With the Toronto Rock set to take to the road for the next three weeks following Friday night’s game against the New England Black Wolves, picking up a win was crucial, and while the Rock needed extra time to get the job done, they did just that, dropping the Black Wolves by a score of 13-12.
The first quarter was a back and forth affair, that saw both teams really trying to get a feel for one another. Both Brandon Miller of the Toronto Rock and Evan Kirk of the New England Black Wolves made some key saves to keep the game scoreless early on. The Rock would get on the board first, when Brett Hickey potted his 18th of the season, at the 3:32 mark of the first quarter. With Toronto up 1-0, Stephan Leblanc would extend their lead to 2-0, just under two minutes later. The Rock offense was once again off to a smooth start. However the Black Wolves came to play on Friday night, and rallied back almost immediately, as goals from Kyle Buchanan and Kevin Buchanan (no relation) would knot the game up at 2-2 as the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter of play.
It would take just 34 seconds into the second quarter for the Rock to restore their lead, as Rob Hellyer would convert on a feed from speedster Damon Edwards to put the Rock up 3-2. The most unlikely of Black Wolves would find twine for New England as the game returned to a deadlock when defensive stalwart Michael Diehl would find the back of the net for his first career NLL tally at the 3:32mark. It wouldn’t take long before the Rock responded once again, as the largely undervalued Kevin Ross beat Evan Kirk off of a lovely feed from Rob Hellyer. With the Rock up 4-3, the Black Wolves would go on a run to end the quarter, as Kyle Buchanan would find the back of the net on two occasions and Kevin Buchanan would pot his second of the game to give the Black Wolves a 6-4 lead heading into half.
Almost as soon as the whistle blew and the 2nd half was underway, the Rock found the back of the net to pull with in one of New England, as Kevin Ross would record his 2nd of the game, just 30 seconds into the third quarter. But with the Rock narrowing the lead to 6-5, the Black Wolves pulled away, over just a five minute stretch of play New England would go on a four goal run with goals off the sticks of Pat Saunders, Kevin Buchanan, Jamie Lincoln and Brett Bucktooth. The result was a 10-5 lead, and Rock starting goaltender Brandon Miller yanked from the cage in favour of backup Nick Rose. The change in goal seemed to spark the Rock, as they would end the quarter on a two goal run, with Stephan Leblanc and Brett Hickey finding the back of the net to narrow New England’s lead to 10-7.
Josh Sanderson would continue the Rock’s climb back into the game, as he found the back of the net for his first of the game 4:47 into the fourth quarter. With the Air Canada Centre crowd getting back into the game and momentum swinging back in the Rock’s favour, Black Wolves Captain Joel White would streak in on a partial break away and beat Nick Rose, to quite the rejuvenated Rock crowd. With the score sitting at 11 to 8 in favour of New England, and time dwindling down on the clock, the Rock’s perfect home record looked to be in jeopardy. That was however until the potent offensive of the Rock we’ve seen all season final showed up, as the Rock would rattle of four straight goals to take a 12-11 lead with just over two and a half minutes left to play. As the clock ticked down the Rock looked to have completed the comeback, until Kyle Buchanan beat Nick Rose for his 4th goal of the game, with just 1:08 remaining. Each team would muster one more chance on goal as the clock ticked down to zeros.
With the game all knotted at 12 apiece, the Air Canada Centre crowd was treated to their first taste of overtime action this season. New England would gain control of the faceoff that opened OT, and immediately called, hopeful to set up a play that would win them the game without the Toronto Rock ever gaining possession of the ball. However the Rock defense stood tall, as Damon Edwards would scoop a loose ball and push the ball the floor to the offense. That was when Josh Sanderson took over, Sanderson didn’t look to have much, but used his defenders body as a screen, beating Evan Kirk five hole, to give the Rock their 7th win of the season.
Rob Hellyer had another monster game for the Rock offensively, picking up 8 points on 2 goals & 6 assists. Josh Sanderson was quite throughout the first half of the game, but picked up points when it counted, as 5 of his 6 points came in the 2nd half of the game, with the Rock down. Brett Hickey continued his potent goal scoring pace as he racked up 4 goals in the win, which now gives him 22 on the season. Stephan LeBlanc picked up 6 points, while Kevin Ross would add five himself. Kevin and Kyle Buchanan would both record six point evenings for the Black Wolves, as Kyle produced 4 goals & 2 assists, while Kevin picked up 3 goals & 3 assists. Pat Saunders was also strong offensively, recording 1 goal & 4 assists for 5 points. Kevin Crowley had a quiet night offensively for the Black Wolves, picking up just 1 assist.
Nick Rose, who came in, in relief of Rock starter Brandon Miller, would earn the win. Rose stopped 21 of the 24 shots he faced in the final 26:01 of the game. Evan Kirk went the distance in goal for the Black Wolves, and despite taking the loss, allowing 13 goals on 46 shots, was excellent for New England. All three goalies to appear in tonight’s matchup where products of the Orangeville Northmen Junior A organization.
New England is next in action this Sunday, when they host the Colorado Mammoth in New England at 1pm. Meanwhile the Rock head west to Edmonton next weekend for a matchup with the West leading Rush. Rush head coach Derek Keenan was in attendance advance scouting Friday night’s matchup, so you can be sure next weeks battle for 1st place overall in the NLL will be a good one
