THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Troy Cordingley and Terry Sanderson coached the Calgary Roughnecks to the 2009 National Lacrosse League championship and they’re off to an impressive start in their bid to do the same with the Toronto Rock this year.
They’ve turned a sadsack outfit that missed the playoffs the last two years into a supercharged winner.
Rookie sensation Garrett Billings scored five goals and goaltender Bob Watson was outstanding as the undefeated Rock crushed the Rochester Knighthawks 17-3 Saturday night.
You read it right: 17-3.
Team owner Jamie Dawick pledged $1,000 to World Vision for every Rock goal so a cheque for $17,000 will be on its way to the charity’s efforts in Haiti.
"We’d never had a lopsided game like that against Rochester," said Watson. "They’ve given it to us down there a couple of times.
"For us to do what we did against a veteran team like that, that’s great for our team. It’s definitely a confidence builder. We’ve got to continue working hard."
Also scoring for the Rock, 3-0 and first in the East Division, were Kasey Beirnes, with three goals, Mike Hominuck, with two, Cam Woods, Jeff Gilbert, Mike Hobbins, Colin Doyle, Pat McCready and Stephan Leblanc. Doyle had six assists, Manning five and Billings and Leblanc three each in front of an announced Air Canada Centre crowd of 10,104.
Billings, who starred at the University of Virginia and with the B.C. summer league team in his home town of Langley, B.C., has 11 goals and 19 points in Toronto’s three wins. He’s got a laser of a shot that finds the smallest of net openings from the middle of the attacking zone.
"I came from a small lacrosse association so in that situation you tend to get the ball a lot," Billings explained. "We also have a couple of really good lacrosse boxes in Langley and my dad never held me back from staying out ’til the sun went down.
"When I’m living there (during the summer), my family’s house backs onto a lacrosse box. I’ve got nothing but time to go shoot."
Scoring for Rochester, 2-1, were Scott Evans, Shawn Evans and John Grant.
"Our offence wasn’t good, our goaltending wasn’t good and that’s not a good combination," said losing goaltender Pat O’Toole. "That’s why we got the 17-3. Give credit to the Rock. They came out and played hard. We just didn’t have anything for them and it showed on the scoreboard."
The teams square off again next Saturday night in Rochester.
The Rock jumped ahead 2-0 off quick transition breaks by defencemen. Woods converted a 2-on-1 pass from Hobbins at 1:39 and Gilbert picked a top corner behind O’Toole on a breakaway at 4:44.
"Our defensive guys are our energy guys," said Cordingley. "They came to play.
"When our defensive is playing like that — three guys on every loose ball, all over (the Knighthawks) — it leaves our offence with no choice but to perform, too. That’s what happened tonight."
Billings scored at 5:21, Hobbins at 7:54, Billings at 10:21 on a power play and Billings again at 11:29 to make it 6-0 — with Toronto up 14-2 on the shots-on-net counter.
Rochester replaced O’Toole with Aaron Bold to start the second quarter and Scott Evans scored with Watson down to make it 6-1 at the 28-second mark. Billings then hurled a low shot past Bold at 9:09 of the second quarter to make it 7-1.
"We watched him all summer (in the B.C. senior league) and it was a gift for us for him to drop to No. 6 (in the entry draft)," Cordingley said afterwards. "We told him right from the get-go he was the guy we wanted.
"He’s playing like a 30-year-old veteran. His shot is accurate and he sees the floor well. He’s doing a good job for us."
Beirnes scored at 13:06 and Hominuck connected at 14:14 to send Toronto into the halftime break up 9-1. The shots were closer now, 28-23, but Watson was cutting great angles and refusing to bite on dekes. The 39-year-old Guelph resident was playing as if he had eight arms and 10 legs.
With Haiti relief cash on the line, Rock shooters weren’t going to put their sticks away. O’Toole returned to start the third quarter. He didn’t have a chance when Scott Campbell fed Doyle for a bounce shot off a 2-on-1 break at 4:42 for a 10-1 Toronto lead. After a Shawn Evans goal, Billings whipped in a sidearm laser at 6:22 for his fifth goal.
Watson was knocked off his feet by a hard shot to the lower mask, which evened the shots count to 34-34, but he stayed in the game. McCready then picked a top corner behind O’Toole for a short-handed breakaway goal at 9:31 to put Toronto up 12-2. It was 13-3 when the fourth quarter started and Hominuck bounced one in at 1:22 to make it 14-3. The Evans brothers were sharing the penalty box as Toronto then further padded its lead with power-play goals.
It was the most lopsided Toronto win over Rochester in NLL history.
"Our defence set the tone right off the bat," said Watson. "We wanted to come out and be aggressive and in their face and we sent that message early.
"They had trouble getting their game untracked. We pounded on them and we capitalized on our scoring chances. It was a great effort by the entire team."
The final shots count was 56-47 in Toronto’s favour.
Hobbins wound up with what turned out to be the winning goal. It was his fourth career goal in 38 games. The six-foot-two native of Peterborough, Ont., said he and the rest of the defencemen were totally ready to face the Knighthawks.
"We’re a very high-pressure defence," said Hobbins. "We’re also a very smart transition team that can really run the ball fast.
"We believe we’re one of the fastest teams in the league, and that’s what happened in the opening minutes. We picked up loose balls off errors and pushed the ball up the floor, created odd-man chances and buried our chances."
Holding NLL Hall of Famer Gary Gait without a point and just three shots on Watson was a commendable feat.
"The list of accomplishments for some of their offensive guys is pretty lengthy," said Billings. "We didn’t expect to win this big."
As GM, Sanderson traded for Doyle last month, bringing him back to the city where he helped the Rock win five championships. It’s paying off. The best playmaker in pro lacrosse is a key cog in the Rock surgence. Sanderson is helping Cordingley coach, just as he did in Calgary. It’s a winning combination. The two also coached the Brampton Excelsiors to the Canadian senior title last summer and their early-season success with the Rock has been sensational.
NOTES: Rock defenceman Pat McCready, 35, played against his nephew, rookie Joel McCready, 21, for the first time in an NLL game. Both wear 10 on their backs … Billings and Leblanc, who is from Dundas, Ont., are summer teammates with the Langley Thunder of the Western Lacrosse Association … Rock fans shouldn’t expect a similar result in Rochester. The Knighthawks are 16-1 all-time at home against Toronto. The lone Rock win was the 2003 title game … Toronto’s next home game is Feb. 5 against Philadelphia.