Tonight the Toronto Rock host the Calgary Roughnecks at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville, Ontario. The game, which will be broadcast live on NLL.com, will be the team debuts in Toronto for Brock Sorensen, Jeff Gilbert, Mike Burke, Brodie Merrill, Brett Hickey, and several more, while Calgary will see the debuts of Casey Jackson, Ryan McBride, Tyson Roe, Jeff Moleski, and Jordan McBride.
Calgary is without Scott Ranger, who has officially retired from the NLL. Jackson was an undrafted forward out of RIT who ended up being signed by the Riggers. If he makes an impact, he could make the team.
Moleski was one of the top free agent defensemen this season and he signed with Calgary away from Vancouver. He adds depth to the defense, which also brings back Andrew McBride from free agency.
Toronto improved their defense the most this season with the trades for Sorensen and Merrill while they signed Minnesota defenseman Jeff Gilbert. They also signed Mike Burke and Brett Hickey from Edmonton and Vancouver, respectively, who could become contributors to an offense without Colin Doyle and Garrett Billings for at least most of the season.
We should see both Nick Rose and Brandon Miller in net tonight as they battle for the number one goalie position. Mike Poulin and Frankie Scigliano will likely split the duties for the Roughnecks.
As far as we know, Josh Sanderson and Shawn Williams are not active tonight, but will update with information on that once available.
