Lewis Ratcliff scored a combined five goals and four assists in his Rock debut this weekend, but the Toronto offense scored just 15 goals, dropping games to rivals Rochester and Philadelphia.
WEEKEND RECAP, NEWS & QUOTES
Mammoth clinch playoff berth; Minnesota ties for first in East
04/07/2008
Rochester at Colorado (Thursday):The Colorado Mammoth (7-5), became the first team in the NLL to clinch a playoff spot with an 11-8 win against the Rochester Knighthawks (6-7) on Thursday night in front of 16,860 fans at Pepsi Center.
Rochester's John Grant led all scorers with four goals and an assist, but it wasn't enough as Mammoth goalie Gee Nash made 46 saves on 54 chances for his sixth win of the season.
"He robbed them of many goals they should have scored," said Mammoth forward Gavin Prout of his team's All-Star goalie. "He stole that game for us."
Knighthawks goalie Pat O'Toole gave up 11 goals on 43 shots to suffer his fifth loss of the season.
"I don't think we played poorly, but we didn't finish well," said Knighthawks head coach Ed Comeau to Sal Maiorana of the Rochester D & C.
"I think we generated offense, we had shots, but was it our best offensive performance as far as moving the ball? No. We had enough quality shots and we had chances to put ourselves in position to win and we didn't do it."
San Jose at Portland (Saturday):
In the first game of a home-and-home series with the Portland LumberJax (5-8), the San Jose Stealth (7-6) went into the Rose Garden and escaped with a 12-9 win on Saturday night.
Jeff Zywicki was the game's MVP as he managed to sneak five goals past Portland goalie Matt Disher (33 saves on 44 chances) as well as assist on two others. Anthony Cosmo faced 63 shots on goal from Portland, but only allowed nine to get by him.
"We played probably half a game, especially offensively," said LumberJax head coach Derek Keenan to B. Scott Anderson of the Oregonian.
"We did get a lot of chances, but we executed like we hadn't played in two weeks."
Derek Malawsky led the Portland scoring with three goals and an assist in the loss.
Portland at San Jose (Sunday):
After Saturday night's win, all San Jose needed was another victory against Portland on Sunday and they'd join division rival Colorado as the second team to clinch a playoff berth. However, that wasn't the case as San Jose fell to Portland, 12-10, in the back end of a home-and-home series.
Gary Rosyski, Cam Sedgwick, and Jeff Zywicki each had two goals for San Jose, but were all three outshined by Ryan Powell's three goals and two assists for Portland. Matt Disher made 42 saves on 52 shots for the LumberJax, while Stealth goalie Anthony Cosmo made 43 saves on 54 shots at the other end.
"This was a huge win," said LumberJax head coach Derek Keenan to portlandjax.com after the game.
"We really needed it after last night. Matt Disher was outstanding in goal for us today."
San Jose, who now sits a half game behind Colorado for first in the West division, will have to wait until next weekend when they host Edmonton for another shot at a playoff birth. In their last meeting on March 29, Edmonton dominated San Jose in a 12-5 upset.
"Probably the worst game we played of the season was in Edmonton," said Stealth head coach Walt Christianson. "We have to play (the next game) like it's a playoff game."
Philadelphia at Chicago (Saturday):
After starting the season 1-7, the Chicago Shamrox (4-7), with two-goal efforts from Crawford, Jacobs, McBride, Ross, and Self, are now on a four game winning streak as they upset the Philadelphia Wings (8-4), 15-14, in overtime. McBride ended the game for Chicago with a tally just seven seconds into the extra frame.
Matt Roik was tested early and often as he faced 62 shots from the Philadelphia offense, but managed to save 48 of them.
Athan Iannucci, who had 10 of Philly's 62 shots, scored four goals as he continues his chase for Gary Gait's single season goal scoring record of 61. Wings goalie Brandon Miller, who normally serves as the back up for Philadelphia, got into only his second game of the season on Saturday as he faced 66 shots on goal, allowing 15 to get by him.
"Chicago played strong in the first quarter and had great goaltending," said Wings head coach Dave Huntley to wingslax.com. "Our last three quarters were very strong, but it wasn't enough to make up for the six goals we were down after the first."
Rochester at Toronto (Saturday):
Even with the addition of Calgary's leading scorer, Lewis Ratcliff, to the lineup, it wasn't enough for the Toronto Rock (7-6) as they fell to the Rochester Knighthawks, 9-6, in front of 15,422 at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday.
