Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Photo by Ryan McCullough
The #6 Toronto Rock hosted the #8 Halifax Thunderbirds in Game 1 of the NLL Finals on Friday night. The Rock were last in the finals a decade ago and haven’t won a championship since 2011. This is the first final for Halifax since they moved from Rochester in 2019, the original Knighthawks team last won a championship in 2014. This is the first all Canadian final since 2015 when Toronto faced the Edmonton Rush. The first game of the finals was a tale of two halves, the Rock jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but couldn’t hang on to it as Halifax outscored them 9 – 3 the rest of the half. In the second half Toronto scored the first five goals to retake the lead, the Thunderbirds responded with two of their own to go ahead with over six minutes left in the fourth quarter. Another three goal run by the Rock propelled them to the game one victory 13 – 11 in front of their largest crowd of the season at 7,812. Final Score: Halifax Thunderbirds – 11, Toronto Rock – 13.
Toronto opened the scoring four minutes into the first quarter when Dan Craig (1G, 1A) fired a high-to-high shot from the outside that beat Warren Hill (46 saves) over the shoulder for the early lead. Less than 30 seconds later the Rock doubled that lead when Mark Matthews (1G, 3A) made a one-handed backpack to Owen Hiltz (2G, 2A) whose low to low sidearm shot beat Hill through the legs. 28 seconds later Halifax got on the board. Jason Knox (3G, 1A) missed a shot, and it hit Wake:Riat Bowhunter (1G, 2A) behind the net. He picked up the ball and put it in on the short side of Nick Rose (38 saves) to make it 2 – 1. Four minutes later the Thunderbirds tied the game up as Mike Robinson (1G, 2A) scored on a low to high bounce shot to the top corner The game was all tied at two with less than seven minutes left in the first quarter. Halifax took their first lead of the game when Knox fired a high to low shot over his defender that beat Rose through the legs. 23 seconds later Clarke Petterson (1G, 3A) beat his defender down low and jumped across the crease His bounce shot beat Rose to the short side and the Halifax lead had doubled to 4 – 2 with just under four minutes left in the first quarter. Toronto cut into the lead with just under three minutes left when Matthews stepped away from the boards and his high to low shot beat Hill to the far bottom corner to make it 4 – 3 to end the quarter. The shots at the end of the first quarter were Halifax 14 and Toronto 8.
Halifax started very quickly in the second quarter. Jake Withers (1G, 13 LB) won the opening faceoff and took it all the way to the cage, increasing the lead to two goals. Eighteen seconds later they struck again as Knox fired a sidearm shot around his defender that scored and increased the lead to three. With just under seven minutes gone in the second quarter, CJ Kirst (4G, 2A) beat his man over the top and his high to high shot beat Hill over the shoulder to cut into the deficit. Five minutes later Halifax responded when Brendan Bomberry (3A) made a nice fake shot and instead passed to Casey Wilson (1G, 1A) cutting in front of the net. He reached over Rose who had stepped out to cut down the angle and put it into the net to make it 7 – 4. Thirty seconds later Petterson made a behind-the-back pass to Stephen Keogh (1G, 1A) and his bounce shot bear Rose to the far side to double up Toronto 8 – 4 with less than three minutes left in the first half. Halifax added one more when Knox cut through the middle and received a pass from Cody Jamieson (2G, 2A) before scoring his hat trick goal. Off the ensuing faceoff, Kirst went into the offensive zone and made his defender fall with a deke and his jump goal ended the half on a good note for the home fans. The shots on goal in the first half were the Thunderbirds 29 and the Rock 21. At the half, Halifax led Toronto 9-5.
Whatever Rock coach Matt Sawyer said at halftime to fire the team up seemed to work as just over a minute into the third quarter Kirst beat his man down low and dove across the crease, scoring his hat trick goal. Three minutes later Hiltz took a shot that was saved but Kirst picked up the ball behind the net and beat Hill to the far side for his wecond goal in a row. Toronto was now down just two. Three minutes later Craig made a cross floor pass to Josh Dawick (1G, 2A) and his quick stick beat Hill to the short side and it was a one goal game. With just under four minutes left in the third quarter Challen Rogers (1G, 2A) made a one handed pass to Chris Boushy (1G, 1A) and his twister shot beat Hill back to the stick side high, tying the game 9-9 at the end of the third. The shots after three quarters were Toronto 38 and Halifax 35.
Two minutes into the fourth quarter Toronto scored their fifth goal in a row to take the lead. While on the power play Matthews, passed to Rogers and his high to low shot beat Hill through the legs. With just over half of a quarter left, Halifax finally beat Rose in the second half, after over twenty four minutes without a goal. While on the power play Jamieson took a high to low shot from the top that beat Rose to the stick side. A minute later in transition, Ryan Terefenko (1A) passed to Jamieson down the floor. Jamieson beat Rose with a bounce shot to give Halifax the lead back at 11- 10. Right off the faceoff Nick Rowlett (1A) passed to Hiltz who went into the zone all alone. Hiltz scored with his own bounce shot to tie the game once more. Less than a minute later, in transition, Rogers passed to a cutting Sam English (2G, 3A, 11LB) from the corner and his high to high shot gave Toronto the one goal lead back. With the goalie pulled for the extra attacker, Halifax lost the ball and English picked it up, ran the length of the floor, and put it into the empty net with 17 seconds left in the game. The shots on goal at the end of the game were Toronto 59 and Halifax 49. Final Score: Halifax Thunderbirds – 11, Toronto Rock – 13.
The Three Stars of the game were:
CJ Kirst (TOR) – 4 goals and 2 assists
Sam English (TOR) – 2 goals and 3 assists
Jason Knox (HAL) – 3 goals and 1 assist
Game 2 of the NLL Finals will be held in Halifax Sunday May 17th at 6 PM EDT.
If Toronto wins this game they will win the Championship but if Halifax wins, Game 3 will be held back in Toronto on Saturday May 23rd at 7:30 PM EDT.