Rock Fall 17-12 In Exhibition To Georgia Swarm

December 19, 2015

ROCK FALL 17-12 TO GEORGIA SWARM IN EXHIBITION

Toronto Finishes Pre-Season With 1-2 Record

Oakville, ON – The Toronto Rock wrapped up their pre-season schedule with a 17-12 loss to the Georgia Swarm on Saturday night at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville, Ontario.  The loss leaves the Rock with a 1-2 record at the end of exhibition play.

The Swarm came out of the gate quickly, scoring twice in the early going to lead 2-0.  Rock captain Colin Doyle responded with a tally followed by the two teams trading goals to finish the opening 15 minutes with the Swarm up 3-2.

The roller coaster of a second quarter started well enough with the Rock’s Brett Hickey scoring his second goal of the game to tie the score 3-3 early on.  However, things turned in a hurry.  Georgia strung together four consecutive scores to take a 7-3 lead. 

The Rock proved they had a run in them as well, scoring three in a row, ignited by Doyle who also mixed it up with Georgia’s Chad Tutton after the goal.  It was a play that seemed to get the Rock fired up.  The Swarm were however able to break up the Rock run, scoring two in a row to lead 9-6.  Coming off another pair of off-setting penalties and a little rough stuff, the Rock’s Stephan Leblanc scored his second goal to cut the lead to 9-7 at the half.

Toronto scored the opening goal of the second half to make it a one-goal affair.  But that was as close as they would get on this night.  The Swarm offence scored four straight goals to lead 13-8 after three quarters, three of those goals were on the power play. 

A pair of Hickey goals got the Rock off on the right foot to start the final quarter, making it a 13-10 game.  The Swarm doubled the Rock’s two goals down the stretch in the fourth quarter to wrap up the win.

Hickey tallied 5 more goals in the loss, bringing his pre-season total to 14 goals in 3 games.  Other Rock goal scorers were Leblanc with a hat-trick, Doyle with a pair and singles came from Dan Lintner and Turner Evans.

Goaltender Brandon Miller played the first half for the Rock allowing 9 goals on 30 shots while Nick Rose played the final 30 minutes and gave up 8 goals on 26 shots.  Zach Higgins played 3 quarters for Georgia surrendering 8 goals on 37 shots.  Adam Shute mopped up in the fourth quarter and made 9 saves on 13 shots in 15 minutes of work.

The Rock will now have a couple of weeks of practice before opening the regular season on the road against the Georgia Swarm at the Infinite Energy Center in Gwinett, Georgia on Saturday, January 9th.  The Rock home opener is scheduled for just a few days later back in Toronto on Thursday, January 14^th against the Rochester Knighthawks at Air Canada Centre.

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