Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo by Ryan McCullough / Toronto Rock
The Toronto Rock (0-4) hosted the Ottawa Black Bears (2-1) on Saturday night in Mississauga. The Rock were looking to get their first win of the season while the Black Bears were looking to sweep the season series after winning their first game 11 – 5. Toronto was able to get one of their injured players back for the game as Chris Corbeil was able to play, but they were still missing TD Ierlan, Tom Schreiber, Challen Rogers and Latrell Harris. The game was close throughout and the Rock even had a two-goal lead late in the fourth quarter before Ottawa stormed back to win it in the last two minutes of the game 12 – 11. This is the first time since 2016 that the Toronto Rock have started a season 0 – 4.
Toronto came out of the gate with a lot of energy and they were able to get on the scoreboard just over a minute into the game as Chris Boushy (3G, 2A) received a pass from Josh Dawick (4G, 3A) before beating his defender down low. His bounce shot beat Zach Higgins (42 saves) though the legs for the early 1 – 0 lead. Ottawa responded two minutes later when Jacob Dunbar (4G, 2A) went around his defender and his shot beat Nick Rose (34 saves) to the short side top corner to tie the score at 1 – 1. The Rock got that one back less than a minute later when Mark Matthews (1G, 5A) took a side arm shot from the outside that beat Higgins under that arm and just over the line to make it 2 – 1 Toronto. The Rock increased their lead when Boushy fired a low-to-low bounce shot that beat Higgins to the far side to extend the lead. With less than three minutes left in the first quarter Callum Jones (1G, 1A) picked up a loose ball in transition and went in all alone on Rose and beat him with a shot to the stick side and it was 3 – 2. Eighteen seconds later off of the faceoff Jeff Teat (3G, 4A) took the ball at the top and his high-to-high shot beat Rose over the glove hand shoulder to tie the game 3 – 3. A minute later Teat was in transition and passed to Dunbar on the crease and his quick stick beat Rose to the short side to give Ottawa their first lead of the game at 4 – 3. With eight seconds left in the quarter Dan Craig (1G, 2A) received a pass from Matthews behind the net and he came in front and beat Higgins to the far side to tie the game 4 – 4. The shots at the end of the first quarter were Ottawa 16 and Toronto 13.
Ottawa opened the scoring in the second quarter when Dunbar beat his defender and his shot to the short side beat Rose to restore the Ottawa lead at 5 – 4. Eight seconds later off the faceoff, Mitch DeSnoo (1A) passed to Josh Jubenville (1G, 1A) and he beat Higgins to the glove side top corner to tie the game 5 – 5. The Rock were on a power play five minutes later and Matthews made a skip pass to Dawick on the crease. His quick stick bounce shot beat Higgins through the legs to give the Rock a 6 – 5 lead. Ottawa tied it up at six on the next power play when Dunbar fired a low to low shot that Rose got a piece of but it went through his legs and in. A minute later on another power play, Craig passed into the middle of the floor to Boushy whose shot beat Higgins low to the glove side for his hat trick goal. With just over two minutes to go in the first half, while in transition, John Lafontaine (1G) went in all alone on Rose and jumped and beat Rose over the shoulder to tie the game 7 – 7. The shots at the end of the first half were Ottawa 27 and Toronto 22.
The Rock scored twenty-three seconds into the third quarter when off of the faceoff Phil Mazzuca (1G) picked up a loose ball and went in on net and beat Higgins to the stick side to make it 8 – 7 for the Rock. Toronto increased their lead when Dawick fired a laser from the outside that beat Higgins to the stick side top corner to make it 9 – 7 Toronto. Two minutes later, while short handed, Luc Magnan (1G, 1A) went in on Rose and as he shot his stick was deflected, but the shot still beat Rose to the short side making it 9 – 8 in favor of Toronto after three quarters. The shots at the end of the third quarter were Toronto 40 and Ottawa 36.
Six minutes into the fourth quarter Dawick copied his other power play goal when he received a pass from Matthews on the crease and his quick stick bouncer beat Higgins through the legs. His hat trick goal made it 10 – 8 for the Rock. Forty seconds later Dawick received a pass from Craig as he came off the bench and he beat Higgins with a shot to the far side and the Rock had their largest lead of the night at 11 – 8. From this point on it turned into the Jeff Teat show. With just over five minutes left in the game on a broken play Teat picked up a loose ball and his shot beat Rose to the high glove side to make it 11 – 9 for Toronto. A minute later Teat received a pass from Connor Kearnan (1A) and his shot beat Rose to the short side and it was 11 – 10. Two minutes later Teat passed to Kiel Matisz (1G, 1A) in front of the crease. He threw three fakes and beat Rose to the far side with a bounce shot to tie the game 11 – 11. Just over thirty seconds later Taggert Clark (1G) received a pass from Larson Sundown (1A) in front and his high to low shot beat Rose to the glove side to give the Black Bears a 12 – 11 lead with less than two minutes left in the game. With eight seconds left in the game and Rose on the bench for an extra attacker it looked like the Rock had tied the game when Craig received a pass from Boushy and beat Higgins with a shot from in front of the crease, but the replay showed that Boushy had stepped in the crease prior to picking up the ball and the goal was waived off giving Ottawa their second win of the season. The shots on goal at the end of the game were Toronto 53 and Ottawa 46.
The Three Stars of the game were:
Jeff Teat, Ottawa Black Bears – 3 Goals, 4 Assists
Josh Dawick, Toronto Rock – 4 Goals, 3 Assists
Jacob Dunbar, Ottawa Black Bears – 4 Goals, 2 Assists
Next Up:
The Toronto Rock (0-4) have next week off and will play their next game on January 10th when they travel to meet the Buffalo Bandits (3-0).
The Ottawa Black Bears (2-2) will play the San Diego Seals (2-2) on Saturday January 4th.