ROCK FACE CALGARY & EDMONTON THIS WEEKEND

TORONTO – The Toronto Rock ride a two game win streak into Alberta this weekend. On Friday the Rock face the Calgary Roughnecks at Pengrowth Saddledome and then travel to Edmonton on Saturday to throw down with the Rush at Rexall Place. Ball drop for both games is 9:00 p.m. ET.

The Toronto Rock (4-7) won their second home game of the season last Saturday 16-10 over the Rochester Knighthawks to halt the K-Hawks three game win streak. Lewis Ratcliff led the domination for Toronto with five goals. Other contributors were Luke Wiles who recorded three, Craig Conn and Bill McGlone who both chipped in two apiece and Stephen Hoar, Rob Marshall, Peter Lough, and Nick Carson who all added singles.

“We played well at both ends of the game,” said Rock head coach Jamie Batley. “Lewis was in a bit of a funk but broke out of it last weekend, and it was nice to see Whip (Bob “Whipper” Watson) have back-to-back great performances.”

Rock goaltender Bob Watson was named this week’s National Lacrosse League (NLL) Overall Player of the Week for his performance in Saturday’s game. Watson, 2008’s NLL Goaltender of the Year, backstopped his way to the NLL recognition turning away 38 of 48 shots on goal.

This Friday’s only NLL matchup finds the Toronto Rock visiting the Calgary Roughnecks. The Roughnecks (8-2) sit atop the West Division standings led by Josh Sanderson with 64 points (21goals, 43 assists). The Rock fell to Calgary 16-9 on January 17th at the Air Canada Centre under the direction of original ’09 Rock coaches. This will be Batley and his coaching staffs’ first meeting with the Riggers this season.   

“We got off to a slow start at 2-7,” said Batley about the first half of the Rock season. “Since the Boston game the guys have played great, we have our head above water. We’re looking forward and hope to get some points this weekend.”

Rexall Place provides the backdrop for Toronto’s Saturday, March 28th game against the Edmonton Rush.   The Rush (3-8) are last in the West Division and sit two games out of what would be their first-ever playoff spot.
The Rock boast three straight wins over the Edmonton Rush. When the two teams met this year in Toronto on February 7th the Rock manhandled Edmonton 16-9 in front of a home crowd of 13, 486.

“Toronto has a good team,” said Edmonton Rush head coach Bob Hamley. “Jamie brought in his system, and it’s successful. We played them last month and we know what they can do. They have a pretty dynamic offence, with lots of weapons.”

Don’t miss any of the weekend road action. The Toronto Rock website has a direct link to the NLL Network featuring high quality online video broadcasts of the NLL regular season and playoff games for the 2009 season. Visit http://www.torontorock.com <http://www.torontorock.com> and click on ‘ROCK TV’ under the multimedia heading.