Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Las Vegas Desert Dogs
The Toronto Rock (5-10) visited the Las Vegas Desert Dogs (4-12) for a Sunday matinee game. Heading into the contest, the Rock still had a slight chance to make the playoffs by winning all of their remaining games and getting some help along the way, while the Dogs were playing for next year after already being eliminated. Currently Toronto owns the Las Vegas draft pick for next year along with Philadelphia’s and their own, so if the standings stay the same as they are currently, they will have the first three picks in the upcoming draft. Getting a win would also guarantee the number one pick but they were playing without Tom Schreiber and TD Ierlan so they needed other players to step up in the scoring and faceoff department. Toronto and Las Vegas went back and forth all game with the Desert Dogs tying it up late sending the game into OT. They went into the extra period shorthanded for a five-minute major, but Jack Hannah (2G, 1A) turned out to be the hero as he scored shorthanded ending any chance the Rock could move onto the playoffs. Final Score OT: Desert Dogs 14—Rock 13.
Las Vegas would open the scoring just over a minute into the first quarter. Kyle Killen (2G) came above a pick set by Jonathan Donville (2G, 5A) and his high-to-high shot beat Troy Holowchuk (36 saves) to the top corner for the early 1 – 0 lead. Two minutes later Josh Dawick (5G, 2A) would put up back-to-back tallies. The first off a pass from Josh Jubenville (1A) and his high-to-high shot beat Justin Geddie (2 saves) to the top corner tying the game at one; and the second, less than a minute later off a pass from Challen Rogers (2G, 3A) and his bounce shot would go five-hole on a tough angle giving the Rock a 2-1 lead. They’d cap their three-goal run 40 seconds later. Nathan Grenon (3G) got the pass from Chris Boushy (3A) at the top and his side arm shot also went five-hole increasing their lead to 3 – 1. At this point, the Dogs Bench Boss Shawn Williams had seen enough and pulled Geddie after just 4:37 of play in favor of Landon Kells (34 saves). Halfway through the first, the Dogs would strike. Adam Poitras (2G, 4A) came across center, ran right by his defender and his bounce shot went five-hole cutting the Rock lead 3 – 2. After five minutes of scoreless lacrosse, and just over two minutes left in the first, the Rock found twine. Dawick passed to Rogers and his high to low shot beat Kells through the legs to double up the Rock lead 4 – 2. Shortly after the marker went up on the board, Vegas would see Josh Jackson head to the sin bin for holding. Their penalty kill was working wonders and with just 13 seconds on the ticker, while shorthanded, Connor Kirst (1G) picked off a pass from Rogers, ran the length of the floor and beat Holowchuk over the glove hand shoulder top corner to make it 4 – 3. The shots on goal were Toronto 15 and Las Vegas 11.
The second was a back-and-forth battle with four ties and the Dogs taking the lead again after each. Less than a minute into the second, Donville would fire a sidearm fade away shot that went short side tying the game at four. Thirty seconds later, Holden Cattoni (1G, 2A) was the recipient of a pass from Donville and his high-to-high shot went over the shoulder into the top corner to make it 5 – 4 for Las Vegas. Toronto would get that one back. Holowchuk would make the save, pass to Elijah Gash (1G), he went in and took a high to low shot that went through the legs to tie the game at five. Brandon Goodwin (1G, 2A) would regain the lead for Las Vegas. While in transition he came in and took a shot that Holowchuk saved but the rebound came right back to him, and he deposited it into the empty side to make it 6 – 5 Desert Dogs. Less than a minute later, with the shot clock expiring, Dawick would fire a high to low shot from far out and put it between the wickets for his hat trick goal to tie the game at six. Once again, fans would see another five and half minutes of scoreless lacrosse and another defensive battle. Then with one minute left in the half, while in transition, Goodwin passed to Sean Westley (2G) at the side of the net and his quick stick bounce shot went short side and the Dogs were up again 7 – 6. Twenty seconds later Grenon would fire a high to low shot from outside of the restraining line and put it far post tying it up at seven’s with 37 seconds left in the frame. But once again, the Dogs would fire back with seconds left on the clock. Hannah came off the wing, went goes airborne, jumped over the crease and beat Holowchuk down low with a bounce shot to give the Desert Dogs an 8 – 7 lead to end the first half. The shots on net were Toronto 28 and Las Vegas 25.
