After the Rock (8-3) defense allowed 4 goals in the first 15 minutes of the game, they then held the expansion Attack (6-5) to 4 goals over the final 45 minutes, outscoring them 14-4 over that time to please the largest regular season crowd ever in Canada of 15,078 fans in Maple Leafs Gardens. The win assured the Rock of a home semifinal game, against an undetermined opponent. The Rock can solidify a regular season title with a win over the Syracuse Smash in Syracuse on Saturday. The Attack will now need a victory over Buffalo to have a shot at competing in the playoffs. The Attack will be without Josh Sanderson for their finale, who left the Toronto game with an injured knee.
In a 60 minute clinic, the Philadelphia Wings (7-4) clinched a playoff berth for the ninth consectutive year in front of 16,187 fans at the First Union Center with a 22-11 thrashing of the Buffalo Bandits (7-4) Saturday night. The Bandits, who had beaten the Wings 16-11 only one week earlier, must now fight for their playoff lives in Albany next weekend. The Wings can clinch a home playoff game with a win next weekend and a Rock win, or with a Bandits loss. The game featured a penalty shot goal by Tom Marechek, awarded after the Bandits took 3 consectutive penalties in a span of 45 seconds.
The Pittsburgh Crossefire (6-6) needed to beat the previously winless Syracuse Smash (1-10) to have any hope of making the playoffs, but failed to do so in front of 2,617 fans at the Onondaga War Memorial, ending the Gait brothers season without playoff participation for the first time since they entered the league. The Smash will finish their season (and likely, their Syracuse careers) with a home game against the Rock, while the Fire now must ponder how a team with the top 2 players in the league will watch the playoffs from home.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette