Toronto Starts Slow But Finishes Strong
Hamilton, ON – The Toronto Rock (8-2) ran their winning streak to seven games with a 16-7 victory over the Georgia Swarm (0-7) on Saturday night at Hamilton’s FirstOntario Centre. The win helps the Rock keep pace with Buffalo (8-2) and Rochester (7-2) atop the East Conference standings.
“At some point it’s going to be a one-and-done, so you need to try and be at your best night in and night out,” said Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer. “That was the challenge here tonight and we sure were (at our best) in the second half but it took us a while to get going.”
The game started slow for both teams with no scoring for over eleven minutes to begin the game. And then, the Rock offence came alive, scoring three goals in 90 seconds to lead 3-0 at the end of one quarter.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the second quarter. The Rock scored twice; the Swarm answered twice. The Rock scored; the Swarm came back with a tally of their own. Heading to the halftime break the Rock led 6-3. Both goaltenders were playing well, especially Rose who continued to shine and prove that he deserves be in the conversation for not only the goaltender of the year, but also the league’s most valuable player award.
An early goal for the Swarm to begin the second half made it a two-goal game with the Rock up 6-4. Once again, the Rock suddenly got on a roll, but this time it was the opening of the floodgates. Toronto scored four goals in just under four minutes to surge ahead 10-4 and carry that lead into the final quarter.
The Rock were far from done and tacked on five more, to make it a nine-goal run as they had broken this one wide open to lead 15-4 with 8:32 to play. Georgia tacked on three power play goals, but it was the Rock’s Zach Manns that put the final punctuation mark on the win by rounding out the scoring.
The Rock also celebrated some of the team’s greats of the past with an Alumni Night, shining a spotlight on players from the Rock’s last championship squad in 2011.
“The night was awesome, an awesome crowd,” said Rose. “There was something special in the building with Alumni Night. You could just feel it pregame, and it was good to see the amount of people tonight.”
Corey Small led the Rock point parade with 9 made up of 3 goals and 6 assists. Tom Schreiber was right behind with 8 points, collecting an even 4 goals and 4 assists. Stephen Keogh, Dan Craig, Challen Rogers and Manns finished with two goals each. Latrell Harris chipped in a single.
Toronto outshot Georgia 51-47. Rose made 38 saves before giving way to Troy Holowchuk who came in for the final four minutes and made 2 saves.
The Rock power play was 1-for-3, while the Swarm were 4-for-4 with the man advantage.
Tickets are on sale now for the Rock’s next home game at FirstOntario Centre on Saturday, March 4 against the Rochester Knighthawks at 7pm ET. It’s Country Night with a live performance by country music superstar Tim Hicks at halftime.
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.
