Photo: Kevin Sousa/NLL
The Ottawa Black Bears dipped below .500 on the season on Saturday night with a 17-10 loss to the Toronto Rock at TD Coliseum.
For the second game in a row, the Black Bears fell into a large hole early. Ottawa trailed 5-2 at the half and 10-5 at half to the Rock, who entered 3-3 on the season. Both teams were hot on the power play — Toronto finished a perfect 4-for-4 on the man advantage, while Ottawa finished 3-for-4, with all three goals coming in the second quarter.
Two Black Bears potted hat tricks in the loss: Rob Hellyer had three goals and three assists, while Larson Sundown had three goals and an assist, the final goal coming on a signature ‘Sundown Slam’ which brought him to 100 total goals for his career.
Jeff Teat led all Black Bears with seven points in the game. Reilly O’Connor netted a goal and three assists, while Connor Kearnan potted a goal and two assists. On defence, Callum Jones led all players with 10 loose balls.
Travis Longboat made his season debut for the team, after recovering from an injury sustained in the offseason. Longboat added an assist on O’Connor’s goal alongside four loose balls.
This marks the first ever Black Bears loss to the Rock, who they will welcome to Canadian Tire Centre on Apr. 10 for the penultimate game of their season.
This year, the Black Bears will play four Friday home games and five Saturday home games from November to April.
Next up at home is a Saturday meeting with Calgary on Feb. 7 at Canadian Tire Centre.
You can view the team’s entire schedule here, purchase Season Seats here, and Single Game tickets here.
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