Mississauga, ON – The Toronto Rock (5-12) played their final home game of the regular season Friday night at Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga dropping a 16-9 decision to the Halifax Thunderbirds (11-7). The Rock offence was paced by Chris Boushy’s five goals, while Josh Dawick reached a milestone few Rock players have.
“When you look at the other Rock 40-goal scorers, it’s pretty cool to be in the same sentence as some of those players,” Dawick said after reaching the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say I would trade it to be playing in the playoffs.”
The first quarter belonged to the Thunderbirds, building a 4-0 edge over the course of the opening almost 15 minutes. With less than a second left in the frame, Corey Small scored to get the Rock on the board and give the home side some life, trailing 4-1 heading to the second quarter.
Josh Dawick’s 39th goal of the season drew the Rock to within a pair just shy of the two-minute mark for the second quarter. It was a wild period on the scoreboard, as Chris Boushy scored a hat trick, while Halifax tallied four times and at the break, Halifax led 8-5.
The Rock seemed to find their groove in the third quarter and Rock netminder Troy Holowchuk, who faced a ton of shots on this night, really settled in. Dawick netted his 40th early in the quarter and Boushy and Justin Martin scored shorthanded to tie the game 8-8. The game wouldn’t remain level for long as Cody Jamieson scored on the power play for Halifax just 25 seconds after Martin’s game tying goal. The Thunderbirds carried a 9-8 lead into the final 15 minutes.
Dawson Theede took control of the game in the final quarter, scoring three times and extinguished any hopes the Rock had of a win on Fan Appreciation Night. Halifax scored seven times in the fourth quarter to finish this one off, while the Rock got just a single tally from Boushy which was his fifth of the game.
The five-goal game for Boushy greatly improved his chances of joining Dawick in the Rock’s 40-goal club. With 37 goals, Boushy will need three goals tomorrow night to achieve the feat. He’s currently one goal shy of his career-high of 38 goals established playing for Halifax in 2023.
While this loss closed out the home schedule for the Rock, the team was officially eliminated from the playoffs last Friday night, losing at home to Vancouver. After three unbelievable seasons for the Rock, the 2024-25 campaign will be one to build on according to Boushy.
“This team had no quit in them all year,” said Boushy. “Many people might look at it like we took a step back, but I believe that you do need to rebuild the foundation of something once in a while in order to blossom as a successful team and franchise and I think next year will be a really good season for us.”
Halfiax outshot the Rock 70-40. Halifax was 3-for-8 on the power play, while the Rock were 0-for-2 on the power play but did score shorthanded.
The Rock will play their final game of the 2024-25 campaign Saturday night in Rochester against the Knighthawks with the opening faceoff happening just after 6:00pm ET. Fans can watch the game on TSN+, ESPN+, and NLL+.
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.
