Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Photo Credit: Ryan McCullough
The Toronto Rock (10-3) hosted the Albany FireWolves (2-9) on Saturday night March 11, 2023 and were hoping to start a new winning streak after their last one was stopped at 8 wins in a row courtesy of the Philadelphia Wings. The FireWolves were hoping to get back on track as well after losing two in a row to the Georgia Swarm who were winless until those two games. Both teams were missing key players for the game. Albany was without Charlie Kitchen and Connor Kelly; and the Rock were without Mitch De Snoo and Challen Rogers. The first half was a low scoring affair as Doug Jamieson kept Albany in the game, but the Rock offense kept pouring it on in the second half and outscored the FireWolves 7 – 2 to run away with game. Final score Toronto 12—FireWolves 6.
Toronto would get knabbed with a holding penalty early on and while shorthanded Josh Jubenville (1G) grabbed a loose ball and beat Jamieson (50 saves) through the legs with a bounce shot for the early 1 – 0 lead. Corson Kealey (1G, 1A) would get the equalizer a couple of minutes later when he picked up a rebound in front of Nick Rose and beat him to the stick side for his first career NLL goal in his first NLL game and it was even at one. After killing off a power play Albany came down on transition and John LaFontaine (1G) with an under hand low to low shot would fire one to the far bottom corner and Albany went up 2 – 1. The shots at the end of the first favored Toronto 16—12 over Albany.
With 2:03 off the clock in the second, Jerome Thompson (1G) grabbed a rebound in front of the crease and his BTB beat Rose to the top corner increasing the FireWolves lead to 3 – 1. The Rock would get one back and start a four-goal run. Stephen Keogh (4G, 3A) fired a low to low shot to beat Jamieson glove side and it was 3 – 2 for Albany. The Rock would tie it up 3 — 3 with a low to high laser to the top corner from Tom Schreiber (1G, 5A). Then Keogh would notch his second of the game with a high to low shot to the far side giving the Rock their first lead of the contest at 4 – 3. With 4:44 in the half, Albany would get hit with a checking from behind. This put the Rock on the man up and while on the power play and some good ball movement, Dan Dawson (2A) made a cross floor feed to Dan Craig (3G) who fired a high to high shot that beat Jamieson over the shoulder and into the top corner increasing the Rock lead to 5 – 3. With the clock winding down, in transition Colton Watkinson (1G, 1A) received a pass from Brett Manney (1A), he went in on a breakaway and beat Rose to the stick side closing the gap to one 5 – 4 in favor of the Rock. Toronto had pulled ahead in shots, and at the end of the second quarter favored Albany 34—19.
Toronto would open up the scoring in the early in second half. Craig picked up a loose ball and shot high to high over a defender and went over the shoulder to increase their lead to 6 – 4 only 23 seconds in. Then for the next nine minutes, both netminders stood on their heads. It wasn’t until there was only 5:50 left in the third that Albany would break the drought. John Piatelli (1G) with a high to low shot would go between the legs cutting the lead 6 – 5. The FireWolves would come back with another one when Kieran McArdle (3A) passed to a cutting Tanner Thompson (1G, 2A) whose quick stick beat Rose to the short side to tie it at six. Toronto answered back with an outside high to low show from Keogh for his hat trick goal to give the Rock back the lead at 7 – 6. The Rock would close out the third while in transition when Adam Jay (1G) ran the floor, and his overhand shot went through the legs in the last minute to make it 8 – 6. At the end of the third quarter Toronto had more than doubled their shots over Albany 47—23.
The Rock would be the only ones to score in the fourth. Keogh got it going with a BTB shot that Jamieson would save but the rebound came right to Corey Small (1G, 1A) and he put it right into the open net extending the lead for the Rock to 9 – 6. After killing a penalty Latrell Harris (1A) would scoop a loose ball, pass to Phil Mazzuca (1G) who was coming out of the penalty box on a breakaway, and he beat Jamieson with a twister shot to the short side and it was 10 – 6 Toronto. A minute later Craig got the pass from Keogh cutting through the middle and he fired a shot back to the short side giving Toronto a five goal lead 11 – 6. Keogh would score his fourth of the game and his high to high laser would go over the shoulder top corner to end the scoring as Toronto doubled Albany 12 – 6.
The three stars of the game were:
Stephen Keogh – Toronto Rock: 4G, 3A
Tom Schreiber – Toronto Rock: 1 G, 5A
Doug Jamieson – Albany FireWolves: 50 saves
STATS:
Albany FireWolves—SOG 31; Saves 50; Sv% .806%; FO 5-22; PP 0-5
Toronto Rock—SOG 62; Saves 25; Sv% .806%; FO 17-22; PP 1-3
NEXT UP:
The Toronto Rock (10-3) will head to the Scotiabank Centre to face the Halifax Thunderbirds (5-7) on Saturday March 18, 2023, game time 6:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the game on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
The Albany FireWolves (2-9) will head to Nassau Coliseum to face the New York Riptide (3-9) on Saturday March 18, 2023, game time 7:30 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the game on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©