Rock Lock Down First Win of the Season

Toronto Tops Saskatchewan 11-8

Mississauga, ON – The Toronto Rock (1-5) defeated the Saskatchewan Rush (4-2) by a score of 11-8 for their first win of the season on Saturday night at Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, ON. The team’s offence was led by the return of ‘Captain America’, Tom Schreiber who had three goals and four assists on the night.

“I had goosebumps coming into tonight’s game and being introduced and hearing that first whistle, it was intense for myself,” Schreiber said, returning from injury. “For us as a team, to get in the win column, it’s a step in the right direction and we have to continue to take it week-by-week.”

Toronto came into the game against the Rush with an 0-5 record and needed a win to begin to turn their season around in some way and were able to do so, courtesy of Schreiber, and another key player making a return in ‘The Man at the Dot’, TD Ierlan.

“Anytime you have players like Tom and TD in your lineup, it helps you up and down the floor and that benefited us tonight,” Head Coach Matt Sawyer said about the returnees.

The first quarter saw back-and-forth action that resulted in a 3-3 tie at the end of 15 minutes. The second saw the Rush score back-to-back goals, one on the powerplay to give themselves a one-goal advantage before Chris Corbeil sent a ball to another Chris on the roster in Chris Boushy who scored in transition to knot the game at 5 apiece at halftime.

The second half saw a massive surge in momentum for Toronto. Not only were they able to rattle off four straight goals, but Nick Rose was in the midst of turning in the type of performance that earned him the NLL Goaltender of the Year Award last season.

“He was outstanding tonight,” Sawyer said, praising his starting goalie. “It’s the toughest position in sports and he’ll be the first to tell that the first two games of the season were not up to his standards, but he was great tonight and it showed.”

In the fourth quarter, the Rush attempted a comeback, but it wasn’t enough as the Rock’s defence allowed just two goals on eight shots in the quarter and had some big-time blocks to help Rose and keep the game out of reach. Toronto also potted insurance goals from Josh Dawick and Schreiber who scored the empty-net goal on a long stretch pass from Rose.

Nick Rose allowed eight goals on 48 shots while Rush goaltender Frank Scigliano made 41 saves allowing 10 goals.

With the win, the Rock have momentum on their side and will be looking for win number two on the year when they visit the Calgary Roughnecks on Friday, January 24. Toronto will be back at home on Saturday, February 8 for Indigenous Heritage Night when against the San Diego Seals. Fans can tune in to NLL Friday Night on TSN, TSN+ and ESPN+ to watch the game.

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.