Tip of the Tower
Fansided

Toronto Rock move on to East Final with 18-10 win over New England

By Austin Owens

Jan 23, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; An exterior view of the Air Canada Centre before the Toronto Maple Leafs game against the Calgary Flames at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 23, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; An exterior view of the Air Canada Centre before the Toronto Maple Leafs game against the Calgary Flames at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Toronto Rock were #ALLIN on Saturday night, as a full team effort led to an Eastern Semi’s victory over the New England Black Wolves.

The Toronto Rock carried last week’s success into the East Division Semi-Final, beating the New England Black Wolves 18-10 on Saturday night.

The game started with both teams trading goals. New England finished the first quarter ahead 5-4 and chased Rock goaltender Nick Rose – who gave up five goals on 11 shots – in the process.

Backup Brandon Miller came in to relieve Rose and only allowed two goals over the next two quarters:

Speaking to reporters after the game, Rock Forward Tom Schreiber said:

"“Anytime you can have a guy step in and have a dominant performance like that, you know you’re in good shape. We have complete faith in Rosey, and if we need to go to (Miller), then we have that as well. So that’s a huge advantage for our squad.”"

The Rock took control of the game by executing on offence and in transition. They went into the half leading 9-6 after four straight goals, capped off by transition markers from Jesse Gamble and Brett Hickey.

After a Schreiber goal to open the second half, Shawn Evans scored his first of two at 8:49 of the third to cut the Rock lead back to three.

That’s as close as the Wolves would get, however, as the Rock went on another four-goal run, and scored eight of the last 11 goals in the game.

The fourth quarter was highlighted by a fight between Kieran McArdle and Zac Reid, which brought the 6,260 in attendance to their feet. McArdle — who fought for the second time in his career — had the decided advantage in the scrap:

https://twitter.com/BarstoolJordie/status/861021271085207556

An empty-netter from captain Brodie Merrill sealed the game for the Rock, who outshot the Black Wolves 60-46 on the night.

Speaking to Torontorock.com and other members of the media, Rock head coach Matt Sawyer said:

"“We felt that we would be able to create some offence against New England and we thought that our transition game would pay dividends. We had a lot of guys step up tonight and that’s what happens at this time of year and that’s what you need to be successful.”"

Next: 3 reasons the Rock are back in the Playoffs

The Rock will now set their sights on the Eastern Division Final and the Georgia Swarm. The teams split their season series, with both games being decided in overtime. The best-of-three series starts next Saturday, at the Air Canada Centre.

Home/Toronto Rock