Rock End Season On A High Note

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Gary Groob

Gary Groob has been involved with Lacrosse for the majority of his life, whether playing, coaching, or covering the sport for the media. An avid fan, with a real drive about helping to "grow the game", Gary became part of podcasts about the game in 2010. Through the podcasts, Mr. Groob was given an opportunity to write about lacrosse, and the rest as they say, is history. Through many miles (flying and driving) Gary has made inroads with the National Lacrosse League, Major Series Lacrosse, Ontario Series Lacrosse, the Ontario Lacrosse Association, CUFLA, as well as the Arena Lacrosse League, covering the leagues, their teams, and players, working for, and in concert with all of them. In the year 2019, Mr. Groob was made the media person for the Arena Lacrosse League, voted onto the board of directors of the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, as well as being made administrator of the Lacrosse page "Global Lacrosse" with a membership of 14,000+ members in over 90 Countries. Gary was also made an administrator of Lacrosse History Past Present and Future in 2022 with a membership of 19,000+. Gary also has been the media person for Ontario Series Lacrosse (Senior B) since 2023. Mr. Groob also covers the Green Gaels for their excursions to Prague at the Ales Hrebesky tournament since 2022. In 2024, when Major Series Lacrosse was in need of a media person, Gary stepped in as their interim media person. His tasks were running their social media, as well as their website until a full time person was found to fill the role. In 2025 Gary was voted onto the Board of Directors for Ontario Series Lacrosse. Mr. Groob hosts a weekly lacrosse interview show formerly on Spanglish Sports World, and ZingoTV channel 250, now on StreamPunkEnt.com, Youtube, as well as Spotify. Groob also hosts a lacrosse talk show and podcast for All Lacrosse All The Time seen live Sunday nights at 8pm (ET), and archived on the All Lacrosse All The Time YouTube page, as well as Spotify. Gary also wrote a weekly lacrosse editorial column for La Portada Canada News both in print and online for three years from 2021-2024. In 2025, Mr. Groob joined the ownership ranks, becoming a minority owner of StreamPunk Entertainment, ensuring Lacrosse will always have voice in media. Gary was voted onto the board of directors as the social media director for Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL) in November of 2025. In 2026 Mr. Groob was nominated for the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame, made a voting member of the NLL media, was put as a voting member in the Ales Hrebesky Tournament awards, and was nominated for the Tom Borelli Award as media person of the year for the NLL. Mr. Groob's other sports interests include Hockey, Football, Boxing, Wrestling, and Baseball, competing competitively in Boxing and Wrestling for many years.

The Toronto Rock (6-12) finished their 2024-2025 regular season on the road facing the Rochester Knighthawks (10-8) at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, NY.

Coming off a hard fought 16-9 loss to Halifax the night previous, the Rock were hoping to end this injury filled season on a high note.  Chris Boushy had five goals against Halifax, and was looking to break the 40 goal barrier, sitting at 37 coming into this game.  Josh Dawick had hit the 40 goal mark the night before.  With three top draft picks and Sam English, as well as Mark Matthews and Tom Schreiber re-joining the team next season, the rebuild may not take too long to have Toronto a contender again.

The Knighthawks are heading to the postseason for the third straight year, having clinched by way of their 12-6 home win over Ottawa earlier this month. Rochester, which had won six straight and nine of its last 12 games were looking to continuethe momentumheading into round one of the playoffs.  The Knighthawks could still land a home playoff game with a victory over the Rock and with a Vancouver loss. 

The goaltending match-up had Troy Holowchuk in net for Toronto facing Rylan Hartley in net for the Knighthawks.

A back and forth game that showed the disdain between these two teams.  Matt Gilray was a human vacuum cleaner, picking up a club record 19 loose balls in the game.  The transition game also came to life in the second half for the Knighthawks with Matt Gilray and Chad Tutton playing big roles.

For the Rock, Chris Boushy was able to reach the 40 goal plateau, scoring three in the game.  Also of note, Josh Dawick’s fantastic season continued until the final buzzer as well.  Challen Rogers also was big in this game scoring four times, but also was a force on both ends of the floor.  If there was any question about Troy Holowchuk, hopefully he silenced his critics.  The last few minutes especially, Rochester threw everything at him, and he was able to lock down the win making 55 saves on the night.

With the 11-10 loss, Rochester will open up their playoffs inext Saturday in Vancouver, for a first round match-up with the Warriors. 

To The Game:

The Knighthawks got rolling early when Connor Fields fired a rope to the top corner off a Ryan Lanchbury pass just 0:17 seconds into the game. 

Elijah Gash thought he tied it, but it was overturned on review, due to him being in the crease.  There was a delayed penalty on the play which turned into a penalty shot. Challen Rogers scored on the shot with a number of fakes on Rylan Hartley at 1:08.  The Rock then took the lead on the power-play when Chris Boushy converted a Corey Small feed at 2:44.

Rochester tied the game when Graydon Hogg quick sticked a Ryan Smith pass at 6:04, but Toronto answered on the power-play when Chris Boushy dove from behind the net off a Josh Dawick pass at 11:53. 

Toronto increased their lead on the power-play when Boushy converted a Latrell Harris pass from in front at 14:34. The goal was Boushy’s 40th of the season.

(photo courtesy of the Toronto Rock Instagram)

After one quarter, Toronto 4 Rochester 2.

Second Quarter:

The Rock got things going quickly in the second quarter when Challen Rogers blasted a Josh Dawick feed at 0:41 seconds, but the Knighthawks answered on the power-play when Ryan Smith scored from beside the net at 1:54.

Rochester got within one goal when Thomas McConvey finished a Ryan Smith pass from in front at 4:17, but Latrell Harris answered in transition from the top of the crease at 7:04.

Chad Tutton answered for the Knighthawks in transition from in close off a Taylor Jenson pass at 8:10, but Josh Dawick responded to give Toronto a two goal lead once again from in close at 13:49. 

At the half, Toronto 7 Rochester 5.

Roughnecks

Third Quarter:

The Rock got on the board early when Josh Dawick converted a Zack Kearney pass in transition at 0:50 seconds, but the Knighthawks came back when Thomas McConvey scored with a laser from the outside off a Ryan Lanchbury pass at 6:25.

Ryan Smith got one back for Rochester converting a Kyle Waters pass at the top of the crease at 9:11, followed by Matt Gilray going coast to coast in transition at 11:14 to tie the game.

The Rock regained the lead when Challen Rogers fired a high to low shot off a Chris Boushy pass at 13:05.

After three quarters, Toronto 9 Rochester 8.

Fourth Quarter:

Rogers opened the fourth with another high to low shot at 1:29, but on a bad clearing pass from Troy Holowchuk, Connor Fields intercepted it scoring unassisted at 2:25.

Brian Cameron added to the Toronto lead with a high to low blast from the outside off a Chris Boushy feed at 6:01, but with the goalie pulled and an extra attacker on, Ryan Lanchbury got the Knighthawks within one at 12:38.

A frantic couple of minutes at the end, but Troy Holowchuk was superb in the Rock net to preserve the one goal victory.

Final score, Toronto 11 Rochester 10.

The Three Stars:

1. Chris Boushy
2. Ryan Lanchbury
3. Challen Rogers

Game Stats:

  • Shots on goal favored Rochester 65-52.
  • The faceoff battle was won by the Rock 16-9.
  • The loose ball battle went to the Knighthawks 77-76.
  • Toronto went 4 for 5 on the power-play, while Rochester went 1 for 2.

Don’t forget to check us out every Sunday night at 8pm (ET) on StreamPunkEnt.com

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