Rock Look To Get Back On A Roll

Toronto, ON – The Toronto Rock (2-1) will face the Minnesota Swarm (0-1) on Friday night at Air Canada Centre and follow that up with a road game in Rochester (0-2) on Saturday night in a pivotal early season set of games.  Both games are 7:30pm ET starts and both contests will be broadcast live on TSN2 and TSN Mobile TV.

Minnesota makes their way to Toronto for the first time since February 27, 2009 when the Swarm defeated the Rock 13-10.   Toronto is 2-3 at home and 4-5 all-time against Minnesota.

The Swarm have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the young talent they have harvested through the draft.  Minnesota had four first round picks in the 2012 NLL Entry Draft with all four players cracking their lineup.  Brock Sorensen, Kiel Matisz, Shayne Jackson and Alex Crepinsek all suited up in the Swarm’s season opening 13-12 loss to Buffalo.  Swarm captain Andrew Suitor will miss Friday’s game as he will be serving the second game of a two-game suspension incurred at the end of the 2012 season.

On Saturday night, the Rock travel to Rochester to face Knighthawks in a rematch of last season’s Eastern Division Final, which was won by Rochester.

Rochester went on to win their second NLL Champion’s Cup last season, despite finishing below .500.  The Knighthawks didn’t rest on their laurels and added Dan Dawson and Casey Powell, a pair of former NLL MVP’s, to their roster.

From 1999 to 2010, Toronto rang up 15 regular season losses at the Blue Cross Arena before finally winning for the first time ever in the regular season in Rochester in 2011.  That first win put a three-game win streak in motion in the Knighthawks backyard and Toronto has outscored their opponent 38-22 in those three contests.

The Rock will travel to Buffalo to face the Bandits next weekend at First Niagara Center; it will be the first meeting of the season between the two rivals.  The next Rock home game will be Friday, February 15 against Calgary.  It will be Bachly Construction Colin Doyle bobblehead night with the first 5,000 fans in attendance receiving the limited edition collectible.  For the best ticket in town, please call 416-596-3075 or visit www.torontorock.com.