MAY 28, 2025
By Kyle Turnbaugh
Over the weekend, the DC Breeze (3-3) made the trip up north to Canada to face off against the Toronto Rush (1-4) and the Montreal Royal (2-3). The Breeze got the win on the road in a close matchup against Toronto on Friday, but fatigue seemed to catch up with the Breeze, as they fell to the Royal in Montreal on Saturday.
The Breeze headed into their matchup with Toronto coming off a bye week and thus, were well rested, fairly healthy and ready to compete against a team that they knew would be a tough opponent, after defeating the Rush by only one goal in week two. The Breeze O-line looked much better than they did against Boston with a 95% completion percentage, as the quick passing and fluid movement picked apart a poachy Rush defense.
The first quarter was the Jacques Nissen show, as he threw four assists and caught a goal just in the first period, taking advantage of Toronto's inability to deal with the quick movement and give-and-gos of the DC offense. The first break for the Breeze came off the back of a block by Miles Grovic, who despite having a cast on his arm, put up five blocks in a player-of-the-game performance by the Breeze defender. The second break of the day came from a throwaway from Toronto’s James Lewis, which was eventually converted by Breeze rookie Ben Greenberg, who recorded his first UFA stat by finding Alexandre Fall for the goal. DC only gave up one break in the first quarter, which came off a controversial stall call on Tyler Monroe after he was called short of the endzone. It was a quality period for the Breeze where they put themselves up by a break partway through the frame, but a blade from Toronto's Tom Blasman found James Lewis just before the buzzer to tie the score at 6-6 heading into the second frame.
Good form continued for the Breeze into the second quarter, as the offense survived a first-point scare when a Thomas Edmonds inside flick was swatted down by Toms Abeltins. However, Edmonds immediately got the disc back with a block of his own and then found Rowan McDonnell who finished the point with an easy pass to Andrew Roy for the first goal of the period. McDonnell had a very impressive second quarter, throwing two assists and scoring two goals, one of which was a break that came from another block by Grovic (who else?) Isaac Lee, Kevin Healey, Grovic and Fall also teamed up for a beautiful drive down the field for a break after Healey applied just enough pressure to Ty Barbieri to make him drop a huck. DC hoped to end the half up by three, but Toronto managed to find Barbieri flying through the endzone with a last-chance blade as time expired, winning a second consecutive end-of-quarter situation.
Up two goals going into the second half, DC hoped to cruise to victory in Toronto, but, much like the first matchup of the season, the Rush weren't going down without a fight. They opened the third period exactly how they closed the second, finding the speedy Barbieri deep off a huck from James Lewis. Martin Gallant’s speed began to wear down the DC defense, as Toronto closed in. One of the best plays of the game came when Jeff Wodatch was handblocked, but Monroe laid out to save the possession, and DC went on to score. The Breeze D-line notched a break, as AJ Merriman hit Healey in the endzone to cool off the Rush, but Toronto responded in turn with a break of their own towards the end of the quarter. After an unforced throwaway from Zach Burpee was pounced on by Mike Mackenzie, the Rush worked the disc down the field, and Abeltins found Oscar Stonehouse in the endzone.
The Breeze went into the fourth quarter up by just one goal, and expecting that Toronto was going to do everything in their power to win, the squad knew they had to be locked in to hold their lead. Both teams opened with holds, although the Breeze had to sub on their D-line to stop a Rush break chance with Isaac Lee hitting David Bloodgood for a hold. Things got scary for the Breeze when the Rush tied the game up at 17 with a break off a drop from Monroe. However, DC was able to right the ship with a hold and a subsequent break, as Greenberg assisted Bloodgood to put the Breeze up two goals with 2:46 on the clock.
DC then put together a beautiful hold that chewed over two minutes of clock, leaving the Rush with just 35 seconds left down by two. The game seemed over, but the Rush struck in just 11 seconds to get within one when Arvids Karklins notched his fifth assist of the game to Gallant, who finished with six goals. With the Breeze just needing to hold the disc for 23 seconds in the final point, Nissen was double teamed and forced into a risky pass searching for McDonnell. Toronto legend Mark Lloyd, who had been quiet all game, came up with the the huge layout block to the Rush a chance to tie the game with only 18 seconds remaining. As the clock ticked down, Barbieri took a shot to the endzone intended for Karklins, but the pass caught a gust of wind and sailed just over the 6'4" cutter's head, and the Breeze held on to defeat Toronto again by just one goal.
Coming off a hard-fought win against Toronto, the Breeze had to travel to play the Royal the next day, and the fatigue of competition and travel, as well as the rainy Quebec weather and injuries sustained the night before all added up, as DC struggled to keep up with the Royal. DC was missing Moussa Dia, who went down with an abdomen injury in Toronto; Charlie McCutcheon was held out of the lineup in Montreal after colliding with a Toronto player on Friday night; Healey left in the first quarter after taking an elbow to the mouth from a Royal player and did not return; and Isaac Lee was then forced to play through illness. The Royal, off a two-week break and fully healthy looked much more ready for the game and were simply able to run the Breeze ragged on the way to their second consecutive victory.
The first quarter set the tone for the rest of the game, as the Royal came out red hot and broke three times in a row to begin the game. After going down 3-0, the Breeze O-line finally strung together some catches for a goal, as Monroe found McDonnell for their first score of the night. An ensuing break for the Breeze from Healey made the game more interesting at 3-2, but DC still ended the first frame down two goals after their horribly slow start.
An improved second period for the Breeze led by two assists from Gus Norrbom and a goal and assist from Edmonds gave the Breeze some life. Two breaks from the Breeze, the first off a throw from Norrbom to Monroe and the second from Merriman to Greenberg, leveled the game at seven goals. The Royal immediately responded with a hold and break of their own to restore a two-goal lead at the end of the half. Montreal’s deep shots seemed to always connect with Quentin Bonnaud and Philippe Le Bourdais’s deep cuts tearing apart the Breeze defense.
Although the Breeze were in striking distance down by just two goals to start the second half, the game quickly got out of reach, as Montreal shut down DC, breaking them twice to open the second half. The tired legs of the Breeze were evident, as unforced errors began to pile up and Montreal was brutally efficient in taking advantage of every chance DC handed to them, completing nine of their 11 hucks and 79% of their redzone opportunities. Not only was Montreal effective on their break chances, they held 72% of the time, in comparison to DC’s lackluster 54% hold percentage.
The fourth quarter was one to forget for the Breeze, down three goals to open the frame, and things only got worse from there. DC got broken two more times and with Montreal up by as many as six goals, much of the final quarter of the game felt like a formality, where even when the Breeze were able to score, they couldn't get it in the endzone quickly enough to make a difference.
Although the loss was tough for the Breeze, a rainy game in Montreal the day after a close matchup in Toronto is understandable and not disastrous, given the results around the East with New York falling to Toronto and Philadelphia losing to Carolina, keeping the Breeze in a playoff position. The East is closer than it has ever been, with Boston currently leading the pack but with more away games left than any other team in the division and all three playoff spots seemingly up for grabs. Philadelphia has lost two games in a row, Montreal has won two in a row, New York is struggling, and Toronto just picked up their first win, giving even a 1-4 team a chance to slip into the playoffs. The Breeze still have six more games, including two against New York and two against Boston, so they will need to attack every game with intensity to beat out their divisional opponents and have a chance to head to Championship Weekend for the second consecutive season.
The league's biggest rivalry will be on stage once again this Friday night, as the Breeze host the New York Empire at Carlini Field. First pull goes up at 7:00 PM ET. Tickets are available at thedcbreeze.com.
