The Toronto Rock
are a lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). They play at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The Rock of the late 1990s / early 2000s has been called a dynasty, having won five NLL championships in seven years. From 1999 to 2003, the Rock appeared in an NLL-record five straight championship games. In ten seasons, they have an 11-4 record in playoff games.
The Rock play their home games at the Air Canada Centre, which they currently share with both the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL and the Toronto Raptors of the NBA.
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Ontario Raiders
The franchise was originally founded as an NLL expansion team for
Hamilton, Ontario to begin play in the
1998 season. They were known as the
Ontario Raiders, and played their home games at
Copps Coliseum in Hamilton during their first year. Former
Buffalo Bandits coach
Les Bartley was hired to coach the new team, and he lured former Bandit
Jim Veltman to join him, becoming the Raiders' captain. The Raiders finished a respectable 6-6, barely missing the playoffs.
At the conclusion of the season the team was sold to a group of investors led by Bill Watters, then the Assistant GM of the
Toronto Maple Leafs of the
NHL, and relocated to
Toronto.
[1] They were subsequently renamed the "Toronto Rock", and began play at
Maple Leaf Gardens in the
1999 season.
Championships
thumb
In
1999, their first year in Toronto, the Rock won their first NLL Championship, defeating the Rochester Knighthawks 13-10 in Toronto. The
next year, the Rock became the first team since the 1994-95
Wings to win back-to-back championships, once again defeating the Knighthawks. That game featured
Kaleb Toth's dramatic game-winning goal with a second left on the clock, in the last-ever professional sporting event held at Maple Leaf Gardens.
[2]
2001 saw the Rock follow the Leafs to the
Air Canada Centre, where they advanced to the championship game once again. But the visiting
Philadelphia Wings held the Rock to just eight goals, and won their sixth championship. The
next season, the Rock recovered from the championship game loss by finishing first overall for the fourth straight year. They advanced to the championship game once again, but for the first time as the visiting team. The Rock defeated the
Albany Attack in Albany 13-12. 2002 was also one of the most productive years for the Rock in terms of awards; in addition to winning the
Champion's Cup, three players were honoured by the league.
Blaine Manning was named
Rookie of the Year,
Pat Coyle was named
Defensive Player of the Year, and captain
Jim Veltman was given the
Sportsmanship Award.
In
2003, Toronto advanced to the championship game for the fifth straight year, once again as the visitors. The game was held in Rochester, where Rock had never won a game, but they prevailed in the lowest-scoring championship game in NLL history, winning 8-6.
[3]
Shortly before the
2004 season began, head coach and GM
Les Bartley announced that he was fighting
colon cancer, and was stepping down. Assistant coaches
Ed Comeau and
Derek Keenan were named interim coach and interim GM respectively. After a 2-4 start to the season, Comeau and Keenan were fired, and the Rock hired
Terry Sanderson to try to turn the team around.
[4] The Rock went 8-2 the rest of the season, earning a first round bye after clinching the East Division regular season crown. However, the
Buffalo Bandits came to town and upset the Rock 19-10, sending the Bandits to the first NLL championship game
not
featuring the Rock since 1998. Jim Veltman was again honoured by the league, this time being named league
MVP. This was the first year in the 10 year history of the award that it did not go to
Gary Gait,
Paul Gait, or
John Tavares.
In
2005, the Rock defeated the
Rochester Knighthawks in the East Division Final by a score of 12-10 in front of approximately 17,200 fans at the Air Canada Centre. The Rock went on to defeat the
Arizona Sting with a 19-13 win in front of an NLL record crowd of 19,432, becoming NLL champions for the fifth time in seven years and solidifying their distinction as an NLL dynasty.
[5] Colin Doyle was named league MVP, the second straight year that the award was won by a Rock player.
Despite the championship, the season ended on a sad note for the Rock franchise, as Les Bartley died of cancer at the age of 51 the day after the championship game. Bartley is remembered as an exceptional coach, having led the Toronto Rock to NLL Championships in 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
[6] [7]
In
2004, the NLL Coach of the Year Award was renamed the
Les Bartley Award in honour of Bartley.
In
2007, the Toronto Rock established an award also called the
Les Bartley Award, given to "the Rock player that best exemplifies Les' emphasis on the importance of character and commitment to the team".
[8] The first winner of this award was team captain
Jim Veltman.
The Kloepfer era
From 1999 to 2005, the Rock finished either first overall or first in their division every year, winning five championships. The next few years, however, would bring the franchise back down to Earth. The Rock struggled during the early part of the
2006 season; however, their record balanced out to 8-8 at season's end. They made the playoffs, only to be defeated by the first place Knighthawks at
Blue Cross Arena in Rochester by a score of 16-8. Head coach and GM
Terry Sanderson was fired after the season,
[9] and was replaced by new Director of Lacrosse Operations Mike Kloepfer and new head coach
Glenn Clark.
