Jr. Rock Win All Three Divisions For Third Time In Tournament History
Oakville, ON – The 10th Jr. NLL Tournament concluded on Sunday with the Jr. Rock winning all three divisions, and in impressive fashion, never dropping a game en route to the titles. The trio of titles marked the third time in tournament history that the Jr. Rock had won each age division having turned the trick in 2016 and 2018.
The three-day annual event is held in Oakville, ON with the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre serving as the main venue for the event, also staging games at the Kinoak Arena, and Glen Abbey Recreation Centre.
The U13 Jr. Rock captured their championship in dramatic fashion, needing overtime to defeat the Jr. Black Bears 5-4. Adam Burchart scored the OT winner to down the Jr. Black Bears who were playing in their first tournament since the NLL franchise relocated to Ottawa for the upcoming season. Jr. Rock goaltender Bentley Cuthbertson was named the U13 Jr. NLL Tournament MVP winning the Tucker Williams Award.
The U15 championship game was another close one. The Jr. Rock needed a late insurance goal from Kyle Peters, his third tally of the game, to lock down a 4-2 win over the Jr. Knighthawks. Jr. Rock Ryder Lacasse was named the U15 Jr. NLL Tournament MVP winning the Tucker Williams Award. After the win, Challen Rogers praised Lacasse for his work ethic all weekend long as being one of the key reasons he was selected to receive the honour.
Keeping with the edge-of-your-seat theme, the U17 Jr. Rock staged a third period comeback, scoring twice in the final ten minutes to erase a two-goal deficit and force overtime. In the extra frame, with the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker, U17 Jr. Rock captain Owen O’Halloran fired an outside shot past Jr. Knighthawks goaltender Logan Pyke for the 7-6 win. It was O’Halloran’s second goal of the game to give the Jr. Rock the clean sweep. O’Halloran was named the U17 Jr. NLL Tournament MVP winning the Tucker Williams Award after leading his squad in scoring during the tournament.
The Jr. Rock teams are made up of players from the Rock Stars Elite Lacrosse Program. The players train year-round at the TRAC and are coached by current and former Toronto Rock legends such as Colin Doyle, Dan Dawson, and Challen Rogers.
Below is a list of this year’s Jr. Rock coaches:
U13: Dan Dawson, Jon Harasym, Bill Greer
U15: Bill Greer, Jordan McKenna, Chris Weier, Challen Rogers
U17: Colin Doyle, Latrell Harris, Tyler Hendrycks
This year’s tournament featured a pair of marquee events in addition to the traditional tournament.
On Friday night, the Jr. NLL Skills competition took place indoors for the first time due to looming weather conditions in the area. The U13 players participate in the Long Shot, U15 players shoot for accuracy, and the U17 players fire up their hardest shots. In each skill, a Jr. NLL player competes alongside an NLL pro player, making for a truly unique experience for the youth lacrosse players.
On Saturday night, it was the first-ever Jr. NLL All-Star Game, with the top players from the American Franchises competing as the “Eagles”, and the stars of the Canadian Franchises playing as the “Beavers” in all three age divisions. Each age division played one twenty-minute period with the score carrying over from period to period to crown one winner at the end of the night. The Beavers put up a combined 14 goals, to the Eagles 9 goals in a tightly contested game.
Below is the list of Jr. NLL Tournament winners, through the years.
U13
2013 – Jr. Mammoth
2014 – Jr. Rock
2015 – Jr. Knighthawks
2016 – Jr. Rock
2017 – Jr. Rock
2018 – Jr. Rock
2019 – Jr. Black Wolves
2022 – Jr. Rock
2023 – Jr. Bandits
2024 – Jr. Rock
U15
2013 – Jr. Rock
2014 – Jr. Knighthawks
2015 – Jr. Knighthawks
2016 – Jr. Rock
2017 – Jr. Rock
2018 – Jr. Rock
2019 – Jr. Mammoth
2022 – Jr. Rock
2023 – Jr. Roughnecks
2024 – Jr. Rock
U17
2014 – Jr. Knighthawks
2015 – Jr. Knighthawks
2016 – Jr. Rock
2017 – Jr. Roughnecks
2018 – Jr. Rock
2019 – Jr. Rock
2022 – Jr. Mammoth
2023 – Jr. Rock
2024 – Jr. Rock
For more information on 2024-25 Toronto Rock tickets, please contact a Toronto Rock account executive by phone at 416-596-3075, by email at tickets@torontorock.com or visit torontorock.com.
