Toronto Rock comeback falls short in overtime against Black Wolves

The Toronto Rock dropped their third straight and fourth in the last five games, this time in overtime to the New England Black Wolves

It was a banner weekend at the Air Canada Centre. The Raptors toppled the NBA-best Rockets on Friday, and the Maple Leafs beat the defending champion Penguins on Saturday. And then there was the Toronto Rock.

The Rock were trying to make it three for three at the ACC on Sunday, when they took on the New England Black Wolves for the second time this season.

Although the Rock was able to force an extra frame, they weren’t able to come out with a victory as they dropped the contest 8-7 in overtime.

More from Tip of the Tower

• Cam Phillips making his mark on Toronto Argonauts offence
• Toronto Argonauts: 4 storylines ahead of matchup against Redblacks
• Federico Bernardeschi ready for new challenge with Toronto FC
• Toronto Argonauts overcome Roughriders in entertaining Touchdown Atlantic
• Buffalo Bills: Von Miller drawing inspiration from Bruce Smith

Although Toronto did open the scoring, the first quarter was dominated by the Black Wolves, who had a first-quarter hat-trick from Kevin Buchanan, and a last-second marker from captain Kyle Buchanan.

New England carried a 4-1 lead after one quarter. Although the Rock did have the goal advantage in the second frame, it wasn’t enough to push ahead of the Black Wolves, who took a 6-4 lead into the half.

It was another tough game for the Rock offence, which only managed four goals halfway through the third quarter. Defender Brock Sorenson had the lone goal for either team in the third quarter. But it could go down as one of the goals of the season.

Sorenson was stopped on a cross-crease play by Black Wolves goaltender Aaron Bold. But Sorenson stuck with it and dunked the ball in from behind the net using his large wingspan.

"“(Bold) made a pretty good save on me going cross-crease. Challen (Rogers) gave me a good pass and it was just a good time to use my range,” Sorenson said after the game."

The veteran defender also stressed how important the transition game is to the team’s overall success.

"“When our defence is running, that’s when we’re at our best. Damon (Edwards), Challen, Sheldon (Burns), guys like that are fast. Still have to come back to having to figure these ones out. Our division is way too tight for slip-ups like that.”"

The Rock defence, along with Nick Rose, played easily their best game of the year. Rose was especially impressive, making several big saves to keep his team within striking distance.

Rose also stopped a rare penalty shot in the fourth quarter to keep New England off the board. He finished the game with 51 saves on 59 shots.

The Rock held New England goalless until the 3:39 mark of the fourth quarter, when Kevin Crowley snuck a quick shot in to give the visitors the late lead.

The Rock would find an answer late in the game. With 19 seconds left, Brett Hickey launched an underhand shot that beat bold five-hole to knot the game up.

After several possessions in overtime that resulted in no game-winners, Crowley — a former member of the Toronto Rock — would bury the dagger into the heart of his previous team.

Afterwards, Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer discussed the game and the performance of his squad:

"“The effort was there and it was definitely better than our last time out. The result wasn’t what we wanted but you can’t fault them for the effort and the commitment to doing what we want them to do.“Rose was really outstanding there along with the defence in the second half. We definitely got a boost from that but just not enough to find a way to pull it out. Our defence and goaltending was outstanding, no doubt about that.”"

Next: Rock offence hits wall against Swarm

The Toronto Rock will be looking to take positives from that effort and carry them over to their next contest, which will be on the road against the same Black Wolves.