pm at the TRAC. Next up on the schedule is the Rock’s final exhibition game of the preseason against the Philadelphia Wings next Saturday night at 7pm, once again at the TRAC. If you can’t make the game, fans can watch on NLL+.
For more information on Toronto Rock tickets, please contact a Toronto Rock account executive by phone at 905-426-4744, by email at tickets@torontorock.com or visit torontorock.com.
