{"id":45696,"date":"2026-05-14T22:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/45696\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T22:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:31:14","slug":"toronto-rock-and-halifax-thunderbirds-meet-in-all-canadian-nll-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/45696\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Rock and Halifax Thunderbirds meet in all-Canadian NLL final"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Halifax Thunderbirds forward Jason Knox reacts during a National Lacrosse League game between the Thunderbirds and Georgia Swarm in this handout photo at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax last Saturday.Trevor MacMillan\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Nick Rose has had 11 years to think about what he would do differently if he ever reached the National Lacrosse League final again.<\/p>\n

Rose will be in between the pipes when his Toronto Rock host the Halifax Thunderbirds on Friday in Game 1 of the best-of-three championship series. It\u2019s the league\u2019s first all-Canadian final since 2015, when the Edmonton (now Saskatchewan) Rush swept Toronto 2-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that year we may be maybe took it for granted that we were going to win after knocking off the top team for three or four years, and this year, we can\u2019t take anything for granted,\u201d said Rose, recalling how the Rock, motivated by the death of general manager Terry Sanderson, eliminated the Rochester Knighthawks before losing to Edmonton. \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to go out \u2014 I know it\u2019s clich\u00e9 \u2014 but it is just another lacrosse game here tomorrow night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to just come to play and put our best effort out there and see where we stand at the end of the night. Hopefully the results follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rose and defenceman Billy Hostrawser are the only players left on the Rock from that 2015 run to the finals.<\/p>\n

Toronto is now led by Mark Matthews \u2014 who was on Edmonton\u2019s championship roster that beat Toronto \u2014 and rookie of the year CJ Kirst. They each had 71 points in the regular season, with Kirst putting away 34 goals and Matthews dishing out 53 assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re fast. We try to execute the plan that the coaches give us,\u201d said Rose. \u201cWe have a really good mix of veteran players like myself, and then we have brought in some really young guys, draft picks, over the last couple years that have really re-energized the core of the Rock, and I think it\u2019s been a great mix for this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Thunderbirds are led by forwards Jason Knox and Clarke Petterson, who have been lethal in the post-season. Knox\u2019s 15 playoff goals are the most in the NLL and Petterson\u2019s 26 assists and 32 points are also at the top of the list.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are taking a lot of shots, but we\u2019re taking good shots and high percentage shots, and we\u2019re working together and working with each other to get those shots,\u201d said Knox. \u201cWe don\u2019t really care who shoots it. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you get a good open shot, take it. Don\u2019t be afraid to shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite their name, the Toronto Rock play at Hamilton\u2019s TD Coliseum. The NHL-sized arena will host Game 1 and, if necessary, Game 3 on May 23. The series shifts to Halifax\u2019s Scotiabank Centre for Game 2 on Sunday.<\/p>\n

When the Albany FireWolves moved to Oshawa, Ont., and the New York Riptide relocated to Ottawa to become the Black Bears for the 2025-26 season, the 14-team NLL officially became half Canadian. As a result, the 11-year break between all-Canadian finals is less likely.<\/p>\n

Knox believes that that national prominence could lead to a popularity boom for lacrosse, which is also returning to the Olympics at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome for Canada to have an all-Canadian final. It\u2019s the national sport for the summer,\u201d said Knox, who is from Huntsville, Ont. \u201cI think if you ask a lot of Canadians, most of them would say it\u2019s hockey, or we only have one, and it\u2019s hockey because it\u2019s so, so big. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think it\u2019s great for the exposure for the game, and getting more people to see what we do and how exciting the game of lacrosse is, is definitely beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rose agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s an exciting time for the country and the sport of lacrosse in this country,\u201d said Rose, who is from Orangeville, Ont. \u201cObviously, we want to put on a show and perform to the best of our abilities, to showcase what the sport is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rock have played in nine NLL finals, winning the championship six times. The Thunderbirds haven\u2019t played for the title since moving from Rochester, N.Y., to Halifax in 2019. The Knighthawks, the team\u2019s former name, appeared in the finals seven times with four victories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Halifax Thunderbirds forward Jason Knox reacts during a National Lacrosse League game between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,48,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-45696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-pei","42":"tag-photos","43":"tag-political-news","44":"tag-political-opinion","45":"tag-politics","46":"tag-politics-news","47":"tag-quebec","48":"tag-sports-news","49":"tag-technology","50":"tag-toronto","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}