Toronto, ON – The Jr. Rock Peewees needed overtime, but Edward Qu delivered the game winning goal just 57 seconds into the extra frame to defeat the Jr. Knighthawks and claim the 2nd Annual Jr. NLL Peewee title on Sunday at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville, ON.
After going up by a pair with just under 7 minutes to go, the Jr. Knighthawks rallied to force overtime, tying the game 8-8 with just 2:21 left in the 2nd half. However, the Jr. Rock remained calm and focused under the guidance of Toronto Rock players Nick Rose and Damon Edwards.
After a failed Rochester attempt to open overtime, Qu ran the ball down the left side of the floor and snuck the ball past the Jr. Knighthawks goaltender to set off an epic celebration. The Peewee win avenged a loss in the final to the Jr. Mammoth a year ago.
In Bantam, the Jr. Rock were in another tight battle with those same Jr. Knighthawks. The two teams played a very tight preliminary round game that saw the Jr. Knighthawks squeeze out a narrow 14-12 win.
With the score 5-4 in favour of the Jr. Knighthawks at the half, the Jr. Rock surrendered the first two goals of the 2nd half to trail 7-4 just over 6 minutes into the final frame. Josh Dawick scored his 3rd goal of the game to draw the Jr. Rock to within one, but the Jr. Knighthawks responded with a pair to go up 9-5. The two teams traded goals in the late going and the Jr. Knighthawks went on to a 10-6 win and claimed the Jr. NLL Bantam championship.
The Jr. Rock Midgets battled a tough Jr. Stealth squad on Sunday morning in the semi-finals. The Jr. Stealth were 10-8 winners, despite a valiant comeback attempt by the Jr. Rock which saw them trail by 6 goals early in the 2nd half.
That result meant the Jr. Rock would meet the Jr. Bandits for the Jr. NLL Midget bronze. The Jr. Rock, behind 3 goals from Kevin Dong, defeated the Jr. Bandits 6-3 to claim 3rd spot.
The Jr. NLL Midget championship was won by the Jr. Knighthawks as they defeated the Jr. Stealth in the final.
Along with Rose and Edwards on the Peewee bench, Rock Owner and President Jamie Dawick coached the Bantams and Sean Holmes (Rock Strength & Conditioning Coach) along with Paddy Campbell (Rock Goaltender Coach) patrolled the Midget bench.
Players on all three Jr. Rock teams participated in the 2013-14 inaugural season of the Rock Elite League (REL). The second season of the REL begins in just a couple of weeks with the league Combine on Saturday, September 13th. For more information or to register for the REL, please visit www.rockeliteleague.com.
For the full Jr. NLL Tournament results, along with final stats and standings, please click here.
Fans can also watch archived games from the entire Jr. NLL Tournament at www.webcastsports.net.
2015 season tickets are now on sale, 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.
