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Dawick Scores OT Winner in 9-8 Rock Victory

Josh Dawick Scores 4 Including Game Winning OT Goal

Denver, CO – The Toronto Rock (3-5) earned their third straight win after defeating the Colorado Mammoth (5-4) by a score of 9-8 in an overtime thriller on Saturday night at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado.  Josh Dawick scored four goals including the OT winner 6:05 into the extra frame.

“For our team, that was a big one and we continued to fight and found a way,” said Dawick of his team’s triumph.  “(Colorado) gave us all they had and we’re just really happy to get out of here with a win.”

Toronto’s offence got to the scoreboard first with Josh Dawick scoring while on the powerplay to put the Rock up 1-0.  Colorado answered but it was Chris Boushy getting underneath on his defender and scoring on a crease dive to stake the Rock to a 2-1 lead after one.

In the second, the Mammoth offence would come alive with a three-goal run as Connor Kelly, Connor Robinson, and Eli McLaughlin all scored to push Colorado ahead 4-2.  After Mammoth goalie Dillion Ward made a point-blank save on Dan Craig, Boushy found the rebound and then tucked it in from behind the net and bring the Rock back to within one.  However, while on the powerplay, Colorado would strike again to bring crowd inside the Loud House to their feet.  In the dying seconds of the half, Ryan Lee came from around the back of the net and fired a bounce shot past Rose with less than a second to go, giving the Mammoth a 6-3 lead at halftime.

Captain Challen Rogers led by example coming out of halftime. The multi-tool mega star took matters into his own hands, crashing the cage to score the opening goal of the third quarter to shave the Mammoth lead to 6-4.  Robinson answered the Rock goal with his second of the game to restore the Mammoth’s three-goal advantage. After running in transition, Justin Martin found Dawick and set a magnificent seal, allowing Dawick the time and space to get off his shot, scoring his second of the game.  Late in the quarter, Dan Craig found the back of the net while on the power play to draw the Rock to within one, down 7-6 heading to the final frame of regulation time.

With Colorado up 8-6, Josh Dawick scored a power play goal for his third of the game.  Following the Rock marker, TD Ierlan won the ensuing faceoff and found Tom Schreiber who buried his first and only goal of the game to tie the score at 8 apiece. The final seven minutes of action didn’t solve anything which meant the game was heading to overtime.

The Rock carried the momentum in OT in part due to a power play that the Rock actually came up empty on. Dawick played the role of the hero on this night, as he drove to the net and found just enough room between Ward and the post to score the game winner and give Toronto the overtime win 9-8.

Following the game, ESPNU sideline reporter, and former Rock, Eric Law interviewed Dawick who summed up the experience of scoring the biggest goal of the Rock’s season thus far by saying, “that was cool.”

The Rock attempted 101 shots on goal and hit the net on 66 of those.  The outstanding performance of Colorado’s Dillon Ward cannot go unmentioned, as he made 57 saves in the loss.  At the same time, Nick Rose locked things down for long stretches of the game giving the Rock a chance to fight back and stopped 39 shots to get the win.

“(Rose) made some adjustments early on, it was 6-3 at the half and then 7-4 and after that he just shut the door.  A real good night for him and for our team but it’s one week at a time and we’ll be better next week,” said Sawyer.

The final shots on goal favoured the Rock 66-47.  It was the highest shot total of the season for Toronto.

Toronto was 3-for-5 on the power play, while Colorado was 1-for-5 on the man up.

The Rock will return home to begin a three-game home stand next Saturday night, February 8 for Indigenous Heritage Night against the San Diego Seals at 7pm ET at Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga.

For more information on Toronto Rock tickets, please contact a Toronto Rock account executive by phone at 416-596-3075, by email at tickets@torontorock.com or visit torontorock.com.

Toronto Rock