The Toronto Rock Lacrosse Club open the 2010 National Lacrosse League season on Saturday, January 9 when they travel to Boston to take on the Blazers at TD Garden.
“The whole team is excited to get going,” said Terry Sanderson, Toronto’s general manager and assistant defensive coach. “We’ve practiced long enough; it’s time to get started.”
The Rock and the Blazers split the 2009 season 1-1, each winning while on the road. Both games were decided by one point as Toronto beat Boston 9-8 on March 14, and the Blazers took the Rock 14-13 on April 3.
Toronto, now under new ownership, management and coaching staff, have added 12 new faces to their 23-man active roster to take on the 2010 NLL season.
“We’ll be going into Boston with a relatively young line-up that has all really impressed the coaching staff,” adds Sanderson.
One of those young new faces will be Toronto’s first-round 2009 entry draft pick, Garrett Billings, who is optimistic about his first professional game under Sanderson and head coach Troy Cordingley.
“Terry and Troy keep preaching to have the right kind of guys, the ones that will hustle and make the right play every time, and aren’t selfish. If you can put a whole team together like that, things will turn out pretty good.”
Toronto will look to Colin Doyle, a newly re-acquired familiar face, to wear the C this season and instill that hustle and leadership Billings speaks of.
“Colin is not a selfish player; he has a team-first kind of attitude and a lot of skill. I grew up watching Doyle and look forward to playing with him.”
In their sophomore year in the League, Boston is led by captain and 2009 NLL MVP Dan Dawson. The 28 year old veteran accumulated 104 points last season.
“Dan is a big, powerful guy,” said Sanderson. “Standing at 6’5″, he is equally as dangerous outside as he is inside. We know he’ll always get his points; we can’t contain him, our defence will just have to limit the damage.”
Saturday’s game will be broadcast live at 7:30 p.m. on TSN2 with Dave Randorf calling the game, Brian Shanahan providing the colour, and host Claude Feig. For more information on TSN2 and a complete list of participating television providers, visit TSN.ca.
Toronto returns home to play their first of eight home games with the Blazers in tow on Friday, January 15. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at the Air Canada Centre. Season, single game and group tickets are available for all eight regular season Toronto Rock home games. To learn more about ticket offers visit www.torontorock.com or call 416-596-3075.
