Game Preview: Rock vs. Wings

Rock vs. Wings

Tonight the Toronto Rock (2-3) host the Philadelphia Wings (3-3) at Air Canada Centre at 7:30pm.  The first 5,000 fans in attendance will receive a Garrett Billings bobblehead courtesy of Bachly Construction.

Toronto Rock:

The Rock are coming off back-to-back games this weekend where they earned a 17-12 win over the Vancouver Stealth on Friday at home, before dropping a very tight 12-10 decision to the Buffalo Bandits on Saturday night on the road. The Rock record stands at 2-3 on the season with both wins coming at home and all three losses on the road at the hands of East Division opponents.  

A handful of milestones were reached last weekend by a few of the Rock’s players. On Friday night, Josh Sanderson opened the game by scoring with his 400^th career NLL goal. Stephan Leblanc scored 8 points against Vancouver surpassing the 300 career point plateau. Forward Garrett Billings scored his 400^th point Saturday. With 3 assists against Buffalo, Colin Doyle collected his 1000^th point in a Rock uniform.

Tonight’s game against the Philadelphia Wings is a big one as they hold down the third and final playoff spot in the East Division with the Rock just behind them in the fourth place.  With only three of five East Division teams qualifying for the post-season and the Rock already with three losses within their division, tonight is as close to a must-win game for the Rock as you can get early in this 2014 season.

This week the Rock released D Stephen Hoar and acquired D Billy Hostrawser from the Vancouver Stealth for a 3^rd round pick in the 2014 NLL Draft and a 4^th round pick in the 2015 NLL Entry Draft.

Injury Report :

D Chris White (Lower Body)

D Patrick Merrill (Lower Body)

Rock Fact: The Rock are tied with the Philadelphia Wings for the most NLL Championship’s at 6

Philadelphia Wings:

The Wings are coming off of a 15-9 win over the Vancouver Stealth and are currently riding a two-game win streak. This is the first of back-to-back games for Philly who returns home to host the Edmonton Rush tomorrow.

Offence:

Jordan Hall leads all Philadlphia Forwards in goals (16) and points (36). Kyle Buchanan is a close second with 14G-21A-35PTS. Pat Saunders has stepped in nicely to fill the void left by the injured Kevin Ross and scored 3 goals and added 3 assists in last weekend’s Wings victory over the Stealth. Veterans Tracey Kelusky, Ryan Ward and Kevin Crowley round out the offence for the Wings.

Defence:

Brodie Merrill anchors the Wings defence and leads the team in PIMS (15) and loose balls (60). C.J Costabile and Joel White are also key components to Philadelphia’s defence.

Between The Pipes:

Brandon Miller was signed this week off of the holdout list. Evan Kirk has played the majority of games this season and holds a 3-3 record with a 10.85 GAA and 0.778 Save %.