Photo: Greg Mason / NLL
Less than 24 hours after the Ottawa Senators used the home crowd at Canadian Tire Centre to give a big shot to the arm of their playoff chances, the Ottawa Black Bears are looking to follow suit.
With a win on Friday, the Black Bears would set a new franchise record with nine wins, a win they having been chasing for more than a month now, entering the game on a three-game losing skid. They’ve had a bye week to heal their bruises and game plan for the Rock, who enter Friday holding a 10-6 record and a solidified playoff berth.
“I think it’s just, stay the course, we know the group that we’ve got in there,” said Black Bears defender Jake Stevens after Friday morning’s shootaround.
“A lot of faith in the guys, top to bottom, bye week is huge, got two practices in there that were really good, great shootaround this morning. So you know, stay the course, we’ve got great coaches, so trust the plan and just go out and execute.”
The Black Bears lost to the Rock 17-10 in January on the road, a loss which they are eager to avenge. “Yeah, I think in that game, we kind of let them bring it to us in a lot of ways,” said Stevens.
“So I think our plan is, at least on the defensive end, just bring it to them, try to dictate to them, be physical, not let them get to the spots they want, and let Higgy see the shots he wants to see.”
Friday’s game serves as the final regular season home game for the Black Bears, who are coming off their largest attendance of the season, when 5,840 fans packed Canadian Tire Centre on March 28 for a loss to Georgia on Marvel Theme Night.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s always great, you want to be having the crowd behind you,” said Stevens. “When you can hear them after you score, when you make a big play, it’s everything, right? So it was awesome the last time we were here, and hopefully it’s the same tonight, and we can give them a good game.”
Watch: Tonight’s game will appear on TSN 1 and TSN 5 as part of NLL Friday Night on TSN. Tonight’s game will also be available on TSN+ and ESPN+.
The Opponent: The Toronto Rock have two rookies in their top four scorers: C.J. Kirst (33 goals, 33 assists, 66 points), and Owen Hiltz (31 goals, 28 assists, 59 points). Kirst and Hiltz were drafted first and third overall, respectively, in September’s NLL Draft.
The Stat: Former Toronto Rock forward Rob Hellyer has been a boon for the Black Bears’ offence this season. Entering Week 20, Hellyer ranks T-8 in assists (61) and eighth in points (91) in the NLL. With just two regular season games remaining, Hellyer needs only two points to set the second-highest point total of his career.
The Arena: Friday marks Fan Appreciation Night at Canadian Tire Centre, with thousands of dollars worth of prizes up for grabs.
The Black Bears have just two regular season games remaining: Friday vs. Toronto, and April 18 at Halifax.
You can view the team’s entire schedule here, purchase Season Seats here, and Single Game tickets here.
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