What to watch for vs. Buffalo Bandits – ECF Game One

Top Two Teams In The NLL Ready To Battle

Buffalo, NY – The Toronto Rock (E2) take on the Buffalo Bandits (E1) tonight at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY.  It’s game one of the best-of-3 East Conference Finals.

The series will shift back to Rock City next weekend with game two on Saturday, May 21 at 7pm ET at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, ON.

Fans can watch the game vs. Buffalo live at 6pm ET on TSN 4 and TSN’s digital platforms via TSN.ca and the TSN App.  To stream the game, simply login to TSN Direct with your cable or satellite provider’s credentials or your TSN Direct account info if you’re a subscriber to the streaming service.

Here’s what to watch for in tonight’s matchup.

• The Rock won the season series 2 games to 1. The most recent win was just a couple of weeks ago when the Rock rallied for a 10-7 win to wrap up the regular season on April 30 in Buffalo.
• Rob Hellyer returned in the Rock’s East Conference Semi-Final win over Halifax recording 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points. Hellyer missed the Rock’s final four regular season games.
• The Bandits ended the Rock’s season the last time the NLL Playoffs happened, way back in 2019. The one-game East Final finished with a 12-8 score in favour of Buffalo.  Of the Rock’s eight goals, six were scored by players no longer with the team (Jones 4, McArdle 1, Sorensen 1).  The other two goals both came from Rock captain Challen Rogers.
• Dan Dawson’s 154 career playoff points ranks him second all-time behind Bandits’ legend and current Head Coach, John Tavares (200). The playoff points per game battle is a little closer with Tavares at 5.26 and Dawson at 5.13.
• Rob Hellyer (47) is just 3 points behind Jim Veltman (50) for 4^th place all-time in Rock career playoff points.
• Rob Hellyer (12) has played twice the number of playoff games as Tom Schreiber (6), but Hellyer (14) has just two more career playoff goals than Schreiber (12).

Check out this week’s edition of the Toronto Rock Total Access podcast to get yourself ready for the game.  This week’s show features Toronto Rock captain Challen Rogers.

Tickets are still available for next weekend’s game two of the East Conference Finals at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton.

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.