What a crazy game. This was one of those weird games where the Rock never led in the game at all, but still won. The shots on net numbers were wacky and there were a lot of penalties on both sides until the fourth quarter, when there were none.

The Thunderbirds got off to a strong start, with both their offense and defense clicking. There were some great passes and four goals at one end, while Warren Hill was excellent and kept the Rock scoreless through the first quarter. The Rock finally got on the board early in the second and added a couple more before Cody Jamieson extended the Halifax lead to 5-3, which is how we went into halftime. After making 11 saves in the first quarter and 17 in the second, Nick Rose only made two saves in the third but only allowed two goals, which implies (if my math is correct) that the T-birds managed four shots in the entire quarter. The Rock only scored once but Hill made 11 stops.

The PA guy reminded the crowd that the Rock had had some great fourth quarters this season – they have a +18 goal differential in fourth quarters; more than double that of the second-best team, the Bandits at +7. True to form, they chipped away at the Halifax lead over the fourth and Tom Schreiber sent the First Ontario Centre into a frenzy with his game-tying goal with under a minute left to play. We headed off to overtime, where Mark Matthews put the game away after managing to get open basically by himself right on the doorstep. As well as he had played throughout the game, Warren Hill had little chance with Matthews on the doorstep with that much time and room.

I already mentioned that the Thunderbirds only had four shots in the third quarter, but at one point in the first quarter, the Rock were down in shots 15-3. They ended up with eight in the first, but no goals. They did manage to even up the shot battle over the course of the game, which ended 49-45 in favour of Halifax.

Both goaltenders were excellent and despite the stats (Rose had a lower GAA and a higher save %) and outcome, I might even say that Hill had a better game. He made all kinds of saves in the second and third to prevent the Rock from getting back in it. It’s also possible that I’ve been conditioned by watching Rose over the past few years, so a game where he allows less than 10 goals and has an 82% save percentage is just average for him.

Mark Matthews

One thing that I’d never heard at a Rock game before was fans chanting “Ref you suck!” when a call was made against the Rock. The first time was when Chris Boushy got a major and a game misconduct for an illegal bodycheck. The major was upheld but the game misconduct was rescinded, but apparently the refs still suck. It wasn’t a blatant head shot but his shoulder did make contact with the Halifax player’s head, so it was a reasonable call. I might not have called it a major, but it was a hit to the head so I can understand why they did. The game misconduct was too much though, so I’m glad that was taken away.

A minute later, Nonkon Thompson was called for two minor penalties at the same time, thus offsetting the Boushy major almost exactly, and miraculously, the “ref you suck” chant was nowhere to be found. Still later in the game, a Halifax player knocked a Toronto player down with no call (I don’t remember the play so I can’t say whether one was warranted), and the “ref you suck” chants started again.

The Rock had a ton of transition chances and while I love me some transition goals, not all of the chances were that great. In some cases, it might have been better to turn around and wait for the offense to get set up. It seemed that a large percentage of Rock possessions in the second and third quarters lasted about five seconds and didn’t result in a goal.

Other game notes:

• Awesome: the little girl sitting behind us chanting “Wosey!” whenever Nick Rose made a save. Made us smile every time.
• My son brought his friend Andrew to the game on Saturday. He’s not a big sports guy in general but he was a complete lacrosse newbie, to the point where he asked, “Oh, is this the one where there’s a little basket on the end of their sticks?” Yup, that’s the one. Pro tip: if you’re going to introduce someone to lacrosse, make sure you pick a game that’s close and the home team mounts a big 4th quarter comeback and overtime win against a rival. Andrew had a great time.
• The couple sitting next to us left with about five minutes left in the fourth and the Rock down by two. More lacrosse newbies I imagine.
• There were three different times in the game where a player got a minor penalty and at the same time, either that player or a teammate of his also got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Maybe they were chanting “Ref you suck” on the floor too.