Toronto Rock host Halifax Thunderbirds for first game in league finals

It’s been 15 years since they’ve won a National Lacrosse League Championship and Toronto Rock is hoping the curse is broken starting Friday night in Hamilton.

They are hosting the Halifax Thunderbirds in a first of three final series at TD Coliseum.

The team is hungry for a title — back in 2015, they made it to the finals and lost to the Edmonton Rush.

They take on Halifax Friday, who scraped by to make the playoffs, but they have a history of taking titles in 2012, 2013 and in 2014 and this could be the first time they win a title under the Halifax banner.

It’s safe to say there’s a lot on the line.

READ MORE: Toronto Rock and Halifax Thunderbirds meet in all-Canadian NLL final

“It’s going to be an exciting game,” said Jamie Dawick, the owner and general manager of Toronto Rock. “This is two teams that match up pretty well — we’re very familiar with each other.”

When the Halifax franchise was located in Rochester, there was a huge rivalry between the then Rochester Knighthawks and Toronto Rock.

“When this team moved to Halifax we were Eastern Canadian Rivals, because there was no Ottawa team,” said Maki Jenner, the director of communications for the Halifax Thunderbirds. “We were the two closes together on this side of the country.”

When he bought the Toronto Rock back in 2010, Dawick recalls making the finals that year, losing, but winning the title in 2011.

Not winning a title since, he says, puts extra urgency on this current title tilt.

“Yes, it is a three game series, there’s no time to figure it out,” said Dawick. “You have to be ready to go right for the get go.”

WATCH MORE: Toronto Rock host Halifax Thunderbirds in Game 1 of NLL finals

In an interview on CHCH Morning Live Thursday, Toronto Rock captain Challen Rogers said the team is ready.

“We have a really good defense, we like the first transition as well,” said Rogers. “It’s gonna be a great series and it’s an all-Canadian match-up.”

Jenner is the first female colour analyst during a National Lacrosse League Championship broadcast.

She works with the Halifax Thunderbirds and admits beating the Vancouver Warriors to make the final was “extra special,” since Vancouver was number one and the Halifax season was less than stellar.

“They were up against us 7-1, then we scored nine straight goals to win that game in the quarterfinals, which is the biggest comeback in playoff history,” said Jenner.

Each side has had their own challenge to get here.

The game starts at 7:30 p.m. at TD Coliseum, and anyone interested in grabbing tickets for this or future games can head online to the official Toronto Rock website before they sell out.

WATCH MORE: Toronto Rock get ready for NLL playoffs