Finishing last place in the five team Canadian Lacrosse League with a record of 1-7 changes needed to be made for this roster to improve. The first change for the Turfdogs was made when they hired new head coach Mat Giles, Giles who has coached the Peterborough Lakers Jr. A squad the last 5 years is sure to bring a bit of a culture change to the Turfdogs locker room. Heading into the draft, the Turfdogs pulled off a trade to acquire defensive players Dustin Dunn and Scott Gamble from the Niagara Lock Monsters. Both Dunn and Gamble have a ton of Major Series experience and in Dunn’s case a couple games of NLL experience. Those two additions to their back end will surely help limit the goals against.
The Turfdogs didn’t select until the fifth round of the CLAX draft, but when they did they added to their offense selecting Brandon Armstrong from the Orangeville Northmen Jr. A squad. Armstrong while tallying just 20 points in 20 games, in the playoffs and regular season combined, is an ideal CLAX player, as he is both competent in the offensive and defensive zone. Adding the big body of Kyle Clancy with their 2nd pick of the draft will surely help the Turfdogs left side. Clancy had 45 points in 11 regular season games with the Ennismore James Gang of the OLA Sr. B loop this past summer. Clancy works the pick and role game very well, can be a potent finisher, and has 17 games of NLL experience, where he racked up 38 points. Arguably the most impactful pick for the Turfdogs was when they selected transition player Alex Henderson. Henderson should thrive in the Canadian Lacrosse League, he has a great scoring touch around the net, having played in an offensive role throughout his Junior career, and is equally as competent defensively as he’s been diploid in a defensive/transition role for the past few seasons with the powerhouse Peterborough Lakers(MSL). Clancy, Armstrong and Henderson, should add to the offense and take some pressure off guys like Scott DeFrancesco, Dylan Goddard and Nic Grasby to produce at a potent pace.
Defensively the Turfdogs improved vastly with just the additions of Dunn and Gamble through the trade with Niagara. But they got even better through the draft, adding Eric Shewell of the Peterborough Lakers, Dalton Lundy and Thomas Hoggarth. Alex Henderson who will help the offensive, should also improve the defense as well as his athleticism, speed and anticipation skills will be a great addition to the backend. Shewell is a rough, physical defender, with decent enough hands and good spend. I see him having an impact from day one with the Turfdogs. Lundy and Hoggarth may be in tough to crack the Turfdogs active roster, however both will be solid depth options that the Turfdogs didn’t have last season.
The Turfdogs also addressed their goaltending situation in the draft, although they did wait until the 2nd last round of the draft to select Brett Perras. Perras had attended New England Black Wolves training camp after a successful summer season with Capital Region Axemen. Perras went 10-3 in 13 appearances with the Axemen this past summer, recording a 8.82 goals against average and a .810 save percentage. He also got in on the offensive act with 13 assists. Perras will challenge John Chesebrough and Ryan Masters for starts with the Turfdogs, assuming Kevin Croswell sticks with the Black Wolves.
The Turfdogs improved in some area’s of concern, however there is still room for improvement with this squad. The offense could still use some additions as could the d-core, the Turfdogs are most certainly improved over last season, however so are the teams in front of them, they need to continue to add if they want to crack the playoffs this season.
