The Toronto Rock have made it to the Champions Cup amidst as much roster adversity as any team in the NLL this season. Colin Doyle missed the majority of the year after shoulder surgery. Garrett Billings couldn’t get a contract done and was traded. Breakout star Rob Hellyer was lost to injury.
Veterans and young players alike have kept the team together. Josh Sanderson, wearing the captain’s C, has stepped up all year long as a leader. Brett Hickey has emerged as a possible MVP candidate.
But the Rock have also been “rock” solid between the pipes all season with their tandem of Brandon Miller and Nick Rose. Miller, a veteran of 14 years in the National Lacrosse League, will have the chance to do something he has never done in his career.
Take home a championship.
Miller was traded to Toronto at the trade deadline in 2014, shipped from Philadelphia to the Rock in exchange for forward Kyle Belton. Miller had suffered the Philadelphia playoff drought for so long, losing in single games in the 2012 and 2013 season. Before those games, his last playoff contest was in 2008, also with Philadelphia where they lost.
Before joining the Wings Miller played with the Chicago Shamrox and San Jose Stealth for a period of four years where those teams did not make the playoffs.
When the Rock defeated the Rochester Knighthawks in both the regular and the tiebreaker game this past Saturday, it was the first two playoff wins in Miller’s career. They were important wins, too, propelling the Rock to the Champions Cup.
“He’s a great goaltender,” said Knighthawks forward Stephen Keogh in Lacrosse Magazine. “We were taking some shots from outside and he was getting pieces of them. He frustrated us a little bit but we kept going. It’s a tough feeling right now.”
Miller has a chance to win his first title with the Rock as they face the Edmonton Rush in a three game series. Game one is Saturday night from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
