Stealth Rally Past Rock for NLL Title

The Washington Stealth (14-5) defeated the Toronto Rock (11-8) 15-11 at Comcast Arena Saturday in Everett, Wash. to become the 2010 NLL Champions. The Stealth, who trailed by four goals as late as the 14:47 mark of the third quarter, rallied back to defeat the Eastern Divisional Champions in front of a sellout crowd of 8,609.

Stealth head coach Chris Hall, in his second year with the team, led Washington to the first title in the franchise's history after relocating to Everett in the offseason. Hall, who coached the Calgary Roughnecks to a title in 2004, was all smiles after the victory during the Champion's Cup presentation.

"To win one (title) is awesome. To win two is unbelievable," said Hall.

The Stealth came out of the gate fired up Saturday, with their first shot on the Rock goal coming just 41 seconds into the game. Eighteen seconds later, Reebok Championship Game MVP Lewis Ratcliff beat Rock goaltender Bob Watson to open the scoring for Washington.

"I've been thinking about that for three weeks and it feels really amazing to get [that] out of the way this early, so I'm really happy," said Ratcliff after the first television timeout on the TSN broadcast. The league's leading goal-scorer during the regular season was held without a goal during the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Ratcliff, formerly of the Rock, was part of the trade that brought Colin Doyle back to Toronto during the preseason and sent Ratcliff - along with rookie forward Joel Dalgarno and defenseman Tyler Codron - to the Western Division.

The Stealth went on to score two additional goals to take a 3-0 lead just over six minutes into the first quarter. For anyone who has followed the Rock this season, a slow start came as no surprise as they've often come back from multi-goal deficits.

The Rock turned their offensive game around early on in the first quarter. Forward Kasey Beirnes put Toronto on the board with a goal almost six minutes after the third Stealth goal. The Rock went on to score five more consecutive goals within the first and second quarters, with Beirnes scoring three of the first six goals for the Rock.

Doyle, who made his sixth Championship Game appearance Saturday, commented on the mentality of the team after Beirnes tied the game at three.

"Just to stay the course," said Doyle. "We've been behind for the better part of the year and Tyler [Richards] made some great saves, but when the first one fell we kind of found our stride again."

Watson held the Stealth scoreless for over 20 minutes, but it was a behind-the-back put-back goal from Stealth forward Rhys Duch that ended the scoring drought for Washington. With another goal from Ratcliff, Toronto's lead was cut down to one goal at 6-5.

The Rock led 7-5 at halftime and continued their scoring spree into the third quarter with goals from Beirnes, Doyle and rookie forward Garrett Billings. The Rock took a four goal lead into the final 13 seconds of the third quarter, but the Stealth pulled within two with two quick goals to end the period - highlighted by an empty net goal by defenseman Eric Martin with 0.2 seconds left.

Washington went on to score six consecutive goals in the final quarter of the game to take the lead for the first time since the first quarter and never looked back.

"Their offense started making some incredible plays and we started to unravel and never regained that momentum," said Doyle. "It's a big loss for us but I give a lot of credit to them. Hopefully that's something we can learn from."

Doyle, an Ontario native, returned to the Rock after three seasons with the Stealth franchise. In 1999, he saw his first Championship Game with Toronto and over a decade later, he returned to the franchise and once again visited the title game.

Despite the loss, the Rock captain noted postgame about the roster and how he felt about the entire team.

"I'm proud of what we accomplished," said Doyle. "I was honored to be part of a team like this and to go to war with them every week. I'm proud of where we came from."

Beirnes led the scoring for Toronto with four goals. Forwards Doyle (2g, 2a), Billings (2g, 3a), Blaine Manning (1g, 3a), Stephan Leblanc (1g, 4a) and defenseman Rob Marshall (1g) all contributed to the Rock scoring attack.

Rock head coach Troy Cordingley spoke post-game during a league press conference about the loss and the turning point that caused the Stealth to gain control offensively.

"We were beat by a better team," said Cordingley. "I thought we battled well for three quarters but they just kept coming at us and we couldn't get back."

Ratcliff, who led the Stealth's scoring with five goals and one assist, scored two of the tide-turning fourth quarter goals.

Duch contributed with three goals and an impressive eight assists in the win. Forwards Jeff Zywicki (1g, 2a) and Cam Sedgwick (1g, 2a), defensemen Martin (1g, 1a) and Mike Grimes (1g) and transition players Paul Rabil (2g) and Peter Morgan (1g) all added to the victory.

Hall, who was named co-winner of the Les Bartley Award - presented to the league's Head Coach of the Year - spoke about what his thoughts were of the franchise's relocation.

"We thought if we build a great franchise, they will come and I said to the guys in the dressing room before the game, 'They came and they're going to see a great game.'"