Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Photo by Ryan McCullough
The #6 Toronto Rock travelled to Halifax on Sunday night to face the #8 Thunderbirds in Game 2 of the NLL Finals with hopes of bringing home their 7th NLL Championship. Halifax was hoping that the fans at the Nest would propel them to victory so that they could head back to Toronto next Saturday for a do or die Game 3. Unlike Game 1, Randy Staats was back in the Halifax lineup hoping to generate the same result when he returned for the Game 3 win against the Georgia Swarm. Halifax would need to be better defensively against the powerful Rock rookies Sam English, CJ Kirst and Owen Hiltz. In Game 1 Friday they scored 8 of the 13 goals for Toronto. The script was almost the same as Friday’s game. The Rock jumped out to an early 2 – 0 lead, but Halifax came back to take a 6 – 5 lead halfway through the second quarter. Toronto fought back and led at the half 8 – 6. The Rock only allowed one more goal the rest of the game, leaving with a 12 – 7 win and bringing the NLL Cup back to Toronto. All five rookies in the Rock lineup scored in Game 2. With his great play on both ends of the floor Sam English was named Finals MVP.
Toronto opened the scoring just under two minutes into the first quarter. Cody Jamieson’s (1G, 2A) shot rang off the cross bar and Sam English (1G, 1A) took the rebound the length of the floor. His floater high to high shot beat Warren Hill (40 saves) to the far top corner. A minute later, CJ Kirst (1G, 1A) passed to Owen Hiltz (3G, 1A) and his low to low bounce shot gave the Rock a 2-0 lead. Halifax responded 45 seconds later when Clarke Petterson (3G, 1A) faked low and jumped to put his shot over Nick Rose’s (34SV) shoulder to cut the Rock lead to 2 – 1. While on the power play Halifax tied the game. Jamieson passed to Randy Staats (1G, 1A) and his bounce shot around a screen beat Rose far side. Less than a minute later while in transition Elijah Gash (1A) passed to Lucas Hucal (1G, 1A) and his high to low bounce shot beats Hill through the legs for his first career NLL goal. The Rock had the lead back at 3 – 2. Toronto increased their lead with just over two minutes left in the first quarter when Mark Matthews (1G, 3A) assisted Chris Boushy (3G, 1A). His side arm laser beat Hill to the far side and it was 4 – 2. With just over a minute left in the first quarter Petterson took a high to low shot that went in with kust one second left on the shot clock to cut the Toronto lead to 4 – 3. Thirty seconds later Matthews came down the right side and his high to high shot found the short side top corner to increase the Toronto lead to 5 – 3. The shots at the end of the first quarter were Toronto 17 and Halifax 15.
Halifax scored the first goal of the second quarter. Petterson took a high to low shot that beats Rose through the legs and completed his hat trick. Halifax tied the game when Mike Robinson (1G, 2A) fired a low to high shot that beat Rose over the shoulder. Halifax took their first lead of the game on a powerplay when Jamieson fired a high to low twister off the post and across the line. On a two man up opportunity, Boushy tied the game again wit h a wicked sidearm. In transition Hugh Kelleher (1G, 1A) gave the lead back to the Rock with just over a minute left in the first half. With under two seconds left in the quarter Josh Dawick (2A) passed to Hiltz and his low-to-low shot beats Hill through the legs to end the quarter with the Rock leading 8 – 6. The shots on goal at the end of the first half were Toronto 27 and Halifax 26.
Halifax opened the scoring in the second half. Casey Wilson(1A) completed a pick and roll with Brendan Bomberry (1G, 1A) and his bounce shot beats Rose through the legs to make it 8 – 7 less than two minutes into the third quarter. In transition Hiltz took a quick low to low shot around his defender and completed his hat trick while increasing the Toronto lead. Neither team was able to score in the last 10 minutes of the third quarter. There were some great defensive plays causing shot clock violations and caused turnovers. Toronto was outshooting Halifax 41 to 34 and were 15 minutes away from hoisting the NLL Cup with the score 9-7 at the end of the third.
Both defenses continue to press out on the offense in the fourth quarter not allowing any room for passes. When someone did get an open look the goalies were outstanding. With less than 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter neither team was giving an inch. Finally, after twenty minutes of no goals, Kirst scored from the other side of the zone with another low-to-low shot. The Rock now led 10 – 7 with five and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter. On the next Halifax possession Wilson received a cross-crease pass and his quick stick was stopped by Rose with a great arm save to preserve the three-goal lead. After not scoring on the power play, Boushy received a pass from Hiltz before cutting in front of the net. He beat Hill with a twister shot back to the stick side to give the Rock an 11 – 7 lead with just under two minutes left in the fourth quarter. With 45 seconds left in the game, and the Halifax goalie pulled for the extra attacker, Latrell Harris (1G) picked off a pass and ran down the floor. He put the ball into the empty net to make it 12 – 7 for the Rock. The shots on goal after the fourth quarter were Toronto 52 and Halifax 41.
The win brings Toronto their 7th NLL Championship, tying them with the Buffalo Bandits! Nick Rose and the Toronto defense shut the Halifax Thunderbirds out for the last twenty-eight minutes. The Rock are back on top after a 15-year absence and with the young group of players on the team they may stay there for some time. Many long time Rock veterans have now won their first NLL Cup including Brad Kri, Billy Hostrawser, Nick Rose and Challen Rogers.
Three stars of the game:
Owen Hiltz (TOR) – 3 goals and 1 assist
Chris Boushy (TOR) – 3 goals and 1 assist
Clarke Petterson (HLX) – 3 goals and 1 assist