Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Christian Bender
The Toronto Rock hosted the Halifax Thunderbirds for the second year in a row in the Eastern Division Quarter Finals. This time Toronto would have to play the game without their leading scorer from this season as Tom Schreiber was out with an upper body injury. In front of 8,881 loud Rock fans the game went back and forth for the first two and half quarters until the Rock pulled away halfway through the third and ended with a 15 – 11 win. Setting up a return trip to the Eastern Semi-Finals for the Toronto Rock as they await the winner of the Buffalo Bandits and Rochester Knighthawks game Saturday May 6, 2023.
Toronto opened the scoring early in the first quarter when Stephen Keogh (2G, 2A) beat his defender down low and dove across the crease to beat Warren Hill (38 saves) between the legs giving the Rock an early 1 – 0 lead. Less than 10 seconds later off the ensuing faceoff Graeme Hossack (1G) picked up the loose ball, went right down the middle of the floor and his shot beat Nick Rose (31 saves) stick side to tie the game just over a minute into the game. The teams settled into a defensive struggle after that and there was no scoring for the next 10 minutes. With three and a half minutes left in the first while on the power play Corey Small (3G, 2A) would take a sidearm shot that went short side giving the Rock back the lead 2 – 1. Fifteen seconds later they would double their lead when Zach Manns (3G, 3A) got the dish from Josh Jubenville (1A) in transition and his shot went over the shoulder doubling the Rock lead 3 – 1. The shots on goal in the first quarter were Toronto 20 and Halifax 5. Toronto fired a lot of rubber at Hill but could only beat him three times in the first.
Toronto would cap their three-goal run and get it going early in the second quarter while on the power play. Manns passed to Dan Dawson (1G 3A) on a break, and he beat Hill to the glove side to make it 4 – 1. Halifax would answer back a couple of minutes later when Chris Boushy (3G, 3A) came down the outside of the floor and his low-to-low shot went far side to make it 4 – 2 for the Rock. Toronto answered back a minute later when Small picked up a rebound off a Dan Craig (2G, 1A) shot and he beat Hill through the legs to extend the Rock lead back to three 5 – 2. Randy Staats (3G) would get that one back two minutes later while on the power play with a high to low shot short side and it was 5 – 3 still in favor of Toronto which started a three-goal run for the T-birds. Sixteen seconds later Halifax scored again when Ryan Benesch (2G, 1A) fired a low shot that went five-hole, off the post and in to get the Thunderbirds to within one at 5 – 4 halfway through the second quarter. They’d continue their run when David Brock (1G) shot around his defender and was able to fire another shot five hole and the half ended with the score tied at five. The shots on goal in the first half were Toronto 33 and Halifax 20.
Toronto would open the scoring in the second half with Craig taking a sidearm shot from the top and he beat Hill to the stick side less than three minutes in to make it 6 – 5 Toronto. Halifax would notch their only tally on the power play when Staats beat his defender down low and dumped the ball over Rose’s shoulder and into the top corner to tie it up again at six. Toronto would go on their own power play and after some good ball movement, Small took a sidearm rip to the glove side for his hat trick goal and Toronto regained the lead at 7 – 6. They’d increase their lead 45 seconds later in transition. Latrell Harris (1G) received a pass from Mitch De Snoo (1G, 1A) on a two on one and beat Hill to the short side and it was 8 – 6. Toronto would close out the scoring in the third when Manns passed the ball to Keogh cutting through the middle and his bounce shot beat Hill through the legs to make it 9 – 6 for the Rock. The shots at the end of the third quarter were Toronto 41 and Halifax 28.
The Rock would continue the momentum in the fourth. Craig would break to the net with a defender draped all over him and his bounce shot beat Hill increasing the Rock lead to 10 – 6. Less than a minute later Manns cut across the top and his on the run sidearm went top corner giving the Rock their largest lead of the night at 11 – 6. Halifax stopped the run 50 seconds later with an overhand shot from Staats from the side boards that went over the shoulder to the short side cutting the Rock lead to 11 – 7. Twenty seconds after that Boushy would fire a sidearm shot short side and it was now 11 – 8 for the Rock. Less than two minutes later Boushy would score his second in a row when his low-to-low shot went through the legs, and it was 11 – 9 with less than 10 minutes left in the game. Manns would stop the Thunderbirds run with a low-to-low bounce shot that beat Hill to the far side for his hat trick goal and the lead was back to three 12 – 9 for the Rock. Halifax would pull their goalie for the extra attacker and Benesch fired a shot to the far side that beat Rose to make it 12 – 10 with just under four minutes left in the game. They’d go for the EA again and DeSnoo grabbed the ball away from a Halifax player, ran the length of the floor and put the ball into the empty net to make it 13 – 10 for the Rock. Continuing with the EA, Halifax lost the ball in the offensive zone and Chris Corbeil (1A) passed to Adam Jay (1G, 1A) and he deposited the ball into the empty net to make it 14 – 10 Rock with just over a minute left. Halifax didn’t give up as they drew a penalty and while on the power play Clarke Petterson (1G, 1A) would score their final goal of the 2022-23 season with an overhand shot that beat Rose between the legs to make it 14 – 11 with 35 seconds left. On the next faceoff with the Halifax goalie still on the bench, Greg Downing (1G) won the draw and went straight to the empty net and scored to finish the scoring at 15 – 11 for the Rock. The final shots on goal were Toronto 52 and Halifax 40.
The Three Stars were:
Zach Manns – Toronto Rock: 3G, 3A
Chris Boushy – Halifax Thunderbirds: 3G, 3A
Corey Small – Toronto Rock: 3G, 2A
STATS:
Halifax Thunderbirds—SOG 41; Saves 38; Sv% .717%; FO 20-32; PP 3-5
Toronto Rock—SOG 53; Saves 31; Sv% .756%; FO 12-32; PP 3-7
NEXT UP:
The next game for the Toronto Rock will either be Friday May 12th, 2023, at Key Bank Centre against the Bandits or Saturday May 13th, 2023, at home against the Rochester Knighthawks in the Eastern Division Semi-Finals.
Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©