For the third quarter in a row the Desert Dogs would open the scoring. Donville fired a sidearm shot from the outside that went far post and in increasing their lead to 9 – 7 two and half minutes into the third. They would increase their lead two minutes later when Donville passed to Westley coming across the crease and he bounced a shot through the legs to make it 10 – 7. Toronto would halt their run and put up three of their own. They got the first one back 30 seconds later. Dawick took a high to low shot that went short side for his fourth tally of the game, and it was 10 – 8. Four minutes later, Dan Craig (1G, 2A) came in front from the corner, the Desert Dog defence didn’t come to him, so he took a shot that beat Kells stick side cutting the Dogs lead to 10 – 9 . With less than 20 seconds left in the third, Toronto would tie it up. Dawick got a pass behind the net, he dove in front and went far side to tie the game at 10. The shots at the end of the third quarter were Toronto 37 and Las Vegas 37.
The teams would battle again in the fourth matching goal for goal. After a goal was disallowed for Las Vegas, the Rock came right back. Rogers received a pass from Dawick, and he beat Kells to the glove side giving the Rock an 11 – 10 lead. Off the ensuing faceoff Justin Martin (1G) came in all alone on Kells and beat him with a shot to the glove side and they were up 12 – 10. The Dogs would finally respond halfway through the fourth. Poitras beat his defender, then beat Holowchuk to the far side and it was 12 – 11 for the Rock. Three minutes later Toronto would re-establish their two-goal lead. Grenon cut through the middle, got the pass from Corey Small and his bounce shot went five-hole and it was 13-11. Chris Boushy would get nabbed with a tripping call with 2:59 left in regulation giving the Dogs a man-up opportunity. Vegas had some great ball movement, Cattoni passed to Killen on the crease and his quick stick went short side cutting the Rock lead to 13 – 12 with 2:07 left in the fourth. With just over a minute left, Hannah made a beautiful twister pass to Jackson Webster (1G, 3A) on the crease and he was able to find an opening glove side to tie the game at 12. With 20 seconds left in the contest, the Desert Dogs were about to pull Kells for the extra attacker, the ball was turned over, Zach Kearney picked it up and as Kells was coming to the bench, he was hit with a high sticking major penalty giving the Rock one final chance to close it out. Unfortunately, they couldn’t score in the last 15 seconds sending the game into OT. Score at the end of four: Rock 13—Desert Dogs 13.
The teams would head into the extra frame with Vegas on a man down situation. With just 1:16 off the clock, while shorthanded, Hannah came across the top and his side arm low-to-low shot would beat Holowchuk to the far stick side for the win. Final Score OT: Desert Dogs 14—Rock 13.
The three stars of the game were:
Josh Dawick – Toronto Rock: 5 goals, 1 assist
Jack Hannah – Las Vegas Desert Dogs: 2 goals, 1 assist
Jonathan Donville – Las Vegas Desert Dogs: 2 goals, 5 assists
GAME STATS:
Toronto Rock—SOG 49; Saves 36; Sv% .720; FO 14-31; PP 0-2; PIM 6
Las Vegas Desert Dogs—SOG 50; Saves 36; Sv% .737; FO 17-31; PP 1-2; PIM 9
NEXT UP:
The Toronto Rock (5-10) will play host to the Vancouver Warriors (9-7) on Friday April 11, 2025, at Paramount Fine Foods Centre, game time 8:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the action on ESPN+. For fans in Canada, this is the NLL Friday Night Game of the Week on TSN so they can catch the game on TSN5 and TSN+.
The Las Vegas Desert Dogs (4-12) will head to Canadian Tire Centre where they will go head-to-head against the Ottawa Black Bears (7-9) on Saturday April 12, 2025, game time 7:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+, while fans in Canada get to see the action on TSN+
Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©