Mark Matthews Will Undergo Season Ending Shoulder Surgery

Rock Forward Will Then Begin Long Road to Recovery

Oakville, ON – Toronto Rock Owner, President, and General Manager Jamie Dawick announced today that star forward Mark Matthews will undergo shoulder surgery and has been moved to the Season Ending Injured Reserve List.

The procedure, scheduled for February 7, can best be explained as a tendon repair.  The surgery involves having part of the rotator cuff repaired in addition to having 7mm of bone shaved off an area of his left shoulder to reattach one of the biceps tendons.

The 35-year-old, three-time NLL champion had been playing through a lot of pain dating back to last season.  A hit in last year’s final regular season game in Saskatchewan was when things took a turn for the worse.  Despite the pain, Matthews continued to play through last season’s playoffs, he then rested and rehabbed his shoulder in the summer and played the first five games of this season.

“It just got to the point where it needed to happen,” said Dawick. “He was playing through lots of discomfort and pain, and giving us everything he could, but it gets to a point where he has to be able to lift his arm to defend and protect himself, and when that became a problem, it really was time to shut him down.”

Matthews had never missed a game in his entire NLL career prior to being moved to the IR heading into the Rock’s January 18^th game vs. Saskatchewan.  The future NLL Hall of Famer had played 192 consecutive regular season games, which was the longest active Iron Man streak in the league.

“I didn’t really think about it.  I knew I had never missed a game in my career, but I didn’t realize how many it was until it ended,” Matthews said of the length of the streak.  “It was a little disappointing, and it would have been nice to go my whole career without missing a game but having my shoulder fixed now maybe adds a couple more years to my career.”

This past weekend with the Rock in Calgary to play the Roughnecks, it was the first time Matthews had ever been away from the team he was a part of and watching the game on TV instead of going to battle with his teammates.

“It was very weird, I was up at my cottage, with my parents on the weekend,” said Matthews.  “I was just doing work around the house, watched the game and then in the group chat texting after the game, and following along with where the guys were going out, I’m never not there, it was weird, but I understand I can’t be there.”

Following the surgery, Matthews will be in a sling for 6-8 weeks before he can start the rehabilitation process.  The full recovery timeline is six months, which would have him ready to participate in training camp next fall should everything remain on schedule.

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