Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Photo Courtesy of Las Vegas Desert Dogs
Las Vegas (1-1) travelled north of the border to play the Rock (1-2) on Saturday night December 27, 2025, for their first ever meeting in Toronto in front of 6,725 Rock fans. The Desert Dogs had an eventful week as they had to match an offer sheet that the Colorado Mammoth had signed star player Jack Hannah to earlier in the week. Even though Las Vegas matched the offer Hannah was not in the Dogs lineup on Saturday night. On the Toronto side there was also a surprise in the lineup as Troy Holowchuk (15 saves) received the start for the Rock in goal over Nick Rose (18 saves), however, something happened just after half time with Troy, causing him to leave the game allowing Rose to finish most of the contest. Las Vegas trailed for only 27 seconds in the contest, pulling away in the second half and outscoring the Rock 11 – 7 to walk away with a convincing win, and the Dogs highest scoring match in their history. Final Score: Desert Dogs 17—Rock 11.
The Rock opened the scoring just over six minutes in. While in transition Sam English (3A) passed to Latrell Harris (4A) who sent it to Josh Jubenville (2G) and his shot beat Landon Kells (40 saves) over the shoulder for the 1 – 0 lead. Less than 30 seconds later Las Vegas tied it up. Chase Fraser (3G, 3A) was left all alone in front, threw three fakes on Holowchuk before beating him to the far side and it was one all. Three and a half minutes later the Desert Dogs took their first lead of the game, a lead they would not relinquish, off a pick and roll. Fraser got the pass from Jonathan Donville (1G, 5A), went low and through the legs to make it 2 – 1 Vegas. The final tally in the frame came 19 seconds later. Chris Cloutier (2G, 5A) made a flip pass across the crease to Mitch Jones (2G, 6A) and he fired a shot over the shoulder increasing the Vegas lead to 3 – 1. The shots on goal after the first quarter were Toronto 9 and Las Vegas 7.
The teams would match scores in the frame with each coming away with three. The second got started quicker than the first with Toronto once again getting on the scoreboard first. CJ Kirst (4G, 1A) picked up a rebound and as he was going around the net, he bounced a shot off of Kells’ back and into the net to get the Rock back within one goal at 3 – 2. A minute and a half later Sean Westley (2G, 2A) came below his defender and his twister shot went five hole to regain the two-goal lead for Vegas at 4 – 2. A minute later, Cloutier received a pass from Fraser in the middle and his side arm shot went low to the stick side and the lead was three with Vegas on top 5 – 2. The Rock responded with back-to-back tallies just 15 seconds apart. Josh Dawick (1G, 1A) received a pass from Mark Matthews (1G, 2A) and his overhand shot from the outside beat Kells glove side, and it was 5 – 3 for Las Vegas. The Rock made it a one goal game when Challen Rogers (1G) got the pass from Kirst coming off of the bench and his high to low shot went through the legs to make it 5 – 4 Dogs with just under three minutes left in the first half. In the last minute of the half, Vegas would close it out when Jones received a flip pass from Westley and his side arm went stick side to end the half with Las Vegas leading the Rock 6 – 4. The shots on goal at the end of the first half were Toronto 23 and Las Vegas 17.
