Walker’s Late Blast Propels FireWolves To Victory

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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. Mr. Groob's other sports interests include Hockey, Football, Boxing, Wrestling, and Baseball, competing competitively in Boxing and Wrestling for many years.

(Photos courtesy of William Balfour/ Oakville View Group)

The Toronto Rock (0-1) visited the Oshawa FireWolves (1-0) in their inaugural game at the sold out Tribute Centre in Oshawa, Ontario.

While Oshawa kept the Albany nucleus together over the off season, the Toronto Rock added three first round picks in CJ Kirst, Owen Hiltz, and Sam English (1st round 2024).  Also back for the Rock was a healthy Mark Matthews, who looked invigorated in training camp.

The goaltending match-up had Nick Rose in net for Toronto facing Doug Jamieson in net for the FireWolves.

A very evenly matched contest saw end to end action throughout the first half.  Both teams had leads, but a Dyson Williams beauty was the difference at the half, with the FireWolves up 4-3.

The second half looked to be a little more wide open, but both Nick Rose and Doug Jamieson were excellent in goal all night.  Tied at seven with less than a minute to go, Ethan Walker blasted a shot through a screen that eluded Nick Rose for the game winner.  Oshawa wins their inaugural game 8-7.

To The Game:

After almost a full quarter of end to end action, the opening goal came off a bounced shot from CJ Kirst, the first of his NLL career at 12:50, but the FireWolves evened the score with an unassisted low to low blast from Nick Chaykowsky at 14:34. 

After one quarter, Toronto 1 Oshawa 1.

(Photo courtesy of William Balfour/ Oakville View Group)

Second Quarter:

The Rock regained the lead when Chris Boushy fired a sidearm snipe to the corner off a Zack Kearney pass at 5:30, but Taggert Clark evened the game diving across the crease 0:28 seconds later off a Dyson Williams feed.

Oshawa took their first lead with a bounced shot from in close by Alex Simmons at 11:12, followed by Dyson Williams 0:31 seconds later for a two goal cushion.

Challen Rogers got Toronto within one on the power-play converting a CJ Kirst feed at 12:35.

At the half, Oshawa 4 Toronto 3.

Waterdogs

Third Quarter:

CJ Kirst tied the game just 0:33 seconds into the quarter diving across the crease off a Jake Darlison pass, followed by Challen Rogers converting a rebound off a Kirst shot at 3:06, giving Toronto Toronto lead once again.

After three quarters, Toronto 5 Oshawa 4.

Fourth Quarter:

The FireWolves tied the game just 0:39 seconds into the fourth when Ethan Walker converted an Alex Simmons feed, but the Rock came back with Owen Hiltz scoring his first NLL goal, firing a low to low shot at 1:46.

Alex Simmons tied the game once again with a fade away bounced shot that beat Nick Rose at 5:49, then took the lead once again when Tye Kurtz converted a Simmons pass at 8:14.

Toronto tied the game when Owen Hiltz found the back of the net on a low shot at 12:57, but Ethan Walker’s second of the game through a screen with just 0:52.2 seconds remaining was the game winner.

Final score, Oshawa 8 Toronto 7.

The Three Stars:

1. Doug Jamieson
2. Alex Simmons
3. CJ Kirst

Game Stats:

  • Shots on goal favored Toronto 55-40.
  • The Faceoff battle was won by Oshawa 12-7.
  • The loose ball battle had the FireWolves edge the Rock 69-68.
  • Toronto went 1 for 2 on the power-play, while Oshawa was 0 for 3.

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

Lakers

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