[10] Clark had played eight seasons with the Rock and had just finished an All-Star season as a member of the
Philadelphia Wings, but retired from playing to take the head coaching job with his old club.
Kloepfer made his mark on the team quickly, trading perennial All-Star, former Rookie of the Year and league MVP
Colin Doyle to the
San Jose Stealth along with Darren Halls and a draft pick for first overall draft pick
Ryan Benesch, Kevin Fines, Chad Thompson and two draft picks.
[11] Benesch had a very good rookie year, scoring 33 goals and winning the
Rookie of the Year award,
[12] but the Rock under rookie coach Clark struggled to a worst-ever 6-10 record, barely making the playoffs. They lost the division semifinal against Rochester, who would go on to win their first championship since 1997.
Toronto's struggles continued in
2008, as the Rock lost their last five games of the season. They finished below .500 for the second straight year, and for the first time since their move to Toronto in 1999, the Rock finished out of the playoffs. Despite the losing season, goaltender
Bob Watson was named
Goaltender of the Year. 2008 also featured the final season of the only captain the Rock franchise had ever had,
Jim Veltman. Veltman retired after fifteen seasons in the NLL, winning seven championships (two with the Bandits and five with the Rock).
Chris Driscoll was named the new Rock captain.
[13]
After starting the
2009 season with a 1-2 record, the Rock relieved Clark and assistant coach Veltman and Terry Bullen of their coaching duties, and hired former Chicago and Colorado coach
Jamie Batley as the new Rock head coach. Clark and Bullen were fired, and Veltman was retained in an advisory position.
[14] The coaching change was not enough to propel the Rock back into the playoffs, however. They finished last in the East and out of the playoffs for the second straight year. Director of Lacrosse Operations Mike Kloepfer resigned shortly after the season ended.
[15]
Rebuilding
On June 10, 2009, the Rock announced that former GM and coach Terry Sanderson had been brought back as the new GM.
[16] Jamie Batley was also told by the Rock that he would not be returning as head coach,
[17]. At the end of the month, the league announced that the Rock had been sold to
Oakville-based businessman James Dawick. Two weeks later, former
Calgary Roughnecks head coach Troy Cordingley was named as the new coach,
[18], giving the Rock an entirely new staff from ownership on down.
Sanderson wasted no time in the rebuilding efforts, trading
Luke Wiles to
Washington and
Bill McGlone to
Philadelphia, and re-acquiring former Rock defender Sandy Chapman from
Rochester.
[19] He then traded team captain
Chris Driscoll to the
Buffalo Bandits for another former Rock defender
Phil Sanderson [20], and acquired
Mike Hominuck from
Edmonton [21] and
Pat McCready from Buffalo,
[22] both for draft picks.
Awards and honours
| Year
| Player
| Award
|
| 1999
| Colin Doyle
| Champion's Cup MVP
|
| 2000
| Dan Stroup
| Champion's Cup MVP
|
| 2001
| Bob Watson
| Goaltender of the Year
|
| 2002
| Blaine Manning
| Rookie of the Year
|
| Pat Coyle
| Defensive Player of the Year
|
| Jim Veltman
| Sportsmanship Award
|
| Colin Doyle
| Champion's Cup MVP
|
| 2003
| Chris Driscoll
| Sportsmanship Award
|
| Bob Watson
| Champion's Cup MVP
|
| 2004
| Jim Veltman
| Most Valuable Player
|
| 2005
| Colin Doyle
| Most Valuable Player
|
| Les Bartley
| Executive of the Year
|
| Colin Doyle
| Champion's Cup MVP
|
| 2007
| Ryan Benesch
| Rookie of the Year [23]
|
| 2008
| Bob Watson
| Goaltender of the Year [24]
|
Roster
All-time record
| Season
