The Durham TurfDogs made a big move on Tuesday sending Dan Ransom to the Toronto Shooting Stars in exchange for Blake Kenny. Ransom hadn’t seen much turf time as of late and was out of the lineup completely when Durham met the Barrie Blizzard on Sunday. It’s still unclear as to why he wasn’t dressed but his teammates say he was unhappy about sitting out and that could be what led to the trade.
In four games this season Ransom had just 2 goals and 11 assists and is well off his pace of last season’s total of 48 points. Last year he really lit it up in the second half of the season so we’ll have to wait and see if he turns it on again down the stretch. Kenny on the other hand has had a decent rookie season notching 4 goals and 6 assists in his first five CLax games. He should be a great addition to the TurfDogs and will strengthen up their left side.
The trade was a surprise to everyone but nobody was more shocked than the Durham players. “Once I heard about it I got on the phone with (Nic) Grasby and we were both pretty shocked,” said TurfDog’s second leading scorer Shane Scott. Kenny played in Georgetown for the Halton Hills Bulldogs where Scott and Nic Grasby also played their Junior B lacrosse. Although they were never teammates Scott is familiar with Kenny. “I spent a lot of time watching him in Georgetown and we were brought up with the same system so it should be interesting to see how he fits in. He’ll be a huge help on our offense because he can move the ball fairly well and you really have to respect Blake Kenny’s shot” Scott said.
Scott added “our defense has been solid all season but we haven’t been that great on the power play”. Kenny’s strong outside shot could be the missing piece to their power play but we’ll have to wait until Saturday to see if the TurfDogs even use him on the man advantage. Game time Saturday is 2pm from the GM Centre in Oshawa and you can listen to the game live on the Lacrosse Radio Network.
