The Toronto Rock were in action this weekend in week 2 of the NLL season. On Saturday night the Rock played their first game of the season against the Calgary Roughnecks and were able to pull out a 13-11 win. In the second half of their Alberta swing the Rock took on the Edmonton Rush on Sunday in Edmonton’s first game of the season.
The Rock started off this game on the wrong foot as defenseman Patrick Merrill took a pair of minor penalties just 31 seconds into the game. The Rush wasted no time in capitalizing as a pair of rookies made their mark as first overall pick Mark Matthews scored along with
fellow rookie Curtis Knight who added a second goal to make it 2-0 Rush. Toronto would get back on track though as Stephan LeBlanc found the back of the net to make the score 2-1. The Rush would control the period though as they added two more goals to make the score 4-2. At the end of the first quarter Garrett Billings was the recipient of a late hit which caused a scrum between the two teams and led to Toronto’s coach Troy Cordingley getting his second bench minor and being ejected from the game.
The Rush were able to take advantage on the power play adding another goal to extend their lead to 5-2. Kasey Beirnes would answer though for the Rock shorthanded to draw the rock back within 2. The Rock would continue their momentum as they scored a pair of goals, one from Garrett Billings and one from Josh Sanderson in order to tie the game 5-5. Matthews though would make his presence felt once again as he scored his second goal of the game in order to give the Rush as 6-5 lead at halftime.
The Rush came out of the break and built on their lead as Zack Greer scored to restore Edmonton’s two goal lead. The Rock would come back though as Scott Evans scored a pair along with Josh Sanderson scoring his second goal of the game to give the Rock their first lead 8-7. The Rock lead was short lived though as Edmonton responded just 8 seconds
later to tie the game 8-8 at the end of the third. The Rock would strike first in the fourth as Beirnes scored the go ahead goal giving Toronto the lead just 5 minutes into the frame. Rob Hellyer would add an insurance marker to give the Rock a 10-8 lead. Edmonton
would continue to fight and got a goal from Matthews who got a hat trick in his first NLL game but Edmonton would not get any closer as Nick Rose shut the door preserving a 10-9 Toronto Rock win.
The Rock won this game on the shoulders of great goaltending from Nick Rose, who stopped 44 shots and weathered an early storm to keep the Rock in this game. Billings and captain Colin Doyle both had 5 point games and were the sparks of the Rocks offense. The Rock complete their road trip going -0 as they head back to Toronto next weekend for their home opener against the Philadelphia wings.
Edmonton in this game were led by their rookies as Mark Matthews and Curtis Knight each had 5 points and were showing no rookie nerves in their first game. Edmonton played tough and showed their offensive ability but unfortunately Nick Rose was able to out duel Aaron Bold in this game. Edmonton will go in search of their first win of the season next week when they travel to Washington to play the Stealth.
