Toronto Crushes Vancouver 19-8 In Home Opener
Hamilton, ON – Toronto Rock Owner Jamie Dawick guaranteed that his team would win their home opener, if they didn’t, he would give everyone that bought a single game ticket the chance to come back again for free. Well, his team delivered on the promise and then some, absolutely crushing the Vancouver Warriors 19-8 on Saturday night at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, ON.
This game wasn’t close. The Rock were up 6-0 just over 10 minutes into the first quarter and finished the opening quarter up 7-1. Toronto was dominant from the opening faceoff, playing at a pace that Head Coach Matt Sawyer loves to see from his squad.
“I thought early on we got going with some push out of our back end. We came out and had some good jump. Momentum is a powerful thing in this game,” said Sawyer.
The Rock goals just kept on coming. A 13-4 lead at halftime saw many of the Rock offensive stars with 30-minute stat lines that resembled end-of-the-night stats and not something you would see at halftime. Newcomer Corey Small scored three times in the first half, doing all the little things right and finishing on his chances.
“I think we were just very unselfish, every one of our offensive guys chipped in with at least a goal,” said Small. “I just really love playing with these guys.”
Toronto continued to build on their lead in the third, outscoring Vancouver 3-1 in the frame, and held a 16-5 advantage through three quarters. The Warriors couldn’t get any closer than eleven goals, with both teams trading goals in the final quarter.
The reigning NLL Defensive Player of the Year was everywhere on the floor. Blocking shots, picking up 13 loose balls and scoring three goals and adding an assist. All in a night’s work for the game’s first star.
Small and de Snoo weren’t the only Rock snipers to collect hat tricks. Tom Schreiber led all scorers with a three-goal night of his own and added five assists for a game high eight points. Schreiber continues to show the elite goal-scoring ability that had him on top of the league’s goal-getters last season.
Lost in all the offence was certainly the performance of Nick Rose between the pipes. Just eight goals-against and 51 saves for the veteran netminder who was the runner-up for the NLL’s Goaltender of the Year Award in 21-22.
Rock goal scorers were Small, Schreiber and de Snoo all with three each. Challen Rogers and Stephen Keogh scored two apiece. One of Rogers’ goals was on a penalty shot, which was awarded after a Vancouver player played the ball with his hand in the crease. Singles came from Dan Dawson, Brad Kri, Zach Manns, Dan Craig, Brandon Slade, and Josh Jubenville.
The Rock power play scored on two of their three chances while the Warriors scored twice on nine advantages. Toronto outshot Vancouver 65-59 on the night.
The Rock will travel to Rochester next weekend for a Saturday night matchup with the Knighthawks at Blue Cross Arena. Fans can watch the game on TSN Direct via tsn.ca and the TSN App.
Tickets for the Rock’s next home game at FirstOntario Centre on Saturday, December 17 against Buffalo are on sale now! For more information on tickets, please visit torontorock.com, call the Rock Ticket Office at 416-596-3075 or email us at tickets@torontorock.com.
