April 13, 2002 |
ROCK WIN THIRD TITLE IN FOUR YEARS
Defender Darryl Gibson scored on a breakaway at 11:04 of the fourth quarter and goalie Bob Watson came through with clutch saves down the stretch to give the Toronto Rock their third Champions Cup in four years, 13-12 over the Albany Attack Saturday in front of a season-high crowd of 9,289 at the Pepsi Center.
The Rock fell behind in the second stanza, and stayed one to two goals off the pace into the final period. When Toronto's offense began to click, however, it took only 2:17 to reclaim the lead. Glenn Clark's goal at 1:36 cut Albany's lead to 9-8. Colin Doyle slammed a shot off the post, reclaimed the rebound and tied the score at 3:53, then bulled his way between two defenders to score the go-ahead goal 33 seconds later. Dan Stroup took advantage of an Albany defensive letdown during a line change to boost the advantage to 11-9 at the 5:10 mark.
Game MVP Colin Doyle
Gibson took advantage of another mistimed line change to score the first of his two goals, charging in alone on netminder Rob Blasdell at 6:10.
Mike Regan scored the second of his two fourth-quarter goals at 12:13 to keep Albany alive at 13-11, and Josh Sanderson capitalized on Blaine Manning's turnover to close the gap to 13-12 with 51 seconds left.
Toronto Keeper Bob Watson
The rest of the game belonged to Toronto's Watson, who turned away point-blank shots by Dan Teat and Regan, as well as a behind-the-back attempt by Gary Rosyski, before the buzzer.
Albany also got a sterling performance from netminder Rob Blasdell, whose 42 saves frustrated a speedy Toronto team, who consistently beat Albany's defenders upfield, through much of the game. Josh Sanderson provided the offensive firepower with five goals and as many assists, including a natural hat trick within a 2:44 span of the second quarter.
A Rocking Block Party at the Pepsi Arena
Colin Doyle notched a hat trick for Toronto, and Blaine Manning picked up five points with a goal and four assists.
Teat finished with two goals and three assists for the Attack, while Rosyski scored one goal and dished off for five more.
Action Videos
Toronto's Drew Candy High Bandwidth
Toronto's Kim Squire to Steve Toll High Bandwidth
Toronto's Bob Watson High Bandwidth
Toronto's defense! High Bandwidth Only
Albany's Josh Sanderson High Bandwidth
Toronto's Jim Veltman to Colin Doyle High Bandwidth
Toronto's Bob Watson again! High Bandwidth
Albany's Rob Blasdell High Bandwidth Only
Albany's Josh Sanderson again! High Bandwidth
Albany's Rob Blasdell again! High Bandwidth Only
Albany's Josh Sanderson to Dan Teat High Bandwidth
Toronto's Ken Millin High Bandwidth Only
Toronto's Glenn Clark High Bandwidth
Albany's Gary Rosyski to Dan Teat High Bandwidth
Toronto's Ian Rubel High Bandwidth Only
Albany's Rob Blasdell to Phil Sanderson High Bandwidth Only
Toronto's Blaine Manning to Ian Rubel to Glenn Clark High Bandwidth
Toronto's Blaine Manning to Colin Doyle High Bandwidth
Toronto's Blaine Manning to Colin Doyle again! High Bandwidth
Toronto's Dan Stroup High Bandwidth
Albany's Gary Rosyski to Mike Regan High Bandwidth
Toronto's Darryl Gibson High Bandwidth
Toronto's Glenn Clark to Darryl Gibson High Bandwidth Only
Albany's Josh Sanderson to Mike Regan High Bandwidth
Albany's Dan Teat to Josh Sanderson High Bandwidth Only
Toronto Celebrates! High Bandwidth Only
Toronto Team Picture High Bandwidth Only
Photographs
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League MVP Paul Gait congratulates Championship MVP Colin Doyle
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