Shawn Palmer, Correspondent Toronto Rock
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Courtesy of Toronto Rock
The much anticipated opening game of the 2019/20 season for the Toronto Rock (0-1) and New England Black Wolves (1-0) took place on Saturday night December 7 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto in front of 7,158 fans. There were a lot of connections between players and coaches on these two teams which made the game even more interesting. The New England Coaches Glen Clark and Clem D’Orazio both coach the Toronto Jr. A team with the Toronto Rock’s Damon Edwards; and in the game were three of the alumni from that team (Woods and Nishimura for New England; Tulett and Forster for the Rock). Also New England’s first pick, third overall, Andrew Kew plays for the Oakville Rock of the Major Series Lacrosse league along a lot of the current Toronto Rock players in the summer and was their leading scorer the last 2 years. Final Score: Toronto 8—New England 8.
The game started off well for the Rock as one of the newest players on the team, Dan Dawson (2G) scored his first Rock goal 39 seconds in with a laser shot to the top shelf beating Doug Jamieson (46S, 2A) during a delayed penalty to give the Rock an early 1- 0 lead. Thirty seconds later Dan Craig (1G, 1A) scored off his own rebound and dunked it from behind the net to increase the lead to two. New England got on the board on the power play as Joe Resetarits (2G, 3A) dove across the crease after receiving a pass from Callum Crawford (3G, 4A) and beat Nick Rose (39S, 1A) to the far side to cut the lead in half. Just under 10 minutes into the first, the Black Wolves tied it up as Tony Malcolm (1G, 1A) scored on a bounce shot after picking up a loose ball in transition and went in on a breakaway to make it two apiece. Resetarits scored his second of the quarter as he took a hard overhand shot from the restraining line to beat Rose and gave New England their first lead of the game 3–2. Thirty seconds later they would extend their lead when Jordan Durston (2G) beat Rose up high with a shot from the top making it 4–2 Black Wolves. Before the quarter ended the Rock would cut the lead in half when Johnny Powless (2G, 1A) was able to squeeze a shot from the right side under Jamieson’s arm to make it 4 -3 at the end of the first quarter. The shots after one quarter favored Toronto 13-12.
It took a few minutes for the scoring to start in the second but Crawford restored the two goal New England lead with a power play goal when he faked short side and shot outside to beat Rose. One minute later Colton Watkinson (1G, 1A) picked up a loose ball in transition and went in on a breakaway beating Rose through the legs extending their lead 6–3. Durston scored his second of the game as he cut around the back of the net and dunked it behind Rose to extend the lead to four. Three minutes later the Rock halted the New England run as Rob Hellyer (1G) would score on a power play goal after some nice ball movement when his shot beat Jamieson to the far side to make it 7–4 for New England. Dawson would get his second goal of the game with a nice move coming out of the corner to beat his defender and Jamieson over the shoulder to make it 7-5 Black Wolves. The Rock would get to within one as with a transition goal from Challen Rogers (1G, 1A) when he squeezed a shot between Jamieson’s legs and just over the line. But just as quickly as they closed the gap, New England would get that one back a minute later when Stephen LeBlanc (1G) cut through the middle of the Rock defence; receiving a nice pass from Crawford to beat Rose to the short side. Shots at the half still favored Toronto 31-30. The quarter ended with New England leading the Rock 8–6.
Less than four minutes into the third quarter Toronto would cut the lead to one when on transition they had a nice three way passing play from Billy Hostrawser (1A) to Tom Schreiber (3A) to Powless for his second goal as he beat Jamieson with a shot over his shoulder to make it 8–7 with the Black Wolves still holding the lead. Two minutes later Adam Jones (1G) took a shot from the outside that deflected off a defender; off the glass; behind the net; and into the crease. A defender tried to pick up the ball; knocked it by Jamieson and into his own net to tie the game at eight. Three minutes later Andrew Kew (1G, 3A) would score his first career NLL goal on the power play from the top on a bounce shot through Rose’s legs. This delighted the over 50 friends and family that had come from Oakville to watch him play in his first game and New England would regain the lead 9–8. Less than two minutes later Crawford scored a short-handed goal on a nice quick stick shot low increasing the lead by two once more for New England. Crawford would complete his hat trick with a nice shot around a defender that beat Rose to the far side to make it 11–8 Black Wolves at the end of the third quarter. Shots on goal were still in favor of Toronto 44-42.
The fourth quarter went six minutes before the Rock thought that they had scored a goal to cut the lead to two. Scott Dominey looked like he had scored his first goal with the Rock but after a challenge flag was thrown by New England’s head coach Glen Clark it was determined that Dawson had interfered with the New England goalie and the goal was disallowed keeping the score at 11–8. Even though the Rock had a five minute power play at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth they weren’t able to beat Jamieson and get any closer. New England completed the scoring when Nick Chaykowsky (1G) scored an empty net goal on a nice feed from Jamieson to close it out. The final shots were Toronto 56 and New England 52. Final Score: Toronto 8—New England 12.
NEXT UP:
The Toronto Rock (0-1) go on the road and play in San Diego against the Seals on Saturday December 14, game time 10:00 p.m. EST.
The New England Black Wolves (1-0) are also on the road when they travel west to Saskatchewan to face the Rush (1-0) on Saturday December 14, game time 8:30 p.m. EST.
Shawn Palmer, Correspondent Toronto Rock
Lacrosse is Awesome©