Rock learned a lot from loss to Calgary

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The Toronto Rock may have learned a valuable lesson in last week’s loss to the Calgary Roughnecks.

The team is most successful when the load is shared between the offensive and defensive units as it was during the four-game win streak that was snapped. They will get a chance to find that balance again when it travels to Rochester to face the Knighthawks on Saturday (8 p.m.).

Defence had been the team’s strong point for the past two seasons. But it can’t do it alone. And the 16-8 defeat to Calgary at the Air Canada Centre showed that.

The offence, which started quickly during the win streak, was immediately stymied by the Roughnecks defence.  Instead of being able to get to the net and create opportunities, Toronto was held to outside shots, many of which were handled by young Calgary goaltender Christian Del Bianco. The Rock has had success in some cases finding the goaltender’s weak spot but were unable to do that against the Roughnecks.

In addition, those outside shots did not allow for many extra possessions, which help the defensive units even if they don’t result in a goal. Instead of the defense getting a full minute of rest for several stretches during the game, there was a constant scramble to get defensive players on the floor to prevent scoring opportunities in transition.

The defense did enough as the Rock took an 7-5 lead early in the third period. But after Adam Jones took a five-minute spearing call midway through the third quarter, the dam burst and Calgary had free reign on an exhausted backend, going on an 11-1 run.

“We just thought we were going to go out there and (good things were) just going to happen,” head coach Matt Sawyer said. “We got what we deserved and they deserved that win. We weren’t willing to put in the effort to pay the price we needed to in order to be successful.”

Jones is still tied for the National Lacrosse League scoring lead with 49 points with Tom Schreiber fifth (46 points) and Rob Hellyer sixth (42).

The Knighthawks are in a bit of a freefall, having lost five in a row after winning their first two. They come off a 16-14 home loss to the Buffalo Bandits, hurt by a third quarter in which they were outscored 5-2.

“You feel good in the third quarter, and all of a sudden, they go on their little run there,” forward Dan Dawson said after the game. “It’s just been deflating us.”

“We can’t let teams go on these runs that they’ve been doing. We need the answers.”

Joe Resetarits leads the Knighthawks with 35 points followed by Cody Jamieson with 32.