The New York Saints scared the heck out of the Toronto Rock on Sunday.
With sensational rookie goalie Gee Nash leading the way, New York conceded
only one goal in the entire first half. Even though the Rock eventually
pulled it out on a trick play in overtime, Nash finished the afternoon with
53 saves and a pair of good-looking assists. He also was the runaway
leader on the team in loose ball snags, hauling in 13 grounders. The young
goaltending sensation -- born and raised in the Toronto area -- broke it
down with PLPA correspondent Ben Knight immediately after the game.
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Well, welcome back. You finally got to play in front of the home crowd.
That was one hell of a game today.
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Yeah? Well, it was a pretty good game. I'm sure it was good for the
fans, but unfortunately we couldn't pull it out. I wish we could have, but
it didn't work that way.
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The Rock threw 38 shots at you in the first half and you gave up only
one goal. Where did that come from?
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I give credit to our defence. They were making them shoot from the
outside where I could see them, and doing a good job on the rebounds. I
had good sightlines, and I guess that has a lot to do with it. Some nights
I see the ball better than others. This was one of those.
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When the Saints drafted you, they must have been thinking of turning
this into a fast-break team. I saw your floor-length passes going up
there, but there's maybe not as much speed as you want at the other end.
How's the transition going? Do they want you to be the fast-break goalie
here that you were in Jr. A?
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I think that's what we're trying to get at. We're running at least two
or three guys a line off the bench and up the side, trying to catch their
offensive guys out of position. We're striving towards this, it's just a
question of learning the system. I need to be doing better myself. But
hopefully, yeah, we're going to do it.
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It seemed to me in the first half that you guys scored four really nice
goals, but the Rock was playing a good defensive game, they were
forechecking like crazy, they were getting the shots off. You were just
standing in and shutting them down.
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Sometimes, it just looks like a beach ball when the shots come in.
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At the end there, Toronto scores ten goals. Kim Squire's got a hand in
eight of them, Colin Doyle's in on seven. You guys all played against each
other in junior. Are you surprised at the way you're all taking on the
league here?
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Those are two great players -- especially when you put them together.
They're two guys you definitely have to key on, and I guess we didn't do as
well as we thought. But they're so good, you really can't keep guys like
that off the board.
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So what's the biggest transition for a goaltender coming from Jr. A into
the NLL?
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Probably the quality of the shooters. Also the net's bigger, and the
game is much faster. Pick any one of them; they're all pretty drastic!
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It looked like you twisted your right knee a couple of times tonight.
Is that a new one?
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Yeah, it was my quad. It just kind of tightened up on one of the saves.
But I'll ice it and it will be all right.
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Your team looks like it's taking some big steps forward. Last year, I
thought the Saints were mired in the box game quite a bit -- not a lot of
penetration, not a lot of speed. But you guys played a terrific game tonight.
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I think some of that is bringing in a few more Canadian guys, which we
have done, and having some American guys who are willing to go through the
middle. Obviously, as you saw tonight, they're not afraid to do that. I
think we're evolving -- in a good way.
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