Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Christian Bender
The Toronto Rock (5-11) hosted the Vancouver Warriors (20-7) on Friday night April 15, 2025, and were looking to play spoiler, but they couldn’t overcome the deficit, and the Warriors would go onto victory giving them their first playoff appearance since 2017. Vancouver has not lost since Christian Del Bianco (34 saves) started playing for them four games ago. The Warriors would jump out early leading 7 – 3 at the half, while Toronto pushed for a comeback throughout the second half and were able to get within two near the end of the game, but that was as close as they could get. Vancouver would hang on for the win. Final Score: Warriors 12—Rock 10. With the win, Vancouver has clinched a playoff spot and have officially eliminated the Rock for the 2024-25 post season.
The Warriors would open the scoring in the first. Adam Charalambides (4g, 4a) cut through the middle and his low bounce shot beat Troy Holowchuk (28 saves) to the stick side for the early 1 – 0 lead just over two minutes into the frame. The Rock would tie it up a couple of minutes later. Corey Small (2g, 1a) ran across the floor and fired a sidearm shot on the run which beat Del Bianco through the legs to tie it at one. Vancouver would answer back a minute later. Riley Loewen (1g, 2a) and Charalambides played give and go, opening up a nasty fake from Charalambides to the far side, he changed directions, and shot to the short side for his second goal in a row to make it 2 – 1 for the Warriors. Josh Dawick (2g, 2a) would tie it back up 90 seconds later. He cut below his defender, dove across the crease and went to the far side to tie the game at two six minutes into the first. After serving a penalty, Owen Grant (1g) came back into the play, picked off a pass, ran the floor and his twister shot went low to the glove side restoring the Warriors one goal lead at 3 – 2. Twenty-five seconds later, Loewen got a pass from Keegan Bal (2g, 5a), he cut to the net and his quick stick shot to the stick side beat Holowchuk doubling the Vancouver lead at 4 – 2 with just over a minute left in the first. With less than 8 seconds left on the ticker, Toronto was going on transition with Holowchuk heading to the bench for an extra attacker, but an errant pass by Latrell Harris went to Ryan Martel (1g) and he was able to deposit the ball into the empty net increasing the lead to three. Score at the end of one: Warriors 5—Rock 2. The shots on net at the end of the first quarter were Toronto 10 and Vancouver 8.
Toronto would go man down 3:56 into the second and Vancouver struck. Charalambides moved in and his high to low shot went glove side to make it 6 – 2 for Vancouver just over 5 minutes into the frame. Once again, tempers would get the best of the Rock with Elijah Gash (1a) getting hit with not only a two-minute unsportsmanlike, but also a two-minute face mask penalty. Fortunately, Toronto was able to kill off the four-minute penalty as Vancouver had six or seven quality shots that Holowchuk kept out of the back of the net keeping the deficit at four for the Rock. After being shorthanded for almost eight full minutes Holowchuk finally had one get by him. Bal fired a sidearm shot from the top that went under the glove hand and the Warriors were up by five, 7 – 2 with just over two minutes left in the first half. Toronto was finally able to score before the end of the half. Small fired a high-to-high shot that beat Del Bianco over the shoulder to the top corner to end the first half 7 – 3 for Vancouver. This was Toronto’s first goal in 23:10. The shots on goal at the half were Vancouver 26 and Toronto 17.
Heading into the third, Vancouver would once again score first. Charalambides passed across to Bal and his side arm shot went glove side and it was 8 – 3 Vancouver. They’d put up another a little more than three minutes later. Marcus Klarich (2g) cut around his defender, dove across the crease and his twister shot went back to the short side and the Warriors had increased their lead by six, 9 – 3. Toronto would get a bit of a spark and put up three in a row. While on the powerplay, Challen Rogers (1g, 3a) fired a high-to-high shot the went over the shoulder of Del Bianco and into the top corner to cut the Vancouver lead 9 – 4. Less than a minute later Rogers would make a flip pass to a cutting Chris Boushy (3g, 4a), he would also go over the shoulder to tickle the twine, for their last tally of the frame came with 1:52 left in the third and it was 9 – 5 still in favor of the Warriors. Vancouver would get that one back less than a minute later. Kevin Crowley (1g) cut in front of his defender and as he came in front, his bounce shot beat Holowchuk through the legs with the Warriors now holding a four-goal lead 10 – 6. The shots on goal at the end of the third quarter favoured Vancouver 32 and Toronto 28.
Less than 30 seconds into the fourth Charalambides tallied his fourth on the night. He fired a low-to-low shot that went far side, and it was 11 – 6. This was Charalambides 100th goal of his NLL career. Thirty seconds later, Vancouver would put up their final marker on the night. Klarich fired a high-to-high shot that went top corner, and the Warriors had doubled up the Rock once more, 12 – 6. Toronto would explode for the remainder of the frame with Holowchuk keeping Vancouver out of the net. Dawick started off the four-goal run with a high to low shot from the outside that beat Del Bianco through the legs, and it was 12 – 7 Vancouver. With just over five minutes left in the contest, while in transition, Zach Kearney (1a) would pass to Justin Martin (1g), and he went short side to make it 12 – 8. Right off the ensuing faceoff, Phil Mazzuca (1a) found a breaking Jake Darlison (1g) and his shot went far side cutting the lead to three, 12 – 9 Vancouver. The Rock would go man up off a holding penalty on the Warriors with 3:09 left on the ticker and would capitalize. Dawick passed to Boushy behind the net, he dove in front and beat Del Bianco to the near post to get to within two 12-10 with 2:58 left in the fourth. With the goalie pulled Toronto looked to get another but failed to close the gap. Vancouver held on for the 12 – 10 win.
The three stars of the game were:
Adam Charalambides –Vancouver Warriors: 4 goals, 4 assists
Keegan Bal – Vancouver Warriors: 2 goals, 5 assists
Chris Boushy – Toronto Rock: 3 goals, 4 assists
GAME STATS:
Vancouver Warriors—SOG 40; Saves 34; Sv% .773; FO 22-27; PP 2-5; PIM 14
Toronto Rock—SOG 44; Saves 28; Sv% .700; FO 5-27; PP 3-6; PIM 12
NEXT UP:
The Toronto Rock (5-11) have a double-header to close out the season in Week 21. On Friday April 18, 2025, they will host the Halifax Thunderbirds (10-6)**, game time 7:00 p.m. EST and their final home game of the season. This is the NLL Friday Night on TSN game for fans in Canada and they can see the game on TSN1, TSN5 and TSN+. Fans in the USA get to see the action on ESPN+.
Their second game of the weekend and final of the season, will be on the road as they head to Blue Cross Arena on Saturday April 19, 2025, to face the Rochester Knighthawks (10-7)***, game time 6:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+, while fans in Canada get to catch the action on TSN+.
The Vancouver Warriors (10-7) close out their season at home and will play host to the Philadelphia Wings (6-10) at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC, game time 8:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+, while fans in Canada get to catch the action on TSN+.
Shawn Palmer, Toronto Rock Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
**Record at Time of Article