{"id":104788,"date":"2026-05-18T10:07:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T14:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=104788"},"modified":"2026-05-18T10:07:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T14:07:04","slug":"toronto-rock-win-nll-cup-with-series-clinching-12-7-win-over-halifax-thunderbirds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/toronto-rock-win-nll-cup-with-series-clinching-12-7-win-over-halifax-thunderbirds\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Rock win NLL Cup with series-clinching 12-7 win over Halifax Thunderbirds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Owen Hiltz and Chris Boushy each had three goals and an assist, Mark Matthews had a goal and three assists, and Nick Rose made 34 saves as the Toronto Rock defeated the Halifax Thunderbirds 12-7 to win the National Lacrosse League championship on Sunday at Scotiabank Centre. Toronto, which won Friday&#8217;s opener in the best-of-three series 13-11, claimed its first championship title since 2011 \u2014 when they beat the Washington Stealth 8-7 \u2014 and seventh overall. The Buffalo Bandits, who won the NLL Cup in 2023, 2024 and last year, also have seven championships. Sam English, Hugh Kelleher, Lucas Hugal, C.J. Kirst and Latrell Harris also scored for the Rock, who led 8-6 at halftime and 9-7 entering the final quarter of Sunday&#8217;s game. Clarke Petterson led the Thunderbirds with&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F05%2F18%2Ftoronto-rock-win-nll-cup-with-series-clinching-12-7-win-over-halifax-thunderbirds%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Owen Hiltz and Chris Boushy each had three goals and an assist, Mark Matthews had a goal and three assists, and Nick Rose made 34 saves as the Toronto Rock defeated the Halifax Thunderbirds 12-7 to win the National Lacrosse League championship on Sunday at Scotiabank Centre. Toronto, which won Friday&#8217;s opener in the best-of-three series 13-11, claimed its first championship title since 2011 \u2014 when they beat the Washington Stealth 8-7 \u2014 and seventh overall. The Buffalo Bandits, who won the NLL Cup in 2023, 2024 and last year, also have seven championships. Sam English, Hugh Kelleher, Lucas Hugal, C.J. Kirst and Latrell Harris also scored for the Rock, who led 8-6 at halftime and 9-7 entering the final quarter of Sunday&#8217;s game. Clarke Petterson led the Thunderbirds with... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F05%2F18%2Ftoronto-rock-win-nll-cup-with-series-clinching-12-7-win-over-halifax-thunderbirds%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Toronto Rock win NLL Cup with series-clinching 12-7 win over Halifax Thunderbirds - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/toronto-rock-win-nll-cup-with-series-clinching-12-7-win-over-halifax-thunderbirds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Toronto Rock win NLL Cup with series-clinching 12-7 win over Halifax Thunderbirds - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Owen Hiltz and Chris Boushy each had three goals and an assist, Mark Matthews had a goal and three assists, and Nick Rose made 34 saves as the Toronto Rock defeated the Halifax Thunderbirds 12-7 to win the National Lacrosse League championship on Sunday at Scotiabank Centre. Toronto, which won Friday&#8217;s opener in the best-of-three series 13-11, claimed its first championship title since 2011 \u2014 when they beat the Washington Stealth 8-7 \u2014 and seventh overall. The Buffalo Bandits, who won the NLL Cup in 2023, 2024 and last year, also have seven championships. Sam English, Hugh Kelleher, Lucas Hugal, C.J. Kirst and Latrell Harris also scored for the Rock, who led 8-6 at halftime and 9-7 entering the final quarter of Sunday&#8217;s game. Clarke Petterson led the Thunderbirds with\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/toronto-rock-win-nll-cup-with-series-clinching-12-7-win-over-halifax-thunderbirds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-18T14:07:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/18\\\/toronto-rock-win-nll-cup-with-series-clinching-12-7-win-over-halifax-thunderbirds\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/18\\\/toronto-rock-win-nll-cup-with-series-clinching-12-7-win-over-halifax-thunderbirds\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Toronto Rock win NLL Cup with series-clinching 12-7 win over Halifax Thunderbirds\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T14:07:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/18\\\/toronto-rock-win-nll-cup-with-series-clinching-12-7-win-over-halifax-thunderbirds\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":179,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/18\\\/toronto-rock-win-nll-cup-with-series-clinching-12-7-win-over-halifax-thunderbirds\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/18\\\/toronto-rock-win-nll-cup-with-series-clinching-12-7-win-over-halifax-thunderbirds\\\/\",\"name\":\"Toronto Rock win NLL Cup with series-clinching 12-7 win over Halifax Thunderbirds - 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