Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Christian Bender
The Toronto Rock (5-9) hosted the Philadelphia Wings (5-9) on Saturday night March 22, 2025, for Marvel Super Hero night while donning their Captain America uniforms. Toronto got the news on Friday that they would be without their own Captain America as Tom Schreiber was placed on the IR with a lower body injury so their offense looked like they would take a hit in this game. The teams were coming into the game having a tough time as they are both on the outside of the playoff picture and would need to win out to have any chance of getting into the top eight in the league. The Rock came out firing leading 4 – 1 after one quarter; 8 – 2 after the first half; and 37 shots on net in the first half. They would outscore the Wings in the second half 7 – 6 to coast to a 15 – 8 win and for the time being, keep their playoff hopes alive.
The Rock opened the scoring just over two minutes into the game. Corey Small (1G, 3A) received a pass from Chris Boushy (3G, 3A) and his high-to-high shot beat Nick Damude (16 saves) over the shoulder for the early 1-0 lead. A minute later, after some good ball movement, Small passed to Dan Craig (3G, 1A) and he took a quick shot that beat Damude to the far side increasing the Rock lead to two. Less than two minutes later Josh Dawick (2G, 6A) made a flip pass to Challen Rogers (1G, 3A) and his high to low shot went five-hole and it was 3-0 just over five minutes in. At this point, Philadelphia decided to pull Damude and put Deacon Knott (26 saves) in net. With just under three minutes left in the first, the Wings would finally get on the board. Shane Simpson (1G, 1A) made a long pass to Liam Patten (1G) and on a breakaway, he beat Troy Holowchuk (33 saves) to the short side cutting the Rock lead to 3 – 1. Toronto would end the scoring with 40 seconds left in the frame. Dawick fired a low-to-low shot that beat Knott through the legs to make it 4 – 1 for Toronto. The shots on goal at the end of the first quarter were Toronto 24 and the Wings 6.
Brennan O’Neill (1G) would get the Wings going in the second. He came in front of the net and his around the world shot went glove side to cut the Rock lead in half at 4 – 2. Halfway through the second quarter while in transition, Josh Jubenville (1G, 1A) passed to a cutting Latrell Harris (1G) and his high-to-high shot went over the shoulder and it was 5 – 2 for the Rock. Fifteen seconds later the Wings had an over and back call that Jake Darlison (1A) picked up, passed to Boushy coming off the bench and his quick stick shot went short side to make it 6 – 2 for the Rock. Three minutes later while on the power play, Boushy would come from behind the net and dunked it to the bottom stick side corner increasing the Rock lead to 7 – 2. With just over two minutes left in the first half, while in transition, Dawick received a pass from Justin Martin (1G, 1A) and he beat Knott to the far side to close out the first half. Score at the end of two was 8 – 2 for the Rock. The shots on goal were 37 to 17 for Toronto.
It took only 24 seconds for the scoring to get started in the third and the Wings opened it up while on the power play. Sam LeClair (3G) came out from the corner untouched, and his shot beat Holowchuk under the arm to cut the Rock lead to 8 – 3. At the three-minute mark of the quarter Martin would fire a high-to-high shot that hit Knott in the shoulder, fell over his back and just over the goal line and Toronto would regain the six-goal lead 9 – 3. Six minutes later LeClair scored his second goal in a row for the Wings. He cut through the middle, got the pass from Mitch Jones (3A) and his shot went glove side and it was 9 – 4. With less than two minutes left in the third, the Rock were shorthanded, and low on the shot clock. Nathan Grenon (2G) would fire a side arm shot from the restraining line and it beat Knott through the legs increasing the Rock lead to 10 – 4. With the clock running down, Philadelphia was on their power play, Michael Sowers (1G, 2A) took a low-to-low shot that went through the legs with four seconds left in the quarter which cut the Rock lead in half at 10 – 5. The shots on goal were Toronto 48 and Philadelphia 31.
The Rock would start the scoring in the final quarter while in transition. Jubenville went in with Phil Mazzuca, and decided to take it in himself and his shot beat Knott to the far glove side, and it was 11- 5. The Wings would notch their own while in transition less than a minute later. Simpson went in all alone and his low-to-low shot went far post and in making it 11 – 6 for the Rock. Two minutes later while standing at a sharp angle towards the net, Boushy would take a low-to-low shot that went through the legs for his hat trick goal, and Toronto had double up the Wings 12 – 6. Philadelphia then made the decision to pull Knott and put Damude back in net. Just over a minute later Grenon fired a laser from the top that beat Damude over the shoulder and into the top corner to increase the Rock lead to 13 – 6. Less than halfway through the fourth, the teams would combine for a total of 24 penalty minutes. During the man up, the Dawick passed to Craig at the side of the net and his quick stick shot went short side for his hat trick goal and it was 14 – 6. It took less than two minutes for the Wings, while on their own man up to notch a power-play marker. LeClair would shoot around his defender and beat Holowchuk to the top corner cutting the lead to 14 – 7. Toronto would tally their final marker in the contest with just over five minutes left. Craig received a pass from Small all alone in front of the net and he beat Damude over the shoulder for his hat trick goal and the lead was eight 15 – 7. The Wings would end the scoring with two minutes left in the game. Resetarits shot over his defender and went five-hole to make it 15 – 8 for the Rock and sending the sellout crowd of 5,232 fans home happy. The final shots on goal were Toronto 61 and Philadelphia 39.
GAME STATS:
Philadelphia Wings—SOG 41; Saves 42; Sv% .737; FO 8-28; PP 3-7; PIM 17
Toronto Rock—SOG 57; Saves 33; Sv% .805; FO 20-28; PP 2-3; PIM 35
The Three stars of the game were:
Josh Dawick – Toronto Rock: 2G, 6A
Chris Boushy – Toronto Rock: 3G, 3A
Dan Craig – Toronto Rock: 3G, 1A
NEXT UP:
The Toronto Rock (5-9) have a bye week and will be back in action on Sunday April 6, 2025, when they head to Lee’s Family Forum to face the Las Vegas Desert Dogs (3-12), game time 5:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+, while fans in Canada get to see the action on TSN+. The game will also be televised on NLL_+.
The Philadelphia Wings (5-9) will play host to the Ottawa Black Bears (6-8) at Wells Fargo Center, on Friday March 28, 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+. The game will also be televised on NLL_+.
Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©