Photo courtesy of the Albany FireWolves on Instagram
The Albany FireWolves (1-1) visited the Toronto Rock (0-2) in their new home at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.
Both teams were looking for their first win of the season. Albany, coming off an overtime loss to Saskatchewan, while the injury riddled Toronto Rock were beaten soundly by the Ottawa Black Bears.
Albany has an exciting young team led by Tye Kurtz, Dyson Williams, Alex Simmons, and Travis Longboat. With Joe Nardella on faceoffs, and a transition game consisting of Colton Watkinson, Will Johansen, and Patrick Kaschalk, the FireWolves have a lot of scoring power.
Toronto’s injury woes continued with Latrell Harris and Tom Schreiber going on the IR this week, joining Brad Kri, TD Ierlan, and Challen Rogers. The Rock will rely heavily on their younger group of stars, Zack Kearney, Josh Dawick, Marley Angus, Tyler Hendryks, Brian Cameron and newly signed Aaron Woods to help Mark Matthews, Corey Small, Chris Boushy, and Dan Craig on offense. Chris Corbeil, Justin Martin, Mitch de Snoo, and Phil Mazzuca will help in transition.
The goalie match-up had Doug Jamieson in net for Albany facing Nick Rose in net for the Rock.
The Rock got into penalty trouble early, and the Firewolves took full advantage. However, Albany didn’t stop there, scoring an even strength and shorthanded goal taking a 3-0 first quarter lead. The second quarter saw the FireWolves continue to control the game scoring twice in the first two minutes including another power-play goal. Josh Dawick finally got the Rock on the board but a shorthanded goal by Colton Watkinson brought the momentum back to Albany.
The second half was more like the first with Albany shutting down the Rock on almost every opportunity. Sam Firth was the star for the FireWolves scoring five goals in the half to put another ugly beating on the Toronto team. Final score was 15-4 in favor of the Albany FireWolves.
To The Game:
Albany got on the board first when Tye Kurtz converted a Sam Firth pass on the power-play at 3:06, followed by a bounced shot from Marshall Powless through the legs of Nick Rose at 8:15. The FireWolves added a shorthanded goal when John Piatelli converted a rebound off the backboards at 14:15.
After one quarter, Albany 3 Toronto 0.
Second Quarter:
Zac Masson continued the FireWolves onslaught converting a Jackson Nishimura feed to the far corner at 0:44 seconds, followed by Alex Simmons finishing a Dyson Williams pass on the power-play at 1:53.
Josh Dawick finally got the Rock on the board diving across the crease off a Chris Boushy pass at 2:19, but a shorthanded marker from Colton Watkinson in transition at 6:26 gave Albany the five goal lead once again.
At the half, Albany 6 Toronto 1.
Third Quarter:
Sam Firth opened the third quarter scoring converting a Travis Longboat pass at 4:45 to make it 7-1 for the FireWolves.
Josh Dawick answered with back to back goals, both from Mark Matthews to give the Rock some life in the middle of the third quarter.
Tye Kurtz stopped the momentum with an unassisted talley at 6:44, followed by a howitzer from Sam Firth off a Marshall Powless feed at 9:43. Alex Simmons added to the lead with a great individual effort off a Travis Longboat pass at 11:49. Sam Firth added his third goal of the quarter on the power-play with just 1.3 seconds left in the quarter.
After three quarters, Albany 11 Toronto 3.
Fourth Quarter:
Zac Masson scored his second of the game just 0:08 seconds into the fourth quarter to continue where the FireWolves left off in the third quarter.
Troy Holowchuk replaced Nick Rose in net for Toronto.
Sam Firth welcomed Holowchuk to the game with another laser off a John Piatelli pass at 1:47.
The Rock got on the board once again when Luke Robinson got his first NLL goal unassisted from in front of the net at 6:46.
Sam Firth stormed back with his fifth of the half off an Alex Simmons feed at 7:47, followed by Travis Longboat finding himself all alone in front of the net making no mistake off a Will Johansen pass at 10:14.
Final score, Albany 15 Toronto 4.
The Three Stars:
1. Sam Firth
2. Travis Longboat
3. Doug Jamieson
Game Stats:
- Shots on goal favored Albany 52-48.
- The faceoff battle went to the FireWolves 20-3.
- The loose ball battle was won by Albany 82-71
- On special teams, Albany went 2 for 6 on the power-play, also scoring two shorthanded goals.
- Toronto went 1 for 5 on the power-play.
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