It has been 12 years since the Toronto Rock won the National Lacrosse League championship.
This season, the Rock have not needed heart-stopping drama like that at home. It won eight of nine in Hamilton with its only loss coming early in the season against Buffalo. Seven of those victories were by five or more goals, including a 17-8 win over Halifax in January.
On the road however, the Rock finished 5-4, with three wins by one or two goals. The Thunderbirds won 14-12 in mid-March in Nova Scotia and Toronto’s regular season ended with an 11-10 loss on April 22 in Buffalo.“We played real well at home,” Sawyer said. “At some point we’re going to have to win big games on the road, too, but we set ourselves up where we don’t have to do that this weekend.
Toronto has the roster for a long playoff run. Offensively, Tom Schreiber set a team record with 116 points. Corey Small finished with 40 goals after coming to the Rock in the off-season. And Dan Craig finished with 35, establishing him as a dangerous scoring option. Defensively, Brad Kri was in the conversation all season as the league’s top defender while goaltender Nick Rose led the league with a 9.03 goals-against average, setting him up for his first post-season award.
“Those decisions are what you want to have,” he said. “It means we have a deep roster and a quality lineup.”Randy Staats led the Thunderbirds with 34 goals and 93 points. Ryan Terefenko is their biggest loose-ball threat on the floor. Jake Withers is among the best faceoff men in the league and should be in a good battle all night with Toronto’s TD Ierlan. And Warren Hill has been solid again in the Thunderbirds net.
Other quarterfinal games this weekend include Saturday’s clash in Buffalo between the Bandits and the Rochester Knighthawks. Out west, the San Diego Seals host the defending champion Colorado Mammoth on Friday and the Calgary Roughnecks host Panther City of Fort Worth Tex. on Saturday.
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