| Division
| W
| L
| Finish
| Home
| Road
| GF
| GA
| coach
| Playoffs
|
| 1999
|
| 9
| 3
| 1st
| 6-0
| 3-3
| 157
| 139
| Les Bartley
| Won Championship
|
| 2000
|
| 9
| 3
| 1st
| 5-1
| 4-2
| 162
| 130
| Les Bartley
| Won Championship
|
| 2001
|
| 11
| 3
| 1st
| 6-1
| 5-2
| 168
| 125
| Les Bartley
| Lost Championship
|
| 2002
| Northern
| 11
| 5
| 1st
| 8-0
| 3-5
| 223
| 176
| Les Bartley
| Won Championship
|
| 2003
| Northern
| 11
| 5
| 1st
| 6-2
| 5-3
| 195
| 164
| Les Bartley
| Won Championship
|
| 2004
| Eastern
| 10
| 6
| 1st
| 5-3
| 5-3
| 202
| 176
| Ed Comeau (interim),
Terry Sanderson
| Lost in division finals
|
| 2005
| Eastern
| 12
| 4
| 1st
| 6-2
| 6-2
| 227
| 190
| Terry Sanderson
| Won Championship
|
| 2006
| Eastern
| 8
| 8
| 3rd
| 5-3
| 3-5
| 182
| 179
| Terry Sanderson
| Lost in division semifinals
|
| 2007
| Eastern
| 6
| 10
| 4th
| 3-5
| 3-5
| 187
| 183
| Glenn Clark
| Lost in division semifinals
|
| 2008
| Eastern
| 7
| 9
| 6th
| 4-5
| 3-4
| 172
| 174
| Glenn Clark
| Missed playoffs
|
| 2009
| Eastern
| 6
| 10
| 6th
| 3-5
| 3-5
| 194
| 218
| Glenn Clark
Jamie Batley
| Missed playoffs
|
| Total
| 11 seasons
| 100
| 66
|
| 57-27
| 43-39
| 2,069
| 1,854
|
|
|
| Playoff Totals
|
| 11
| 4
|
| 9-3
| 2-1
| 175
| 161
|
|
|
Playoff results
| Season
| Game
| Visiting
| Home
|
| 1999
| Semifinals
| Philadelphia 2
| Toronto 13
|
| Championship
| Rochester 10
| Toronto 13
|
| 2000
| Semifinals
| Philadelphia 10
| Toronto 14
|
| Championships
| Rochester 13
| Toronto 14
|
| 2001
| Semifinals
| Washington 9
| Toronto 10
|
| Championship
| Philadelphia 9
| Toronto 8
|
| 2002
| Semifinals
| Washington 11
| Toronto 12
|
| Championship
| Toronto 13
| Albany 12
|
| 2003
| Semifinals
| Colorado 11
| Toronto 15
|
| Championship
| Toronto 8
| Rochester 6
|
| 2004
| Division Finals
| Buffalo 19
| Toronto 10
|
| 2005
| Division Finals
| Rochester 10
| Toronto 12
|
| Championship
| Arizona 13
| Toronto 19
|
| 2006
| Division Semifinals
| Toronto 8
| Rochester 16
|
| 2007
| Division Semifinals
| Toronto 6
| Rochester 10
|
Head coaching history
| #
| Name
| Term
| Regular Season
| Playoffs
|
| GC
| W
| L
| W%
| GC
| W
| L
| W%
|
| 1
| Les Bartley
| 1999—2003
| 70
| 51
| 19
| .729
| 10
| 9
| 1
| .900
|
| 2
| Ed Comeau
| 2004
| 6
| 2
| 4
| .333
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
| 3
| Terry Sanderson
| 2004—2006
| 42
| 28
| 14
| .667
| 4
| 2
| 2
| .500
|
| 4
| Glenn Clark
| 2007—2009
| 31
| 12
| 19
| .387
| 1
| 0
| 1
| .000
|
| 5
| Terry Bullen †
| 2008
| 4
| 2
| 2
| .500
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
| 6
| Jamie Batley
| 2009
| 13
| 5
| 8
| .385
| 0
| 0
| 0
| —
|
†
Bullen served as head coach during Clark's suspension.
References
- Watters' group brings lacrosse to the Gardens
- Rock win title on last-second shot by Toth
- Rock wins fourth title in 8-6 defense-athon
- Title Unavailable
- Toronto wins Edge NLL Championship game, 19-13
- Les Bartley, 51, loses battle with cancer
- Remembering Les
- Rock Establish Award in Bartley's Honor
- Rock Search for New Head Coach
- Rock Completes Coaching & Operations Staff
- Colossal Trade as Season Nears
- Benesch Named Rookie of the Year
- Title Unavailable
- Toronto Rock hire new coaching staff
- Breaking News: Toronto Rock Director of Lacrosse Operations Mike Kloepfer resigns
- Sanderson Leaves Roughnecks To Become GM Of Rock
- Batley won't be back with the Rock
- Rock Name Cordingley Head Coach
- Busy Day on Trading Front
- Rock and Bandits Swap Driscoll, Sanderson
- Hominuck Heads to Toronto
- McCready Heading to Rock For Draft Picks
- Benesch Named Rookie of the Year
- Watson Named US Navy Goalie of the Year