Rock Win 17-12 Over Vancouver

TORONTO, ON – After a slow start to the game, the Toronto Rock (2-2) defeated the Vancouver Stealth (2-4) by a score of 17-12 on Friday night at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

The Rock opened the scoring but quickly surrendered the next three goals to trail 3-1 early.  Colin Doyle cashed in on the power play, but the Stealth quickly answered again and buried two more to lead 6-2.  Toronto’s Rob Hellyer scored before the end of the first quarter to make it 6-3 after 15 minutes.

The Rock rallied with four goals in the second quarter with just one Vancouver goal wedged in between.  Toronto got a pair of goals from defenders as Jesse Gamble and Damon Edwards each scored once and the game was tied 7-7 at the half.

In the third quarter Garrett Billings began to heat up pumping home a pair of goals as the Rock led for the first time all night when they jumped ahead 9-8.  The Rock were able to stretch their lead to a pair at 11-9 before the end of the quarter.

Billings continued his potent scoring streak in the fourth quarter running his goal total to five goals.  The Rock poured it on scoring six times in the final 15 minutes en route to the win.

“We got the production we needed out of our go-to guys tonight,” said Head Coach John Lovell.  “There isn’t much time to celebrate the win with playing in Buffalo tomorrow night, but we are happy with the result and we will try and build on it tomorrow.”

The Rock were led in scoring by Billings who finished with 5 goals and 4 assists for a 9-point night.  Stephan Leblanc (1 goal, 7 assists) and Josh Sanderson (3 goals, 5 assists) both had 8-point games.  Sanderson also netted the 400^th goal of his NLL career with his first tally of the night.  Jesse Gamble scored twice while Doyle, Hellyer and Edwards all scored once.

The Rock hit the road tomorrow to face the Bandits at 7:30pm at First Niagara Center in Buffalo, NY.

Tickets for Bachly Construction Garrett Billings bobblehead night February 7^th are now on sale.  The Rock will face Philadelphia on that evening at 7:30pm at Air Canada Centre.  For more information, please visit www.torontorock.com or phone 416-596-3075 to speak with a ticket representative get your hands on the BEST ticket in town.