Rock Rolls To Third Straight Win

Toronto Blasts Rochester 17-9

Toronto, ON – The Toronto Rock (3-2) were dominant from start to finish in earning their third consecutive win of the season, dumping the Rochester Knighthawks (2-2) 17-9 on Friday night at Air Canada Centre.

“There’s no doubt everyone feels pretty good right now, everything is clicking,” said Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer. “But, you’re only as good as your last game, we’ve got a couple of weeks off here and our focus will shift to New England.”

The Rock chased Knighthawks goaltender Matt Vinc before the first quarter was over, scoring five times on the star goaltender in 13:09. The Rock scored three in a row to close out the first quarter when all was said and done and led 5-2 through the opening fifteen minutes.

In the second quarter, Toronto continued their run, scoring another pair to make it five in a row. The visitors scored three straight, but the red-hot Rock offence showed a great deal of resiliency and buried a pair of goals to lead 9-5 at the half.

The Rock outscored the Knighthawks 5-2 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. Toronto’s transition game also showed well, with goals from Damon Edwards and Challen Rogers who was named the game’s third star for his one goal, four-assist game.

Up 14-7 to begin the fourth quarter, Toronto managed the clock well and scored one more than their opponents to finish off the victory.

Nick Rose was stellar between the pipes allowing just nine goals on 47 Rochester shots. The defence in front of him was also tremendous in allowing very few quality scoring chances.

The offence was led by the usual suspects. Tom Schreiber scored four times and added four assists while Adam Jones also had an eight-point night with three goals and five assists. Sheldon Burns had a pair, while singles came from Rogers, Edwards, Dan Craig, Reid Reinholdt, Phil Caputo, Brett Hickey, Kieran McArdle and Rob Hellyer.

“After the slow start to the season, we’re really stressing playing desperate,” said Schreiber. “We’ve played like our backs are against the wall and we’ve done that the last few games. We’re hoping to keep that intensity and that level of play going.”

The Rock will now enjoy a bye week and will host the New England Black Wolves on Saturday, January 27^th at Air Canada Centre. The game is presented by Bell Let’s Talk.

For more information on Toronto Rock tickets, please visit torontorock.com/tickets or call 416-596-3075.