On Saturday night the Toronto Rock opened up their pre season schedule as they took on the Colorado Mammoth. The Rock struggled early as they fell behind 4-1. Toronto woke up in the second quarter as the Rock scored three times just 1:23 into the second quarter to tie the game 4-4. The Rock would continue to roll as they scored two more goals to go ahead 6-4.
Colorado would fight back with two goals to tie the game 6-6. The Rock would recover their lead as Ethan O’Connor made a impression as he made along bomb pass to Rob Hellyer for the go ahead goal putting the Rock ahead 7-6. In the third quarter the two teams would continue to go blow for blow as each team scored two goals leaving the Rock ahead 9-8.
In the Fourth quarter the two teams would once again be tied at 10-10. Stephan Leblanc scored his third goal of the night to put the Rock in front 11-10. Rookie Jeff Swift made an impression as he scored a goal in the fourth to put the Rock up 12-10. The Mammoth would not go away as they scored another goal to make the score 12-11. Brendan Thenhaus would seal the game for the Rock to put the Rock in front 13-11 but the Mammoth would score a buzzer beater goal to make it 13-12 but the Rock would walk away with the 13-12 victory.
The Rock received key performances from Stephan Leblanc (3 goals), Garrett Billings (2 goals), Rob Hellyer (2 goals) while Jeff Swift, Thenhaus, and Mike Woods scored a goal. In the end it was a good first game for the Rock but they still have a lot of work to do before the regular season.
