As Toronto’s favourite team vacates the Air Canada Centre for the 2012/13 NHL lockout, arguably the most dominant team in the Big Smoke gets ready to begin their 15th season in the National Lacrosse League. For many teams losing in the divisional finals would be considered a success, but for the seven Champions Cup winners, nothing short than putting up a banner at the ACC is acceptable.
The road to redemption begins for the Rock on December 1 as camp will open in the beautiful new Toronto Rock Athletic Complex in Oakville, Ontario. The first weekend will be to evaluate conditioning and new talent while preparing for three upcoming exhibition games in December.
The first preseason contest will be on Saturday, December 8 at 7 p.m. verses the NLL championship runners up Edmonton Rush and will be held at the TRAC. The second exhibition game held at the TRAC will be on December 22 as the Philadelphia Wings come to town. Both games are opened to the public as the TRAC is able to hold a capacity crowd of 800 fans.
In between the two games at the TRAC will not only be a time for preparation and fine tuning but also exposure of the game into an old consumer area. The Rock and defending NLL Champions Rochester Knighthawks will travel to Montreal,PQ for an exhibition game at the Bell Centre on Saturday, December 15 at 7:30 p.m.
“The exhibition game in Montreal is big for the league,” (www.torontorock.com) said Rock head coach Troy Cordingley. “However, we can’t lose sight of the fact we’re there at a pivotal time in our season preparation and that game will be deciding jobs.”(www.torontorock.com)
32 players and three goaltenders will hit the floor at the TRAC this Saturday (December 1) to battle it out for their blue and red jersey and a spot on the road to the league best seventh NLL Champions Cup.
The Rock were one of the best offenses last season posting 198 goals for in 2012 and they look to return to the floor with the same core group upfront. Toronto will look to Garrett Billings to pick up where he left off last season. The former Virginia Cavalier had a record breaking season posting an outstanding 114 points to break the franchise record for the Rock and also set a new single season assist record with a remarkable 82 helpers. Alongside Billings will be the usual Rock suspects with the likes of Colin Doyle, Stephan Leblanc and Josh Saunderson. The Rock were without veteran playmaker Blaine Manning for the first time in 10 years in 2012 as he was sidelined with a severe broken collarbone. The Prairie Dog looks to bounce back in 2013 and give the already deadly offense a boost. The Rock will also need secondary scoring help from veterans Kasey Beirnes, Bredon Thenhaus and Dan Carey.
Looking to crack a roster spot on the offensive side of the ball is draft picks Dustin Carvello and Kyle Belton. Caravello was drafted 34th overall by the Rock this past October. has spent his career with Orangeville and is a proven winner. Despite Caravello’s size, he plays much larger than he is and if he has the ball in the right position, nine times out of ten he will put the ball away. Kyle Belton is a fast, hardworking player that impressed the Rock at the NLL combine and helped him boost his draft stock. The fact that the Rock took him 27th overall is proof that they like what they see and could potentially nab a spot on the 2013 roster.
Although when many people hear the name the Toronto Rock, most think of the prolific offense but in reality Toronto’s back end is rock solid. Leading the defense of the Rock is assistant captain Sandy Chapman who lead the team in looseballs(83) and added 11 points, a defensive high for the team. Veterans Phil Sanderson and Cam Woods enter their thirteenth NLL season and will look to add leadership and grit out the backdoor for Toronto. Returning to the Rock back gate is Stephen Hoar, Mike Hobbins, Rob Marshall and Patrick Merrill. Each defender have proven themselves as solid defenders and will play vital roles in the 2013 season for the Rock.
An offseason addition of the Rock is former Buffalo Bandits captain Chris White. White was a fantastic pick up as the Peterborough native will add leadership and experience to the Toronto defensive cast.
Late additions to the 2012 roster that will look to make the full time roster is Damon Edwards and Scott Johnston. Each started the year off in CLAX but found their way onto the floor for the Rock. Each will look to bring youth and athleticism to the floor for the Rock in 2013. Drew Petkoff also played three games last season and will look to battle to appear in more games next season. An interesting player at the 2013 camp will be 25th pick in this years draft Kyle Pereira. The Brampton native is currently enrolled at St.Mary’s University in Nova Scotia and playing on the Huskeys hockey team. If Pereira can commit to lacrosse and either move back to the Toronto area or travel from the east coast, Pereria could become a solid transition player for the Rock.
The Rock went fairly defensive heavy in the draft as they picked up Bradley Kri, Mike Lum-Walker and Robert Koger. Each three have played at high levels in junior and have to skill set, size and toughness to jump to the pro game.
Nick Rose earned the starting role last year and will look to remain as the number one netminder in Toronto this season. Signed onto the practice roster in January, St.Catharines native Zak Boychuk will look to earn his spot as Rose’s second hand man. Rock draftee Tyler Glebe will have a hard time making the jump to the pros as he’s spent his career in Junior B. Although only playing junior b, the London Blue Devil has great potential and with a practice roster spot, Glebe could learn and improve greatly. A practice roster spot in 2013 could help himself find a spot on the floor in the near future.
Here is the roster released for the Toronto Rock’s 2012 training camp:
Forwards (12)
Kyle Belton, Kasey Beirnes, Garrett Billings, Dustin Caravello, Dan Carey, Colin Doyle, Rob Hellyer, Brandon Ivey, Stephan Leblanc, Blaine Manning, Josh Sanderson, Brenden Thenhaus
Defencemen (20)
Kyle Andrews, Sandy Chapman, Damon Edwards, Jesse Gamble, Bill Greer, Mike Hobbins, Stephen Hoar, Nick Inch, Scott Johnston, Robert Koger, Bradley Kri, Mike Lum-Walker, Rob Marshall, Patrick Merrill, Kyle Pereira, Drew Petkoff, Pete Rennie, Phil Sanderson, Chris White, Cam Woods
Goaltenders (3)
Zak Boychuk, Tyler Glebe, Nick Rose
With a healthy offense, a fine tuned defense, solid goaltending and some youth talent sprinkled all over, the Rock look to be a possible front runner to be crowned 2013 NLL Champions.
