The Oakville Rock have gone through some turnover this year as they have moved from Ajax to Oakville and are looking to turn their franchise around. The Rock have struggled immensely during their ten years in the MSL. The Rock have hired Terry Sanderson as their new General Manager. Sanderson brings with him a winning tradition as he is the general manager of the NLL’s Toronto Rock who have been perennial contenders along with helping build many of the Brampton Excelsiors championship teams.
The Rock finished a dismal 1-13 in 2012 and were dead last in the MSL. The biggest problem for the Rock was that they only had one true offensive weapon in the form of Jesse Guerin. With Guerin though leaving to go play with the Coquitlam Adanacs of the WLA it will leave a massive hole in the Rock’s lineup. Oakville will need to replace the 59 points that Guerin produced last season but the fact the closest offensive player to Guerin was Travis Bland and he was a full 32 points behind Guerin for the team scoring lead. The Rock had a lot of woes at offense last year and they will have even more trouble this year without Guerin.
The Rock’s other big concern is their goaltending. The Rock had three goaltenders play last year with only one notching a win. All three goalies also had a Goal Against Average of over 10.00. The Rock will need their goaltending to step up if they hope to have any success or they will need to develop a new goaltender.
The good news for the Rock is that have a brand new facility in Oakville as the y will be playing in the brand new Toronto Rock Athletic Centre. The other good news is that Oakville has a strong minor lacrosse program that has seen success at the Junior B and Senior B level. Expect the Rock to once again struggle this year but they have a bright future ahead of them. The Rock are on the right track to develop a winning team in Oakville and if they keep on this path they will be competing for the Mann Cup in the future.
