The Toronto Rock defeated the Rochester Knighthawks 11-7 at the Blue Cross Arena Saturday night. The Rock improve their record to 4-1 while the Knighthawks drop to a stunning 0-3.
Leading Toronto in tonight’s game was Garrett Billings, who had two goals and four assists for the Rock. Josh Sanderson, Colin Doyle, and Kasey Beirnes chipped in four points each. The Rock outscored the Knighthawks by three in the first quarter (5-2) and fourth quarter (4-1), only allowing an amazing back-handed goal that Cory Vitarelli threw at the net as the shot clock was expiring. Toronto won 59% of their faceoffs, mainly taken by forward Stephen Hoar. Sanderson’s two goals just 25 seconds apart to take a 10-7 lead were the dagger, and Cam Woods had the icing on the cake with an empty-netter to finish the Rock scoring.
The main key to the Rock victory was goaltender Nick Rose. The player of the game shut down Rochester’s star-powered attack, making 41 saves on 48 shots. Goalies who can hold the opponent to under 10 goals in today’s NLL are money, and in the second half Rose was simply money.
As for the Knighthawks, the positives on the scoresheet were Cody Jamieson’s five points (including a hat trick) and Vitarelli’s two incredible, Sportscenter Top 10 worthy goals. The behind-the-back goal was simply amazing because of how far out it was, and the momentum it gave the K-Hawks at the time. But the thing with momentum this season so far, is that Rochester cannot seem to hold on to it. The defense really struggled tonight at times, and has yet to really figure it out this year. Flashes of brilliance where the Rock couldn’t even get a shot off were quickly cancelled out by times where Doyle and Billings had open shots and capitalized. But the offense was the real problem for Rochester tonight. Dan Dawson, Joe Walters, Craig Point, and Stephen Keogh were all held without a point. The offense regarded by many as one of the best did not click at all tonight, and seemed to show a lack of urgency when down three in the final four minutes of the game. People around the National Lacrosse League always talk about how eight of the nine teams get into the playoffs, but it would be a major disappointment for the ‘Hawks if they went from pre-season favorite to that team who let a poor early-season record make them the odd one out of the postseason.
The Knighthawks round out their three-game homestand at the Blue Cross Arena next Saturday at 8 pm against the Washington Stealth. Nascar star Tony Stewart will be in town, signing autographs and meeting fans.
