Shawn Palmer, Correspondent Toronto Rock
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo: Paul Sasso, MV Photo Concepts
The Toronto Rock hosted the Georgia Swarm on Friday night January 18 at the Scotiabank Arena in front of a disappointing crowd of 7,118. The Rock were hoping to avenge the one goal loss against Georgia two weeks ago. The Rock put together a great defensive strategy that had the Swarm offense off of their game all night in their 14-9 win. Final Score: Toronto 14—Georgia 9.
Toronto came out of the gates with a an early goal by Dan Lintner (2G, 1A) at 1:57 of the first quarter as Damon Edwards stayed on the floor in transition and recovered a rebound to keep the offensive play alive. He dropped it off to Tom Schreiber (1G, 4A) who passed to Lintner on the left side and he fired an overhand shot that squeezed through Mike Poulin’s (2A, 46 saves) legs into the Georgia net. For close to the next ten minutes of the first quarter the teams went back and forth with both defenses and goalies bending but not breaking. At 11:07, with Nick Rose (2A, 49 saves) pulled for the extra attacker on a delayed penalty to the Swarm, Schreiber wound up for a shot that ended up being a pass to Kieran McArdle (1G, 3A) who was behind the net. He took the pass, dove ahead and tucked it into the net behind an unsuspecting Poulin to increase the Rock lead to two. Thirty one seconds later after a big save by Rose in the Rock net, the Rock pushed the ball up the floor to Dan Craig (3G, 1A) who was able to beat his man low and dive across the crease to beat Poulin for a three goal lead. In the last minute of the first quarter the Rock were on offense again and Schreiber scored from the top with a low hard shot that beat Poulin through the five hole. Nick Rose and his defense played a perfect quarter and even the offensive players were helping out as Adam Jones (2G, 1A) had a great trail check to stop a two on one in the last five seconds of the quarter. This was the first time in the five games the Swarm have played that they have been shutout in a quarter. The shots at the end of the first quarter were Toronto 18 and Georgia 10 as Toronto led 4-0. Score at the end of one: Toronto 4—Georgia 0.
Everyone in the arena knew that the Swarm offense would not continue to misfire and less than thirty seconds into the second quarter they responded as Poulin made a save and fed a long pass to Shayne Jackson (2G, 1A) which led to a breakaway and he beat Rose low to the stick side to cut the Rock lead to three. Less than forty seconds later Poulin made another long outlet pass to Zed Williams for a breakaway but this time Damon Edwards caught up to him and pulled him down causing Williams to shoot wide. The referee decided to award the Swarm a penalty shot and Head Coach Ed Comeau put his leading scorer, Lyle Thompson (3G, 1A) on the floor to take it. Thompson came down the center of the floor and threw three fakes before jumping up and depositing the ball over Rose’s shoulder and into the net cutting the Rock lead to four to two. In the last meeting between these two teams Thompson also had a penalty shot and Rose was able to stop him. Two minutes later Rob Hellyer (2G, 4A) increased the Rock lead five to three as his outside shot squeezed through Poulin’s legs and just rolled over the goal line. Joel Tinney was assessed a minor penalty for an illegal cross check halfway through the second quarter and on the Rock’s first offensive possession of the power play the Swarm picked up a loose ball and moved it down the floor to Shayne Jackson (2G, 1A) as he and Jordan Macintosh (1G, 2A) passed the ball three times back and forth on a two on one before Jackson beats Rose between the legs for a short-handed goal to cut the Rock lead again to two. The Rock regained their three goal lead less than two minutes later as Craig came off the bench, received a pass from Hellyer and beat Poulin with a shot up high. After making a great save on Tinney who was alone on the crease, Rose threw a long outlet pass to Rock Captain Challen Rogers (2G) who broke down the floor on a breakaway and beat Poulin up high while jumping through the crease area. This gave the Rock a seven to three lead with less than four minutes to go in the first half. After an illegal cross checking penalty was given to the Rock’s Bill Hostrawser the Swarm went to the power play and after some very good ball movement Randy Staats (2G, 2A) scored on the short side to cut the Rock lead to three again. The final goal of the half was scored by Holden Cattoni (1G, 3A) as he came off of the bench, Macintosh spotted him cutting and with a nice cross floor pass fed him on the right side and Cattoni beat Rose with a low shot. The half ended with the Rock leading the Swarm 7-5.
