Matthew Caruk

NLL Expansion Draft 2021: Predicting the Toronto Rock’s protected list

June 10, 2021

The deadline for National Lacrosse League teams to submit protected rosters is Tuesday, June 15th. There are two different options for how players may be protected: Five offense, five defense, one goalie (or five O, six D) Four offense, seven defense, one goalie (or four O, eight D) The most recent expansion draft was held in 2019 when both the Rochester Knighthawks and New York Riptide selected. This will be…

PLL: Archers rout Atlas 18-6 on opening weekend

June 6, 2021

0 comment

Welcome to the Premier Lacrosse League, Ryan McNamara. The Archers’ second-round pick in the PLL Entry Draft scored a hattrick in his team’s first half, helping lead them to an 18-6 rout over Atlas on Saturday night. Eleven different Archers scored over the course of the triple-header finale, en route to shooting over 62 per cent for the game. Of their 26 shots on net, the first eight counted in…

NLL: Reaction to Rock move swift and varied

May 13, 2021

0 comment

The Toronto Rock revealed one of the worst kept secrets among lacrosse insiders: they will be relocating from Toronto, where they resided for over 20 years, to the city of their birth – Hamilton, Ontario (when they were the Ontario Raiders). The two teams aren’t officially associated (different owners), but it’s largely accepted they share history (more on this below). The announcement was made during a season ticket holders’ town…

OLA: Ontario Lacrosse University a weekend of education and inspiration

March 30, 2021

0 comment

Fun, inclusivity and respect. Those were the repetitive themes over the nearly 40 sessions that made up Ontario Lacrosse University last weekend. Hosted as a series of Zoom calls open for free to OLA members, or to the public for $25, the online conference filled the void of the cancelled OLA meetings and annual LaxCon with a virtual Ted Conference with lacrosse vibes. Speakers represented leaders from many areas of…

PLL: Switch to Peacock may leave Canadian fans missing lacrosse this summer

March 14, 2021

0 comment

When the Premier Lacrosse League opens their 2021 season the weekend of June 4th, fans can find them in a new broadcast home. Earlier this month the PLL announced a new exclusive streaming partnership with Peacock, NBCUniversal’s newest streaming service. This will mark the third season of the partnership between the PLL and NBC. The change is not surprising given NBC announced plans to shut down NBC Sports Network at…

MSL: Ontario senior lacrosse fans facing uncertain times

November 24, 2020

0 comment

Just when you thought the cancellation of an entire summer of Senior, Junior and minor lacrosse and an open-ended, abridged NLL season weren’t enough, 2020 has again come for Major Series Lacrosse. It started on November 11 with the news whatever the 2021 season may look like could be the last one for the Six Nations Chiefs, who cited a lack of fan support and sponsorship in a blog post…

ILWT Feature: Summer vs. winter lacrosse conflict reaching boiling point

November 9, 2020

0 comment

Last week the National Lacrosse League announced a targeted start date for their 35th season for the weekend of April 9-11, 2021. The official announcement comes after Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz suggested during the Entry Draft that it could be “early 2021” and Swarm GM John Arlotta who speculated in a local radio interview that “March is most likely.” Of course, there are still hurdles to clear before the league can…

NLL: Mammoth lead draft with 11 new picks

October 16, 2020

0 comment

If Draft Day is where General Managers earn their pay, Brad Self of the Colorado Mammoth deserves overtime. Over the course of the evening, Self and the Mammoth made a pair of trades and 11 selections, the most of any team. Despite their slew of picks, Colorado sat out the first round after dealing their pick, along with Dan Coates, to Georgia in June for Zed Williams and a pair…

NLL: Rock shore up at faceoff in 2020 draft

September 21, 2020

0 comment

The Toronto Rock entered Thursday night’s draft with the fewest picks of all the teams. Arguably, they had the fewest holes to fill. General Manager Jamie Dawick ended up trading a future pick as the Rock added six young players to their ranks. It was a long wait for the first pick, 30th overall. With it the Rock made a somewhat surprising pick in TD Ierlan from Yale. On the…

NLL: Wild draft night set for Thursday; who goes after Teat?

September 16, 2020

0 comment

In a world and time of unknowns, there are three certainties: death, taxes and that Jeff Teat is about to become a first overall pick. Teat’s Brampton Excelsiors Junior A numbers were not only historic, they were the best since the mid-1970s (eight all time in assists, 14th all time in points). He proved quite quickly he can play with men unanimously winning the Major Series Lacrosse Rookie of the…

1 2 3 … 8