TORONTO ROCK BATTLE PHILADELPHIA WINGS THIS WEEKEND

TORONTO – The Toronto Rock take to the road for their final regular season away game this Saturday against the Philadelphia Wings at the Wachovia Center at 7:30 p.m. EST.

The Rock (5-9) search to put one in the win column after back-to-back losses at the hands of the Edmonton Rush and most recently the Boston Blazers.

Last Friday at the Air Canada Centre, Toronto was unable to extinguish the Blazers narrowly falling 14-13 in the decision. A second half rally was led by Luke Wiles who ended the night with three goals and four assists to bring the Rock back from a four-goal deficit.

Heading into this weekend’s matchup, Toronto Rock head coach Jamie Batley stressed the importance of strong defence.

“Tightening up the defence is our most important task. We’ve played a good defensive game before and have to keep strong to stay out of trouble,” said Batley. “Second most important is to keep the offence scoring a high number of goals.”

The Philadelphia Wings (6-8) sit one game ahead of the Rock in the hunt for the last playoff spot in the East division. Depending on how the final two weeks of the regular season play out the spot will be awarded to one of Rochester, Philadelphia, or Toronto.

The Wings head into this matchup off a 16-13 loss to the New York Titans. Mat Giles leads Philadelphia in points with 61 (19 goals, 42 assists).

The two teams have not met this season, but Toronto triumphs 17-7 in all-time meetings with the Wings. It is a must-win situation for both teams as they fight to clinch the final playoff spot in their division. Philadelphia must win both of their remaining games, and even winning their final two games, Toronto’s fate remains in the hands of the other division teams.

“There is a high level of skill on Toronto’s team,” said Philadelphia Wings head coach Dave Huntley of the Toronto Rock. “Their defence is much more athletic than most, and they have a lot of great sticks.”

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.

The Rock’s next and final home game of the 2009 regular season is Saturday, April 18th. Toronto faces off with the San Jose Stealth for the first time marking the return of Colin Doyle to the city after three years.  Game time is 7:00 p.m. at the Air Canada Centre.