The Toronto Rock President, Owner and GM Jamie Dawick has announced the signings of defenceman Patrick Merrill and goaltender Steve Fryer to 1-year agreements, pending league approval. The 36-year old Merrill is a former 1st overall selection by the Toronto Rock in the 2002 NLL Draft. The gritty defender has spent the bulk of his NLL career with the Rock but has also played for the Orlando/New York Titans franchise. After…
Mann Cup Diaries: Day Six
The Trip Today I met a seal, an otter, and a wooly mammoth. Only two of the three were actually alive. Hopefully you guessed correctly which two! We spent the afternoon at Fisherman’s Wharf, which was an amazing place featuring floating businesses and houses, all painted bright colours. We got ice cream from a floating ice cream parlour and watched people feed two harbour seals. One had a bad eye,…
Mann Cup: Both Teams Show Strengths
Deadlocked in virtually every single way with the Peterborough Lakers, the Victoria Shamrocks may be closer to bringing lacrosse’s holy grail back to the west coast since they last did so in 2005. But a cautionary tale for the Shamrocks lies ahead, who led the Six Nations Chiefs 2-1 in the past two Mann Cup’s, only to lose three straight games both years. Just one goal separates the two team’s…
MLL Teams Announce 2015 Protected Rosters
Major League Lacrosse (MLL), the premier professional outdoor lacrosse league, has announced the teams have submitted their 23-Man Protected Roster for 2016. All players left unprotected will be entered in the player pool for the 2016 season. The next critical roster management date is Wednesday, October 7th, 2015 at 5:00PM ET when 10 to 12 Player Expansion Protected Rosters are due. Each of the eight teams will submit their 10 or 12…
Mann Cup Diaries: Day Five
The Trip We’ve settled into our new hotel nicely. Today we visited the Victoria Butterfly Garden and Butchart Gardens. They were both beautiful spots and I wish we’d had more time at them both. I liked the Butterfly Garden more because of the turtles and flamingoes that roamed around. While the Butchart Gardens were gorgeous, they didn’t have the animals to give them that extra something like the Butterfly Garden….
2016 NLL Schedule Released
The National Lacrosse League has announced the 2016 NLL regular season schedule ahead of the league’s 30th anniversary year. The 81-game season consisting of 18 games per team will begin onFriday, Jan. 1 with the Colorado Mammoth hosting the Georgia Swarm while the defending NLL champion Saskatchewan Rush visit the Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday, Jan. 2 to round out Week 1. Four teams play home openers in Week 2 on…
Forward Jakob Doucet Added to Rush
As mentioned in previous articles, the Rush defensive corps was an area that needed to be upgraded in the offseason and that is something that they have done, by adding defenseman Jakob Doucet into the fold. Doucet, played his minor lacrosse in BC with the New Westminster, and was able to help secure the defense. He is gritty and shows true determination in his play and his 74 penalty minutes…
Atlanta Blaze Hire John Tucker As Head Coach and GM
The Atlanta Blaze of Major League Lacrosse (MLL) today announced John Tucker as the team’s first Head Coach and General Manager. John will assume his duties immediately after a very successful stint as the Head Coach of the Boston Cannons. “We are so excited to have John become our first General Manger and Head Coach. We believe John’s extensive Major League Lacrosse coaching experience and successes along with his outstanding…
Holden Cattoni Joins Lakers at Mann Cup
Holden Cattoni, a junior A Lakers standout and recent graduate, was given permission to join the Lakers for the duration of the Mann Cup from Johns Hopkins, his university in the US. Cattoni was supposedly fly out on Friday but has his flight cancelled by weather, so he arrived Sunday instead. He was thrown right into the lineup in game three as the most sensible choice to replace Adam Jones,…
Joel Matthews Back For Second Opportunity With Knighthawks
In recent NLL news, the Rochester Knighthawks have announced that they have re-signed forward Joel Matthews for another year. First signed in 2014 and back again with the white and teal, the St. Catharines, Ontario native looks to add to his fantastic but limited 2015 season in his third season of NLL play and just his second with the Knighthawks. During that 2015 campaign, Matthews had a career high 13…