HAMILTON, ON – The Toronto Rock drew first blood by taking Game 1 of their best-of-3 NLL Semifinals series with a 14-12 win over the San Diego Seals on Friday night at TD Coliseum in Hamilton. The Rock will have a chance to punch their ticket to the NLL Cup Finals when they hit the floor for Game 2 of the series on Sunday at 6 pm ET in San Diego, CA.
“I thought we were really good for stretches, but there were times when we didn’t do what we needed to do to be successful,” said Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer.
“We had a couple of three-goal leads and we give them up. One of my favourite sayings is, when you’re not at your best and you find a way to get a win, sometimes those are more special. We’ll be better Sunday night. Heck of a win for us to find a way to get it done.”
With the score 1-1, the Rock scored three goals in 1:05 and the building was buzzing. The energy was palpable as Mark Matthews, Challen Rogers, and Owen Hiltz scored in succession as the Rock built a 4-1 lead through the opening 15 minutes. Hiltz’s tally in particular was a standout finish in tight quarters after screaming off the bench into the offensive zone to beat Chris Origlieri in the Seals cage.
A major piece of the storyline in this game is the exit of Origlieri following the media timeout with just under ten minutes to play in the second quarter as Cameron Dunkerley entered to guard the Seals cage the rest of the way. Origlieri was stung with a shot up high earlier in the game and his status is unknown for Sunday’s game two. The Seals did however own the second frame, outscoring the Rock 5-2 to tie the game 6-6 at the halftime break.
Just before halftime, Rock defender Josh Jackson was assessed a five-minute major penalty for an illegal body check and after a lengthy review by the officials, the call on the floor was upheld. The Rock killed off the first part of the major before the end of the first half and then scored a shorthanded goal on the man-down stretch and held the Seals scoreless on the power play.
In total, the Rock scored the first three goals of the third quarter, which included the Matthews shorty, to take a 9-6 lead. But just as Sawyer had mentioned in his postgame comments, the Rock then surrendered that lead almost just as quickly as they earned and the game was tied 9-9 heading to the fourth quarter.
Hiltz scored his second goal of the game on an early in the fourth quarter to put the Rock up by one, but San Diego was given a power play of their own moments later and capitalized on the chance to tie the game 10-10. Just over two minutes after that tying goal, Ben McIntosh scored for the visitors to give them their first, and only, lead of the night.
Just over a minute later, Rogers tied the game again and it remained knotted at 11-11 for almost 8 minutes of game play. But it was the veteran Matthews that scored the go-ahead goal with 1:33 left, followed by another Rogers goal 25 seconds later to give the Rock a 13-11 lead.
The Seals would not go away with McIntosh scoring on a 6-on-5 dunk from behind the goal to make it a 13-12 game with 47 seconds left. Sam English scored an empty net goal to seemingly seal it, but San Diego once again went to a 6-on-5 setup with McIntosh attempting another dunk from behind the goal, however after being ruled a good goal initially, another lengthy review revealed the San Diego forward’s hand had landed in the crease prior to the ball crossing the goal line. The result was no goal and the Rock ran out the clock and were victorious.
“I said it before the game, we just have to not be afraid to win,” said Matthews who was named the game’s first star. “It seemed like a couple years ago, during Buffalo’s run, we were just afraid to beat them, it felt like. When you’re a great team, like I think we are, you just have to not be afraid to win and have the confidence that you’re going to win every night.”
Nick Rose was no slouch in this game stopping 44 of the 56 shots he faced. The Seals outshot the Rock 56-46.
Sunday, the best-of-3 NLL Semifinals series continues with Game 2 of the series in San Diego on Sunday at 6pm ET. If necessary, Game 3 will be played on Saturday, May 9 at TD Coliseum in Hamilton.
