Brett Hickey was a name not many lacrosse fans knew before 2015. If anything, some fans knew he had been on Vancouver and never panned out.
Now, fans who follow the NLL know exactly who Brett Hickey is and what an impact he has made. Hickey is on the Toronto Rock, who are in first place in the east, and have become a scoring juggernaut. That’s a great story in itself, but consider the fact they are without their captain, traded away last season’s top scorer, and this season’s top scorer was injured!
Insert Brett Hickey.
“When players go down to injuries especially in our group because of the chemistry we have and the players we have I think it rocks the boat a little bit.” Hickey said. “Especially when you lose a guy like Robbie Hellyer, he is a guy that you just can’t replace. But the veteran presence we have on that side of the ball is so great that they are able to adjust and get the best out of the group we have on the floor at that time despite injuries. I knew with Robbie going down that our right side would have to step up to try and fill that void and having Kevin Crowley definitely eases that process. But I think that All three of us on that right side (Kasey Beirnes, Kevin Crowely and myslef) recognized that with Robbie going down for a bit we have to step up our game.”
Toronto traded away Garrett Billings, their leading scorer last season, to New England for Kevin Crowley at this year’s trading deadline due to a contract dispute with Billings. Crowley is now one of the big guns on offense and adds to Hickey’s skills.
“Kevin is a great lacrosse player.” said Hickey. “He fits into the mold of our offense so well because of how unselfish he is. He came in and all hes wanted to do since day one is help our team win. I think that he fits in well because hes such a presence on the floor much like Robbie (though different styles of play) they draw so much attention because of how talented they are that it opens up the floor for other teammates and I think we saw that against Vancouver. He has been a great addition and its a privilege to play with him and we are happy to have him part of our group.”
Hickey was a member of Vancouver last season and was released. Now that he’s one of the leading men on offense for the Rock, he was knew what kind of an opportunity it was to show the Stealth they were wrong.
“You know I was very aware of who we were playing throughout the week and it definitely packs a lot of emotion for me but once the game starts its all about winning. I would have been happy with just a win and the fact that we got one is all that is important.”
In Toronto’s win, a 14-7 victory over Vancouver, Hickey did more than just have a big game; he tied a Toronto record with seven goals in the game, half of their goal total!\
Hickey’s career season has included 68 points in the 16 games he has played. Before this season he had accumulated just 10 points in nine games!
“I think it’s just about being part of a completely unselfish offense.” he said. “We are a six man offense. I think our offense clicks when all six guys are moving and touching the ball and it forces teams to extend and have to guard five players each time our offense is on the floor. Regardless of who is putting up the goal there is probably three or four other little plays that another player or players have done to allow that person to score, so our success is collective in my opinion. As long as we win that is all that matters.
“I think that we can go as far as our team allows it to go. I think that we have the confidence in our group to make a championship push and our guys have battle through tough situations all year and I think it has helped us for the month of May. At the end of the day we our going to meet up with some tough teams but i think that we cant look outside the 24 players and group of coaches in our dressing room. And as long as we believe in each other and stick to our game plan and our systems i think we will see success.”
