‘If we start looking ahead three or four weeks, we may not get there’
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Having endured its championship drought the longest, a National Lacrosse League title for the Toronto Rock would probably mean the most to Nick Rose.
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But the veteran goaltender knows it’s a process and is only focused on getting the Rock past its first-round matchup against the Rochester Knighthawks at FirstOntario Centre on Saturday (4:30 p.m.).
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“We’ve said it lots over the past few years that it would mean everything to this organization to get back on top,” he said. “But if we start looking ahead three or four weeks, we may not get there.”
A member of the Rock since being acquired in 2012, Rose enjoyed a career season. He led the team to a franchise-best 15-3 record and led the league in both goals-against average (9.18) and save percentage (0.812). He is a lock to land his first goaltender of the year award and a leading contender for the NLL’s most-valuable player. But being the ultimate team guy, Rose credits his defensive corps.
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It’s a unit led by Mitch de Snoo, who is a leading candidate for NLL defensive player of the year and supplemented by Brad Kri, T D Ierlan and rookie Justin Martin who were all prominent.
“We feel we’re the best defensive unit in the league,” he said. “We’ve proved we’re the best when we come to play but that’s what it’s going to take and even more this weekend.”
That defense needed to bail out the offence on several occasions this season but the front set, with the likes of Mark Matthews, Tom Schreiber, Corey Small, Chris Boushy and Dan Craig, can turn it on at any time.
“We’re a confident team,” Rock head coach Matt Sawyer said. “We were forced to win in different ways this year with different lineups and some adversity.”
“We have to lean on some of those experiences for sure.”
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The Knighthawks will present a challenge right out of the gate. Rochester overcame slim odds to make the playoffs by winning both of its games last weekend. The Rock beat Rochester 13-6 in their lone meeting on April 13 but now the stakes are much higher and stopping the Knighthawks’ superstar forward Connor Fields will be a priority.
“They’ll ride some momentum,” Sawyer said. “They were up against it to get in and they finished the season strong.”
“They’ve got excellent goaltending and a lot of firepower up front. But anybody you play in this league, if you’re not at your best, you’re not going to be successful. So we’ll focus on ourselves.”
Should Toronto win, it may set up its fourth consecutive second-round matchup with the Buffalo Bandits, who host the Georgia Swarm on Saturday night at KeyBank Center. The Bandits have ended Toronto’s season in each of those previous meetings and also won both meetings this season.
The other side of the NLL playoff bracket will start late Saturday with the second-seed San Diego Seals meeting seventh-seeded Panther City Lacrosse Club, who is making its playoff debut. The Albany FireWolves, who halted a late-season drought with a win last weekend will host the Halifax Thunderbirds on Sunday afternoon.
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