Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse Is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Christian Bender
The Toronto Rock (14-3) hosted the Rochester Knighthawks (6-10) on Saturday night, April 13, 2024, in front of their largest crowd of the season on Fan Appreciation Night. The Rock were hoping to sew up the top seed in the NLL and have home floor advantage throughout the playoffs with a win while Rochester was hoping to move up in the standings to try and secure one of the final playoff spots. Toronto came out quick in the first quarter, took a four-goal lead into the second and increased that to a nine-goal lead heading into the second half. From there they put it in cruise control and finished with a 13 – 6 win to send the 11,256 fans home happy.
Toronto would open the scoring just over two minutes into the game when their captain, Challen Rogers (2G, 3A) picked up a loose ball and his high to low shot beat Riley Hutchcraft (28 saves) through the legs for the early 1 – 0 Rock lead. Five minutes later Toronto would double their lead. Rogers passed to Chris Boushy (4G) in front and his twister shot beat Hutchcraft to the far side and it was 2 – 0. Less than a minute later Corey Small (3G, 2A) fired a low bounce shot from the outside that beat went low to the stick side for a 3 – 0 lead for the Rock. Rochester’s Bench Boss Mike Hasen then pulled Hutchcraft in favor of Rylan Hartley (23 saves). Rogers would cap the four-goal run at the 10-minute mark when he beat his defender down low and jumped up to put his shot over Hartley and into the back of the net for a 4 – 0 Toronto lead. Hutchcraft was put back in the Knighthawks net and Rochester would finally find the back of the net while on the power play with 2:43 left in the frame. Connor Fields (1G, 2A) took a shot that snuck between Nick Rose’s arm and side and fell into the net cutting the Toronto lead to 4 – 1. With five seconds left in the quarter, Mitch deSnoo (2A) was in transition, his shot was saved by Hutchcraft but Justin Martin (1G) would pick up the rebound and his shot to the short side bulged the twine to give Toronto a 5 – 1 lead at the end of the first quarter. The shots at the end of the quarter were Toronto 21—Rochester 7.
The second was all Toronto as they would blank the Knighthawks and put in four-man up tallies plus one. A minute in the Rock were on a power play when Mark Matthews (1G, 4A) fired a low-to-low shot that went through the legs and the Rock lead was now five at 6 – 1. While still on the man up, Rogers would pass to Small, and his quick stick went short side to make it 7 – 1. Less than two minutes later Boushy fired a low-to-low shot around his defender that beat Hutchcraft through the legs and it was 8 – 1 for the Rock. Just shy of the halfway mark of the second, Rochester’s Brad Gillies (1G) took a five-minute major for an illegal cross check and while on the power play Small fired a sidearm shot stick side and it was now 9 – 1 for Toronto. While continuing on the power play for the major penalty, things would go from bad to worse for the Knighthawks and they’d be hit with another penalty putting them two men down. The Rock moved the ball around and it ended up with Boushy whose bounce shot went through Hutchcraft’s legs for the third time in the frame increasing the Rock lead to nine at 10 – 1 to end the first half. Toronto was outshooting Rochester 42 – 14 at this time.
Hartley was back in net for Rochester to start the third, and they finally stopped the Rock run five minutes into the frame. While in transition Kyle Waters (1G, 1A) received a pass from Fields and beat Rose to the glove side cutting the Rock lead to 10 – 2. This was Rochester’s first goal in over 22 minutes. Four minutes later Ryan Smith (1G, 1A) took a high shot that Rose got a piece of, but it fell behind him and just over the line to make it 10 – 3 for Toronto. This was all of the scoring in the third quarter and the shots on goal were Toronto 48—Rochester 32.
Rochester would continue to press in the fourth quarter and on the power play Dan Lomas (1G) got the pass from Ryan Lanchbury (3A) and his backhand shot beat Rose through the legs and it was now 10 – 4 Rock. A minute later, they’d put up another. Ethan O’Connor (1G) took a bounce shot from the outside that went short side cutting the lead to five for Toronto at 10 – 5. Two and half minutes later, the Rock would get that one back. Tom Schreiber (1G, 4A) reached around his defender to take a shot and beat Hartley to the far side restoring the six-goal lead at 11 – 5. Just over halfway through the final quarter, the Knighthawks would get their final tally. While in transition, Gillies got the pass from Matt Gilray (1A), and he beat Rose with a twister shot to the short side to make it 11 – 6. With less than a minute left in the game Rochester would pull their goalie for the extra attacker and the Rock struck. Brad Kri (1G) picked off a Rochester pass and ran the length of the floor to put it in the empty net doubling up the Knighthawks 12 – 6. Fifteen seconds later Boushy would close the scoring with his fourth on the night. Again, while in transition, he got the pass from Sheldon Burns (2A) and beat Hartley to the glove side with a side arm shot with 47 seconds left in the contest. The shots on goal at the end of the game were Toronto 65—Rochester 49. Final Score: Toronto 13—Rochester 6.
The Three Stars of the game were:
Chris Boushy – Toronto Rock: 4G
Nick Rose – Toronto Rock: 44 saves, 1 assist
Corey Small – Toronto Rock: 3G, 2A
NEXT UP:
The Toronto Rock (14-3) will close out the regular season on Saturday April 20, 2024, when they head to Sasktel Centre to face the Saskatchewan Rush (8-9), game time 9:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. For the final game of the 2023-24 regular season, this is a “Flex” game for TSN, and they will adjust the schedule for the most compelling game of the night so this could be a Game of the Week for fans in Canada. If not, they will have to catch the game on TSN+.
The Rochester Knighthawks (6-10) will finish out their season with a double header. On Friday April 19, 2024, they will travel to Georgia to face off against the Swarm (10-7), game time 9:00 p.m. EST. Then on Sunday April 21, 2024, they will close out the 2023-24 season at home where they will host the Philadelphia Wings (6-11), game time 3:00 p.m. EST. As both teams have been eliminated from the playoffs, this will be a game for pride to see who can close out their seasons with a “W”. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada get to catch the action on TSN+.
Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse Is Awesome©