The two-time defending champion Saskatchewan Rush are 0-2 to start the 2017 NLL season after a 13-11 defeat by the Toronto Rock at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night. Down 8-2 at halftime, the Rush turned on the jets in the third quarter and outscored the Rock 6-3, closing the gap to 11-8. Robert Church had a hat-trick of power play goals as the Rush took advantage of a…
The youth movement in Toronto did it again. The Rock built an 8-2 lead over the Saskatchewan Rush by halftime on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre before defeating the defending champs 13-11. The Rock move to 2-0 on the season while the Rush are 0-2. Of the Rock’s 11 different goal scorers, only four have more than two years in the league under their belts. Challen Rogers, Tom…
The Rochester Knighthawks didn’t start the new season the way they wanted to. A 12-5 loss to the Toronto Rock at Blue Cross Arena on Thursday felt like a continuance of 2016, when they missed the playoffs. Based on comments via Twitter and Facebook, fans weren’t happy about the loss. But let’s put those emotions on hold for a second and remember what year it was. 2016 sucked for everyone…
The Toronto Rock made a statement Thursday night at Blue Cross Arena in the opening game of the 2017 NLL season, defeating division rival Rochester Knighthawks 12-5. The Rock were eager to shed any memory of their 2016 season and their strong preseason and first regular season win has done so. Granted, the competition the rest of the way may not be as easy but it’s a good start. With…
The Toronto Rock ended their preseason on a high Saturday night defeating the Buffalo Bandits 15-13 for their third consecutive win. They finished the preseason 3-0 and will now prepare for their season opener in Rochester on December 29. Toronto built a 9-3 lead in the second quarter but their rivals from Buffalo wouldn’t be denied and kept coming. Mark Steenhuis, Ryan Benesch, and Connor Brown each had a…
The Toronto Rock moved to 2-0 in NLL pre-season play with a 15-9 win over the Colorado Mammoth Saturday night at the TRAC in Oakville. Hundreds of fans packed the TRAC for the Rock’s second of three home pre-season games. Last week the Rock defeated the Georgia Swarm 10-8 and next week they will host their division rival Buffalo Bandits. The Rock rolled out to a 5-2 lead after the…
A year after losing the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association’s Baggataway Cup to the McGill Redmen, the Western Mustangs men’s lacrosse team found redemption. Their near perfect 2016 season was capped with an 11-7 win over the Trent Excalibur on November 6 as they claimed their fourth CUFLA championship and first since 2001. Senior Ryan Myles led the Mustangs with five goals and an assist in the championship game, winning…
The Toronto Rock will look a little different in 2017. After a disappointing 2016 season, the team has vowed to get younger and faster, and their first steps toward doing so came at the draft in September on their home turf at the TRAC. Toronto got faster with the addition of Challen Rogers, a 22 year old transition player from Coquitlam. “There were obviously a lot of good players at…
John Grant Jr. wasn’t able to end his Canadian senior lacrosse career the way he wanted to. His Peterborough Lakers fell short of hosting the 2016 Mann Cup after a game seven loss to the Six Nations Chiefs in the MSL final last month. The Chiefs went on to host and win the Mann Cup in five games over the Maple Ridge Burrards. Grant, a native of Peterborough and a…
Josh Currier can finally stop worrying about whether he’ll be drafted to the NLL this year. The 23 year old, who just finished a spectacular sophomore season with the MSL’s Peterborough Lakers, expressed before last Monday’s draft an uncertainty that any team would want him despite mock drafts placing him as high as seventh at one point. It’s not that he didn’t believe in himself. He’s just a truly humble…