Justin Ivey, Beat Writer New England Black Wolves
Lacrosse is Awesome
In front of 9,145 home fans, the Toronto Rock (4-2) rolled over the New England Black Wolves (4-2) for their fourth straight win. After starting the season with two straight losses, the Rock have won their past four with an average of 20.5 goals per game while defining themselves as the most potent offense in the NLL. The Black Wolves, coming in as winners of three straight, could not find a way to stop the scoring onslaught. Their revamped defense from last season had not allowed over 10 goals in their three-game win streak, but in their two losses they have allowed over 20. The game stayed close until the third quarter, but Toronto turned it on to hold New England scoreless in the fourth to come out victorious. With the win, Toronto currently sits in first place in the East, owning the current tiebreaker over New England. Final score: New England-9, Toronto-21.
Toronto got on the board early as Rob Hellyer (4G, 5A) unloaded a skip shot from well outside that seemed to catch Black Wolves goaltender Aaron Bold a bit off guard. The goal came just 36 seconds in, and New England’s answer wouldn’t come for just over three and a half minutes. Kevin Buchanan (1G, 1A) found himself open in the middle and launched a low shot to beat Nick Rose. The first penalty of the game was called on Black Wolves player Joel Coyle for holding the stick just over half way through the quarter. Toronto couldn’t capitalize right away and allowed David Brock (2G, 1A) to streak down for a short-handed transition goal 29 seconds into the power play. Still with the man advantage, former New England player Sheldon Burns (2G, 1A) scored in transition to even the score with 6:36 to go. With that goal, Burns was still shooting 100% for Toronto this season as it was his fifth goal on his fifth shot. It looked like it was going to be a tie game going into the second quarter, but Adam Jones (5G, 4A) had other plans. Nick Rose headed to the bench for the extra attacker and Jones beat Bold with just six tenths of a second left on the clock. At the end of the first quarter, Toronto led New England 3-2.
Jones, feeling it from the end of the first quarter, scored just 19 seconds into the second. Less than a minute later, Tom Schreiber (5G, 7A) got his first of the night. His isolation goal was text-book as he backed in, spun around and fired a laser. Challen Rogers (1A) found himself open in transition and scored a goal that was overturned as he stepped in the crease. Kieran McArdle (1G, 3A) made sure that didn’t change the momentum. Soon after, he released a worm burner right by Bold and suddenly the Toronto Rock had scored five in a row to take a 6-2 lead. Kevin Crowley (2G, 1A) ended the run. He found himself open top center and fired a cannon into the net. A minute and a half later, Brock was allowed to meander through the Toronto defense in transition and buried his second of the game. With 7:40 to go in the half, Stephan Leblanc (2G), traded to New England after being with Toronto since 2010, scored his first goal against Toronto as a visitor to the Air Canada Centre. Shawn Evans (3A) passed to Crowley from his back, who swung it to an open Leblanc for the wide-open lane. Half way through the quarter; and New England was suddenly back in the game only down one goal. Schreiber stopped the run at three for New England. Gathering his own rebound running across the middle, he buried a shot while falling to give Toronto a two-goal lead again. 31 seconds later, Jones cleanly beat this defender from the side to score his hat trick goal and extend the lead to three. New England got a bit of luck to score their next goal. John LaFontaine (1G) shot in transition. The ball hit the pipe and went off a defender’s foot into the net. After a lengthy review, the goal was determined good as LaFontaine had cleared out of the crease before the ball was knocked in the net. As they did all night, Toronto answered quickly. 20 seconds later Jones fed a beautiful pass to Reid Reinholdt (2G, 3A) on the crease; and just 18 seconds later Hellyer notched his second of the night from outside. Crowley would get one more before the half, shooting on the run to get Rose moving away from the post. At the half, Toronto led New England 10-7.
The trend continued as Toronto scored first in the second half. Only 4:29 in, and Schreiber would complete his hat trick running through defenders and burying a shot stick side. Soon after, Schreiber found himself open on the crease for his fourth of the night to give Toronto a 12-7 lead. Trying to get back into the game again, Leblanc scored his second of the night 31 later. Five minutes of scoreless lacrosse followed with both goalies making big saves from shots up close. Kyle Buchanan (1G, 1A) broke the drought to bring the Black Wolves within three as he scored from up close from an Evans feed. But, Toronto again answered. Hellyer found himself open behind the defense to score easily on the helper from Schreiber; then Dan Craig (1G, 1A) would gather a shot gone wide from Schreiber off the back board in stride to score his only of the game. At the end of the third quarter, Toronto led New England 14-9.
The fourth quarter was one sided as Toronto ran away with the game.
Already with a five-goal lead, Jones and Hellyer scored within the first minute, chasing Aaron Bold from the net. Burns welcomed Doug Jamieson to the game by toying with him on the crease, dancing fakes on a breakaway and eventually scoring. Schreiber scored his final goal of the game jumping across the crease. All four of these Toronto goals came in the first 2:04 of play in the fourth, giving the Rock the lead 18-9. Just over a minute later, Toronto made it seven straight going back to the third quarter as Reinholdt’s shot squeaked through Jamieson’s pads. A minute and a half after that, Jones scored five-hole from outside. In less than five minutes of the fourth quarter, Toronto had scored six goals, essentially putting the game out of reach. Along with the offense firing on all cylinders, the Toronto defense was allowing nothing through. Rose was blocking shots with simple twitches of his shoulders. At one point, Evans tried on three consecutive possessions to sneak around from behind. Each time his shot was turned away. Toronto was happy to eat up each shot clock on their possession as their defense held strong. The Black Wolves lone power play opportunity was fruitless. Brett Hickey (1G) joined the scoring party with 3:37 left in the game to bring us to our final score. New England 9—Toronto 21.
UP NEXT:
The Toronto Rock (4-2) will play host to the Calgary Roughnecks (1-5) on Saturday, February 3 at 7:00 PM EST.
The New England Black Wolves (4-2) have a bye week and return Friday, February 9 to host the Buffalo Bandits (3-3).