For unknown reasons, just as the Desert Dogs were heading to a power play less than two minutes into the third quarter, Troy Holowchuk left the game and was replaced by Nick Rose. He didn’t come back to the bench for the remainder of the frame. Rose was welcomed immediately, as Las Vegas opened the scoring in the second half while on the power play. Fraser received a pass from Jones faked high and beat Rose through the legs and it was 7 – 4 for Vegas. Five minutes later John LaFontaine (1G, 1A) was in transition, went in on Rose all alone and beat him with a shot to the stick side to increase the Vegas lead to 8 – 4. Two minutes later while on another power play Cloutier’s side arm shot went far side to make it 9 – 4 Vegas. Ten seconds later off the faceoff, Jubenville would go in all alone and his shot beat Kells to the stick side starting their three-goal run and it was now 9 – 5 for Las Vegas. Less than 40 seconds later Toronto would strike again. English flipped a pass back to Hugh Kelleher (1G) in transition and his over hand shot went under the stick arm for his first NLL career goal to get the Rock within three at 9 – 6 just over midway through the third quarter. Four minutes later Toronto scored their third in a row. Kirst came around the top and his sidearm shot beat Kells under the arm to make it 9 – 7 for Vegas. The Dogs would respond less 30 seconds later on a Jones shot that was saved by Rose, but Adam Poitras (2G) picked up the rebound and deposited it behind Rose extending the Vegas lead to 10 – 7. In the last minute of the third quarter while playing four-on-four, Kirst would notch his hat trick. He beat his man down low, dove across the crease, and went far side to make it 10 – 8. Unfortunately, Toronto couldn’t stop Vegas as Jackson Webster (3G, 2A) received a pass from LaFontaine, went in all alone on Rose and beat him to the stick side with five seconds left in the third increasing the Vegas lead to 11 – 8. The shots on goal after three quarters were Toronto 37 and Las Vegas 32.
Less than 30 seconds into the fourth, Vegas struck again. Webster received a pass from Cloutier on his wrong side and his twister shot went short side and it was 12 – 8 Las Vegas. Just over a minute later while on the power play Fraser passed to Webster behind the net, he dove in front and went short side for a natural hat trick and that made it 13 – 8. Toronto got one back six minutes later when Matthews stopped with the ball near the boards, wound up and his overhand shot beat Kells to far bottom corner cutting the Dogs lead to 13 – 9. Two minutes later Donville erased the Rock tally firing a high to low shot that went short side and it was 14 – 9. At that point, Rose was removed from the Toronto net and Holowchuk went back in between the pipes, but it was for not as 35 seconds later Westley received a pass from Webster and his high to low shot beat Holowchuk through the legs to make it 15 – 9. Thirty seconds later, with the Toronto goalie on the bench for an extra attacker Connor Kirst (1G) received a pass from Drew Belgrave (2A) and put a shot into the empty net to make it 16 – 9 for Vegas. With just over three minutes left in the game Owen Hiltz (1G) beat his man underneath and while he was falling, his bounce shot beat Kells to the short side to get the Rock within six at 16 – 10. With less than a minute left in the game and killing time off the clock, Poitras ran behind the net, jumped forward, dunked the ball behind Holowchuk for Vegas’ last goal of the game to make it 17 – 10. Toronto continued to push and with just over 10 seconds left, Kirst fired an overhand shot that went stick side to end the scoring. Final Score: Desert Dogs 17—Rock 11.
The Three stars of the game were:
Mitch Jones – Desert Dogs: 2 goals, 6 assists
Jackson Webster – Desert Dogs: 3 goals, 2 assists
CJ Kirst – Rock: 4 goals, 1 assist
GAME STATS:
Las Vegas Desert Dogs—SOG 51; Saves 40; Sv% .784; FO 22-32; PP 3-3; PIM 6
Toronto Rock—SOG 34; Saves 34; Sv% .667; FO 10-32; PP 0-1; PIM 10
NEXT UP:
The Toronto Rock (1-2) have a bye week and will be back in action on Friday January 9, 2025, when they travel to Pechanga Arena to face off against the San Diego Seals (1-1), game time 10:30 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+ and NLL+. Fans in Canada can see the game on TSN+ and NLL+.
The Las Vegas Desert Dogs (2-1) will head to Keybank Center on Saturday January 3, 2025, to face the 2025 NLL Champion Buffalo Bandits (1-1), game time 7:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can catch the action on ESPN+ and NLL+. This is not a “Friday Nights On TSN” for fans in Canada, but they can see the game on TSN+ and NLL+.
Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©