Shawn Palmer, Correspondent Toronto Rock
Lacrosse is Awesome©
The Toronto Rock visited the Philadelphia Wings on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center in front of 11,164 fans who were hoping to see the first win of the season for the Wings. Through the first three quarters of the game it looked like they were going to go home happy. The Toronto Rock had different thoughts as how to this game would end as they went on a 7-2 run in the final quarter to escape with their second one goal win against the Wings 13-12.
The game started with the Wings coming out of the gate and surprising the Rock with goals early and often, the first one scored by Matt Rambo (2G,1A) as he went by two defenders on the right side and completed a crease dive to beat Nick Rose (40 saves) to the far side. Less than two minutes later Josh Currier (1G, 3A) picked up a rebound off a Rose save and deposited it behind him for a 2-0 Wings lead. The run continued 21 seconds later as Kiel Matisz (3G, 4A) scored a power play goal with an overhand shot from the outside that beat Rose low. Less than 30 seconds later Vaughn Harris (1G, 1A) scored on a pick and roll after a feed from Matisz and beat Rose after throwing three fakes and dumping it over his shoulder from right in front to stretch the Wings lead to 4-0. The Rock at this point looked like they were standing still on defense and allowing the Wings forwards to shoot and move at will. The Rock finally got on the board with a power play goal of their own as Adam Jones (3G, 2A) threw the ball at Doug Buchan (33 saves) from a bad angle to beat the shot clock from expiring and it went through the five hole. This was definitely one that Buchan wanted back. Before the first half of the quarter was over the Wings had a 4-1 lead. During the next five minutes play went back and forth and both goalies were keeping the offenses off the board. Matisz scored his second goal of the quarter on a hard shot from the outside to beat Rose on the stick side to increase the lead to four. During the first quarter there were quite a few shots blocked by the Wings defenders that didn’t make it through to Buchan keeping the Rock offense on their heels. For the first time this season the Wings had a lead at the end of the first quarter as they lead 5-1 and outshot the Rock 18 – 10.
The second quarter started off the same as the first for the Wings as Kevin Crowley (4G, 6A) scored up high on Rose with an overhand shot from the outside just over a minute in. Jones scored for the Rock on a nice behind the back pass from Johnny Powless (1G, 2A) as he faked high and beat Buchan low to cut the lead to four at 6 – 2. A few minutes later Rose made a great save going side to side in the net to rob Matisz who was right on the crease, this seemed to give the Toronto players some confidence. Half way through the quarter Tom Schreiber (2G, 4A) who had already missed the morning shoot around as had been ill on Friday and Saturday morning, dove across the crease and landed hard on his hip, he slowly left the floor and went right to the dressing room. With less than five minutes in the frame Powless received a pass from Dan Lintner (3G, 2A) and beat Buchan with a low side arm shot to cut the lead to three. Schreiber who was back in the game took an outside shot that Buchan saved and Lintner grabbed the rebound, dove across the crease and beat Buchan to make it 6 – 4 for the Wings. On the ensuing face off Billy Hostrawser and Chet Koneczny dropped the gloves for a rare fight and Hostrawser landed four to five punches with the last one knocking Koneczny to the ground, with each of them receiving a five minute major. In the last minute of the half Blaze Riorden (1G) increased the Wing lead to three again as picked up a rebound on a shot by Jordan Hall (2A) and deposited it over the Rose’s shoulder. Just before the half ended Kieran McArdle (1A) received a five minute major for high sticking which rolled over into the third. The score at the end of the first half was the Wings 7–Rock 4. Shots on goal had the Wings with 36 and the Rock with 24.
The Rock started the second half doing a good job killing off time on the major penalty and were trying to score while short-handed. The Wings were hoping that this wasn’t going to be a repeat of a few games ago when they had a five minute power play against Georgia and didn’t end up scoring or getting a quality chance for the entire penalty. With less than a minute left in the major, Matisz scored his hat trick goal as he took a bounce shot from the outside to beat Rose making the score 8-4 in favor of the Wings. Two minutes later the Rock responded when Jones made a great cross crease pass to Lintner whose quick stick beat Buchan to the open side for their second power play goal of the game to cut the lead to three once more. Just over six minutes into the quarter Crowley scored his second goal of the night as he cut through the middle and received a pass from Harris beating Rose up high with a nicely placed shot to restore the Wings four goal lead at 9-5. In the last four minutes of the quarter both teams traded goals with the Rock’s Lintner scoring his hat trick goal on a nice no look pass from Schreiber and Crowley notching his hat trick goal by using a pick and roll to score on a bounce shot. This ended the third quarter with the Wings holding onto a 10 – 6 lead. The shots on goal were the Wings 44 while the Rock had 33.
For the first time in the game the Rock opened the score in a quarter as Schreiber scored his first goal of the game using a defender as a screen and beat Buchan between the legs 45 seconds into the fourth to make it a 10 – 7 lead for the Wings. Less than a minute later Jay Thorimbert (1G) scored in transition on a two on one as he kept the ball and fired a high shot to beat Buchan to cut the Wings lead to two. The Rock kept rolling as Rob Hellyer (3G, 4A) came across the top and took a sidearm shot that beat Buchan under his glove hand, making the score 10 – 9 in favor of the Wings. With less than six minutes gone in the final quarter Schreiber received a nice pick from Lintner and took a nice twister shot that went through the legs of Buchan. Just over half way through the final quarter the Rock had evened the game and the Wings were reeling from the pressure being applied by Toronto. Twenty eight seconds later the Rock had their first lead of the game as Schreiber made a nice flip pass to Hellyer on a good two man game allowing Hellyer beat Buchan up high. Crowley scored a power play goal on an overhand shot to beat Rose low to tie up the game at 11. The Rock regained the lead less than a minute later when Jones scored on a pass from Latrell Harris (1A, 6LB) as his shot trickled through Buchan’s legs and just over the line. The Wings tied it up again as Rambo cut around the top and beat Rose with a nice low shot. With less than a half of a quarter left in the game it was tied at 12. The teams traded chances at both ends of the floor but Rose and Buchan bent but would not break. In the last three minutes of the game Hellyer beat his defenseman down low and jumped through the crease and beat Buchan over the shoulder to give the Rock the lead at 13 – 12. The Wings continued to push the play and had two possessions in the last few minutes of the game with the goalie pulled but Nick Rose and the Toronto defense held on to get the win.
This was the fourth game this season that the Rock have been in that ended with a one goal win, of those games the Rock have won three. Dan Lintner was asked about this after the game as he said “We’ve had a few close games, but you put us in a situation like that and we’re not going to give up at all. Whether we’re down five or down one, we’re going to play as hard as we can.”
The Three Stars of the game were:
- Kevin Crowley – 4G, 6A
- Rob Hellyer – 3G, 4A (Game winner)
- Kiel Matisz – 3G, 4A
NEXT UP:
The Toronto Rock (5-1) play their next game at home on February 1, game time 7:30 p.m. EST against the defending NLL champions Saskatchewan Rush (3-1); while the Philadelphia Wings (0-6) also play at home against the Rochester Knighthawks (2-3) on February 1, game time 7:00 p.m. EST.
Shawn Palmer, Correspondent Toronto Rock
Lacrosse is Awesome©