Rock Split Season Opening Games

The Oakville Rock opened the 2023 Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL) season on the weekend dropping a 10-9 decision to Owen Sound on Sunday night but followed that up with an 11-9 win over Brooklin on Monday night at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville.

The Rock currently sit at 1-1-0 and right in the middle of the pack in the OSL standings.  Oakville chose to start their season much later than the bulk of the league’s teams due to several rostered players having NLL commitments that would have prevented them from playing games in early May.

In Sunday’s game, the Rock got up early, but the hometown North Stars fought back, never allowing the visitors to get too much of a gap.  Former Oakville Rock Craig Wende was fantastic between the pipes for the North Stars, while rookie netminder Sam Haines matched him save for save.

With the scored tied 9-9 and the teams playing 4-on-4 late in the third period, the Rock’s Adam Jay took a retaliatory penalty that gave the North Stars a 4-on-3 power play.  Haines made the first couple of saves but with just 13 seconds to play, Jordan Caskenette snuck a shot past the Rock keeper to win the game for Owen Sound.

Forward Ryan Lanchbury led the way offensively for the Rock with 3 goals and 3 assists.  Marley Angus and Brandon Slade both scored twice with singles from Josh Dawick and Jay.

On Monday night, the Rock started very well, scoring the game’s first five goals.  Nick Rose kept the Brooklin side off the scoreboard from the opening faceoff until just over eight minutes into the second period.  The Rock built a 9-2 lead in the second period before the Merchants offence got rolling.

The Merchants scored five straight goals to close the gap to 9-7, however that was as close they could get.  The two teams traded goals the rest of the way, with the Rock holding on for an 11-9 win.

Lanchbury continued to carry the hot stick, scoring another 3 goals on Monday night.  Dawick scored twice while Andrew Kew, Jason Knox, Cam Milligan, Zack Kearney, Luke Robinson, and Slade all chipped in a goal.

The Rock will next be in action on Friday night when they travel to Ennismore to face the James Gang.  The next home game will be Monday night at 8pm at the TRAC against Brooklin.  The game will be broadcast live on YourTV Halton.

The Oakville Rock are proud hosts of the Lacrosse Canada 2023 Presidents Cup, national Sr. B lacrosse championship tournament at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in August.