Toronto’s High-Volume Shooting Continues In Win
Hamilton, ON – The Toronto Rock (10-3) peppered their opponents with over 60 shots on goal for the third straight game, coming out on the right end of a 12-6 decision over the Albany FireWolves (2-9) on Saturday night at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, ON.
The Rock fired 65 shots on goal in Monday’s loss to Philadelphia and tonight doubled up on their opponent with 62 shots to Albany’s 31. Toronto scored at key moments in the game and Nick Rose stopped 25 of the shots he faced to record the win.
“We put a lot of shots on net, but we thought the quality of our opportunities were better tonight than last game in Philadelphia,” said Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer. “We have high expectations, and we don’t feel we’re clicking on all cylinders right now but we’re going to work at it.”
The Rock scored first but found themselves down 2-1 after one at home. Josh Jubenville scored the first Rock goal on a shorthanded breakaway.
After falling behind 3-1 early in the second, the Rock went on their first healthy run of the game, scoring four goals in a row to lead 5-3 with just over three minutes to go in the first half. Albany answered with a goal in the final minute, but the Rock held a 5-4 lead at halftime.
Dan Craig scored his second of the game to restore the Rock’s two-goal lead at 6-4 just 27 seconds into the third quarter. The FireWolves weren’t going down without a fight and were opportune when they had the chance, scoring two to tie the game 6-6.
From there, it was all Toronto Rock.
Stephen Keogh scored his third of the game, but it was a transition goal from defender Adam Jay that swung the momentum in the Rock’s favour, putting the home side up 8-6 after three quarters.
In the final quarter, the shots started to drop. The Rock scored four times to end the game on a six-goal run. Keogh scored his fourth of the game to top off the scoring.
As Sawyer mentioned in his postgame comments, Keogh, who is a Hamilton Fire Fighter, finished a 24-hour shift at the fire hall on Saturday morning, grabbed a nap at the hotel and then scored four goals in the Rock win. Superhero by day and Superhero by night for the veteran goal-scorer.
“I think we learned a lot from that game against Philly,” said Keogh. “We’re just going to continue to work on ourselves and get better each week. We have a good stretch of games coming up and we just have to continue to battle and continue to come out with wins, keep focused and keep getting better.”
The Rock were 1-for-3 on the power play while the FireWolves were 0-for-5.
Coming up next for the Rock are a pair of road games over the next two weeks. Next weekend, Toronto travels to Halifax and the following weekend it’s a rematch with the FireWolves in Albany.
Tickets are on sale now for the Rock’s next home game at FirstOntario Centre on Saturday, April 1 against the Buffalo Bandits at 7pm ET. It’s Bill Hostrawser BobbleFist Night and Minor Lacrosse Night!
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.