The Toronto Rock (10-5) clinched the regular season eastern division title with a 10-9 win over the Rochester Knighthawks (6-7) Sunday afternoon at the Air Canada Centre. The game marked the third and final meeting between Rochester and Toronto this year, with the Rock taking the edge in the season series 2-1.
Toronto jumped out to a 3-0 lead under ten minutes into the game and would never trail in the match-up; despite Rochester’s best efforts.
Leading the Rock to victory were Kasey Beirnes (3 goals, 3 assists) and Garret Billings (2 goals, 4 assists) who each had six points in the game. With his second point of the game, an assist on Billings’ second goal, Beirnes reached 500 points in his career. The Rock veteran currently has 51 points on the year, good for fifth on the team offensively. Billings remains atop of the NLL scoring race with 98 points, while also leading the league in assists with 68.
Colin Doyle, who was recently named the NLL’s Player of the Month for March, was a notable absence in Toronto’s line-up as his wife gave birth to the couple’s third child Sunday.
Stepping up in Doyle’s absence was lefty Roger Vyse, who notched three points in the victory. The former Buffalo Bandit has registered six points in three games since being placed on the Rock’s active roster.
Rob Hellyer continued his momentum of late with one tally in the match-up. After appearing sparsely throughout the season, Hellyer has dressed in each of Toronto’s past three games notching five of his nine total points on the season.
Cody Jamieson registered five points in the loss for the Knighthawks. Jamieson currently leads Rochester in goals (23), assists (45) and points (68). Dan Dawson (2 goals, 1 assist) and Johhny Powless (2 goals) were also impressive in the Knighthawks’ losing effort.
Matt Vinc stood strong in goal for Rochester, turning aside 44 of 54 shots faced. Nick Rose picked up the win for Toronto after saving 33 of 42 shots on goal.
Rose and Vinc are currently ranked first and second in saves, respectively, as Rose leads the league 569 trailed closely by Vinc with 549. Additionally, Rose leads all goalies in wins with 10; while Vinc leads the league in goals against average with 9.75.
Rochester currently sits in second place in the eastern division standings with three regular season games remaining on their schedule. The Knighthawks will travel to Alberta next weekend for a pair of games, taking on the Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday, April 13th at 9 p.m. followed by the Edmonton Rush Sunday, April 14th at 4 p.m.
The Rock will conclude their regular season when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Wings Saturday, April 13th at 4:30 p.m. As eastern division regular season champs, Toronto clinches home advantage for the eastern semi-final game scheduled for April 28th.
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