TORONTO – The Toronto Rock play their final game of the 2009 season on Saturday, April 18th at home against the San Jose Stealth. Game time is 7:00 p.m. at the Air Canada Centre.
The Rock (5-10) finish their eleventh season in the National Lacrosse League eliminated from playoff contention by the Philadelphia Wings last weekend in a back and forth 16-14 loss.
Toronto vies for their sixth win this weekend to end the season on a high note. It is now the pride of the club that coach Jamie Batley says the Rock are playing for in this final game.
“My expectation is that we’ll be working hard as if we were in the playoffs” said Batley.
“The team is going into our final game to win, to work hard and compete for each other” said Rock Captain Chris Driscoll. “We are prepared like it is any other game and it doesn’t matter if we are out or not. We still need to come out and play.”
With 63 points each, Toronto is led by assistant captain Lewis Ratcliff and 2009 new Rock addition Luke Wiles, who was also a former San Jose Stealth player.
San Jose (7-8) has already clinched a playoff spot in the West Division. As the third seed in the West, the Stealth will play the Portland LumberJax in the divisional semi-finals.
Saturday’s game marks the Stealth’s first-ever visit to Toronto and the return of Colin Doyle to the city after three years. Doyle leads San Jose in overall points this season with 106 from 35 goals and 71 assists, and is just nine points shy of breaking the single-season points record set in 2001 by John Tavares.
“I wouldn’t miss this game for the world,” said Doyle about his return to Toronto in an interview with Canadian Press. “I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like on the other side and to visit with family, friends and some of the Rock fans.”
It is fan appreciation night on Saturday and the Toronto Rock will be recognizing their dedicated and supportive fans throughout the game with plenty of great Toronto Rock giveaways.
Don’t miss a ball drop even if you cannot make the game. The Toronto Rock website has a direct link to the NLL Network featuring high quality online video broadcasts of the NLL regular season and playoff games for the 2009 season. Visit http://www.torontorock.com <http://www.torontorock.com> and click on ‘ROCK TV’ under the multimedia heading.
