Rock rolls Roughnecks in NLL action

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The Toronto Rock took the lead in the crazy National Lacrosse League east division with a 17-14 win over the Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday night.

Fittingly, in a game of runs where neither team showed great consistency on defence, goals from Phil Caputo, Kieran McArdle, and Rob Hellyer in a 77-second span early in the fourth quarter broke an 11-11 tie and put Toronto ahead for good at the Scotiabank Saddledome to move to 7-6 on the season. The Roughnecks dropped to 5-8.

The Rock started strongly, taking a 6-1 first quarter lead on the strength of two early goals in transition from Brodie Merrill and Sheldon Burns. Christian Del Bianco, the 20-year-old Roughneck’s goaltender who starred in his team’s 16-8 win earlier this season, was chased out of the net after the period.

The Roughnecks fought back in the second, scoring seven goals on Nick Rose to send the teams to the break tied 8-8. The teams scored three goals each in the third quarter.

McArdle notched his second consecutive hat trick and Hellyer also ended with three goals to pace Toronto. Caputo, Adam Jones, and Reid Reinholdt also found the net twice. Jones hit a career milestone with his goal, reaching 500 points for his NLL career.

Others with one goal each were Challen Rogers, Dan Lintner, and Latrell Harris.

For the Roughnecks, Curtis Dickson, who had four goals in the first meeting, matched that total in this game and went over the 600-point mark for his career. Dane Dobbie also scored four times including his team’s first three goals. Rookie Tyler Pace scored twice and Calgary also got goals from Wes Berg, Holden Cattoni, Zach Currier, and Riley Loewen.
The Rock return to the Air Canada Centre on Friday night to face the Colorado Mammoth.