The shots on goal after two quarters were the Rock 27 and the Swarm 22. Throughout the first half the Rock defense were all over the Swarm players hands as they passed or shot, Brock Sorensen (1G) was primarily defending Lyle Thompson and for the most part kept him away from the net.
The Toronto Rock came out firing in the second half as Rogers scored his second of the game just 45 seconds into the quarter. He transitioned up the floor and received a pass from Brad Kri (2A) and delivered a heavy overhand shot to the top corner making it 8-5 for the Rock. Two minutes later Craig scored his hat trick goal of the night on a feed from McArdle as he beat Poulin up high with a shot from the outside to increase the lead to four. A few minutes later, Schreiber jumped high for a loose ball against three Swarm players and was not able to come up with the loose ball but when he landed he limped off to the bench. Fans who noticed were glad to see him back out on the next shift without showing any signs of an injury. Through the first half of the quarter Rose stood tall keeping the Swarm off of the board including making a save on Shayne Jackson from right on the doorstep. Adam Jones scored his first of the game as he drove past his defender who had fallen down on the play and beat Poulin with a nice low shot to the glove side. The Rock lead was 10 – 5. With less than four minutes to go in the quarter the Swarm got their first of the second half as L. Thompson fired a low shot and beat Rose just under his stick as the shot clock expired. L. Thompson scored his third of the game over a minute later as he went through three defenders on his way to the net and beat Rose with two fakes up high and finished with a low shot cutting the Rock lead to three at 10 – 7. The Rock thought that they had scored thirty seconds later as Craig shoveled a pass across the crease to Lintner who one timed a shot into the empty side. After seeing the replay the challenge flag was thrown by the Swarm bench and the goal was called back as Craig had stepped into the crease before the ball was in the net. The Rock still led by three. In the last thirty seconds of the quarter L. Thompson drew two defenders up high and passed down low to Staats whose low shot beat Rose between the legs for his second of the game. The third quarter ended with the Rock leading 10 – 8; shots on goal: Swarm 37—Rock 35.
The fourth quarter had end to end action as Poulin made a great save on a cross crease pass from Craig to Lintner and his quick stick shot was picked out of the air by Poulin’s stick. The Rock’s defense also continued to hold up as Hellyer had a great back check stopping a breakaway five minutes into the quarter. Georgia’s Matt Dunn received a minor tripping penalty and the Rock power play went to work, after three shots in one possession and the Swarm defenders looking a little tired, Hellyer scored on a low to high side arm shot from the outside to increase the Rock lead to three again at 11 – 8. Forty seconds later Jordan Macintosh took a missed Rock shot on transition and went the length of the floor and while using a Rock defender as a screen beat Rose low to the stick side to cut the lead to two again with half of a quarter to go. The Rock offense restored the lead less than a minute later as Jones scored his second of the game as he beat Poulin with a shot to the far side to make it 12-9. Lintner with his second of the game with less than two minutes left on a great no look pass from Schreiber, as he passed across the crease and Lintner caught the ball he made a fake and beat Poulin up high. The Rock added an empty net goal by Sorensen to complete the scoring and end up with a 14-9 win.
Final Shots on net Swarm 49, Toronto 47.
Thanks to my friend Todd Wilfong who has been counting all of the shots over the last 10 years for the Toronto Rock as he informed me that the Swarm had a total of 75 shots directed at the net while the Rock had 73.
The Three Stars:
- Nick Rose and the defense (40 saves, countless blocks and hurried passes)
- Dan Craig (3G, 1A)
- Rob Hellyer (2G, 4A)
NEXT UP:
Toronto (4-1) heads to Philadelphia to play the Wings (0-5) on Saturday January 26, game time 7:00 EST.
Georgia (4-2) hosts the Saskatchewan Rush (2-1) on Sunday January 27, game time 4:05 EST.
Shawn Palmer, Correspondent Toronto Rock
Lacrosse is Awesome©