Rock Win First Of The Season

Toronto – The Toronto Rock rescued victory from the jaws of defeat with a furious fourth quarter comeback that included a six-goal run en route to a 13-11 win over the Knighthawks for their first win of the season.

Toronto trailed 1-0 but took the lead on goals by Josh Sanderson and Jamie Rooney to propel the Rock ahead 2-1.  Rochester tied the score before the end of the first 2-2 as Matt Roik made 13 saves on 15 Rochester shots in the opening frame.

The two teams continued to exchange goals throughout the second quarter.  Toronto continually playing catch up with Kasey Beirnes scoring late in the half to send things to the break tied 5-5.

Rochester scored a pair of goals just past the midway point of the fourth quarter a little less than two minutes apart to lead 7-5.  Toronto answered back with a goal from Ryan Sharp shorthanded to close the gap to 7-6 through three quarters.

The Knighthawks continued to keep the Rock off the board and added another pair of goals to stretch their lead to 9-6.  The Rock offence had been stalled for the better part of the second half but suddenly rattled off 6 goals to leap ahead 12-9.  It was the first time since the first quarter the Rock held the lead.  Rochester wouldn’t go away in the late going but the Rock held on for a 13-11 win.

Roik made 42 saves to pickup his first win as a Toronto Rock.  Garrett Billings led the offensive charge with 3 goals and 4 assists for a 7 point night.

Colin Doyle left the game in the first half with a lower body injury and will be re-evaluated tomorrow.

A couple players reached some personal milestones.  Billings collected his 100^th career assist, while Rob Marshall scooped up the 500^th loose ball of his NLL career.

Tomorrow night, the Rock travel to Calgary to face the Roughnecks.  The game will be broadcast live on TSN at 9pm ET.  The game will also be available on TSN Mobile TV.