Rock lose to Swarm, come up just short in bid for first win

Duluth, GA. – The Toronto Rock (0-3) dropped their third straight game of the season in a tightly contested matchup against the Georgia Swarm (2-0) by a score of 10-9 on Saturday night at Gas South Arena in Duluth, GA.

Chris Boushy recorded a hat trick while Nick Rose made 35 saves including several key stops to keep the game within reach for the Rock.

“They got one more than us,” said Sawyer following the loss. “A good effort from us, good compete, and one of those nights where you feel like you might have deserved a little bit better.  So much better than our first couple outings, but we need to be better moving forward in order to find our first win and go on a run from there. We're not going anywhere, so we'll get out of this.”

Toronto came into this game with a bit of pressure mounting after dropping their first two games of the season. The team had been outscored 26-9 and wanted to prove to themselves, more than anyone, just what they are made of.  On this night, they showed flashes of what their offence is capable of.

After falling behind 1-0, Josh Dawick continued to stay hot, going airborne to tie the game at one. The Swarm would quickly rattle off two goals in 37 seconds to make it a 3-1 game after the first.

Chris Boushy took advantage of the short offensive change in the second quarter to strike in transition to bring the Rock to within a goal, down 3-2.  The Swarm scored twice more before Corey Small scored a power play marker, his first goal of the season, but the Rock still trailed 5-3.  With Brad Kri and Mitch de Snoo in the penalty box, the Swarm scored just once on the power play advantages, to lead 6-3 at the half.

The Rock used a 3-1 third quarter to pull within one heading to the final 15 minutes.  Boushy and Small each netted their second of the game, and defender Chris Weier made good on a breakaway chance and the Rock trailed by just a single marker 7-6 after three quarters.

In the fourth, Boushy scored his third goal of the night to tie the game up at 7 apiece early in the frame. A quick goal from Shayne Jackson saw Georgia take the lead right back 8-7.

The turning point of the game came about a minute after the Jackson goal. Aaron Woods, who was making his Rock debut, appeared to score while tight roping along the crease but the goal was immediately waved off due to a crease violation call by the official. The Swarm went the other way and scored in transition to restore Georgia’s two-goal lead.  Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer challenged the Rock no-goal ruling, however the officials cited inconclusive video evidence, so the original Rock no-goal call was upheld and the Swarm goal at the other end of the floor stood.

With the Rock down 9-7 with just over 11 minutes to play, Dan Craig decided to get on the score sheet and buried his first goal of the season. Just over a minute later, Jake Darlison, who was making his NLL debut, picked off a pass and went the other way and buried a shot past Georgia goalie Brett Dobson for his first career goal to tie the game 9-9 with three minutes to play. In the final minute of the game, Lyle Thompson did what Lyle Thompson does. He was able to spin off his defender and shoot a wonderful twister short side shot that got past Rose to make it a 10-9 game and secure the victory.

“It’s not an easy place to play,” said Rose.  “We've had a lot of games like that over the years here with the Swarm and to come out on the wrong end, especially how we have started the season, it is going to be a tough one to swallow heading into the holidays.”

The Rock outshot the Swarm 55-45 over the course of 60 minutes of play.  Toronto was 2-for-4 on the power play, while Georgia went 1-for-6.

The Rock are now on a bye week and will take to the floor again on Saturday, December 28 for a Pre-NYE Party at Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga at 7pm ET when they host the Ottawa Black Bears in the second match of the Battle of Ontario. Fans can catch the game on TSN, TSN+ and NLL+.

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.