Scott Evans, the game's MVP, netted four goals and an assist to lead the Knighthawks in scoring, while Lewis Ratcliff had an impressive debut for the Rock as he tallied three goals and two assists for his new team. Bob Watson kept Toronto in the game by giving up only nine goals on 47 shots. However, he was outdone at the other end by Pat O'Toole, who allowed only six goals on 40 shots to help secure Rochester's sixth victory of the season.
"If you can hold them to 10, you've done a good job," said Rock head coach Glenn Clark to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun after the game. "We did the job we needed to do defensively, we just couldn't capitalize offensively."
New York at Minnesota (Saturday):
The New York Titans (6-6) surge back into the thick of the East Division hit a roadblock on Saturday as New York was upended by the Minnesota Swarm (8-4), 12-9, in front of 10,854 at Xcel Energy Center.
Sean Pollock and Nick Inch provided the biggest blows for Minnesota, netting three goals a piece to back up Nick Patterson's 33 save performance. The win, combined with Philadelphia splitting their two weekend games, propelled Minnesota into a first place tie in the East Division.
Pat Maddalena was New York's biggest scoring threat as he notched three goals and an assist. Goalie Matt Vinc surrendered 11 goals on 39 shots. With the loss, New York remains in sixth place in the East.
Colorado at Buffalo (Saturday):
After clinching a playoff birth on Thursday, the Colorado Mammoth were in Buffalo to face John Tavares and the Bandits (8-5) at HSBC Arena. In that game, Brian Langtry and Jason Wulder netted hat tricks for Colorado, but so did Mark Steenhuis. That, combined with 45 saves on 56 shots from Mike Thompson, led to a tight, 12-11, win for the Bandits.
"It's a huge win for us," said Thompson to Tom Borrelli of the Buffalo News.
"They never let down but we never gave up and came away with the win. I tried not to think about it, but they were definitely coming."
Langtry, who has 23 goals on the season, now finds himself as the team's leader in that category after scoring a combined 14 goals in his last three games. Gee Nash dropped to 6-4 on the season as he allowed 12 goals on 38 shots.
Calgary at Edmonton (Saturday):
In a match up of the two West Division teams from Alberta, the Edmonton Rush (4-7), with four goals and an assist from Jimmy Quinlan, defeated the Calgary Roughnecks (4-9), 11-9, at Rexall Place.
Saturday night's win was Edmonton's fourth victory in their last five games, a run that has seen the Rush move from fifth place to third place in the West Division. All four wins have come after the hiring of head coach Bob Hamely, who is now 4-2 behind Edmonton's bench.
"It was a game of who was going to make mistakes at the wrong time and we got a couple of goals late," said Hamley to John Korobanik of the Edmonton Journal.
"Our offense did a good job of moving the ball around and not letting them transition."
Unlike their Alberta neighbors, Calgary has lost four of their last five contests to fall into last place in the West Division. They were led in scoring by Scott Ranger's three goals, while Pat Campbell gave up 11 goals on 48 shots.
"These games are like playoff games right now," said Roughnecks owner Brad Banister to Shaw TV.
"Both teams want to win badly to get that last spot in the playoffs."
Not phased by the loss was the newest Roughnecks player, Josh Sanderson. "You can put it in big print, we're making the playoffs," Sanderson said to Ian Busby of the Calgary Sun. "That's a for sure."
Toronto at Philadelphia (Sunday):
In the weekend's final contest, the Philadelphia Wings were able to turn things around after Saturday night's loss by defeating the Toronto Rock, 11-9, with 10,244 on hand at the Wachovia Center.
Once again, Athan Iannucci, who picked up game MVP honors, was the scoring star for Philadelphia as he netted four goals and an assist, though Rob Blasdell's performance is also worth noting as he faced 60 shots on goal, saving 51 of them.
"We got a little off the mark (the last few games) but it seemed like we got back on track," said Wings head coach Dave Huntley to wingslax.com after the game. "This was an important game."
Iannucci's four tallies now gives him 54 on the season, just eight shy of surpassing Gary Gait's single season mark, set in 2003 with Colorado.
Toronto's loss on Sunday came losing the previous night against Rochester. With those two losses, the Rock are now in fourth place in the East and only a half game in front of New York.
Ryan Benesch led all Rock scorers with three goals and an assist, while newly acquired Lewis Ratcliff followed up his three-goal debut on Saturday with a two-goal performance on Sunday. Like Blasdell at the other end, Bob Watson was also busy most of the night, as he faced 61 shots and allowed 11 goals in the loss.
--Darek Truesdale/NLL.com
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