Oakville, ON – The Toronto Rock made six selections at the 2013 NLL Draft on Monday night at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville.
The Rock used their first round selection to draft transition player Ethan O’Connor. The 23-year old Milton, ON native had a great Junior lacrosse career winning the Founders Cup Canadian Junior B Championship in 2010 with the Halton Hills Bulldogs and finishing out his Junior eligibility with the Burlington Junior A Chiefs. O’Connor recently finished his collegiate eligibility at Hobart College and spent the summer with Brampton of Ontario’s Major Series Lacrosse (MSL).
“This is a dream come true,” said O’Connor. “I grew up watching the Rock and I couldn’t be happier to be selected by Toronto.”
Toronto’s second pick was transition player Mike Woods (2nd round, 16th overall). He played with the Oakville Rock of the MSL in the summer of 2013. Rock assistant coach Blaine Manning served as an assistant coach with Oakville and had the opportunity to watch him closely. Woods played NCAA Division I lacrosse at the University of Albany at the midfield position.
The Rock used their first of two third round picks to select Keegan Bal (3rd round, 25th overall) who just wrapped up his NCAA lacrosse career at Lake Erie College. He played summer ball for the New Westminster Salmonbellies of British Columbia’s Western Lacrosse Association.
22-year old forward Eric Law was selected with the Rock’s second pick in the third round, 28th overall. Law is a Colorado native and attended Denver University. This past summer, Law played outdoor lacrosse for the Denver Outlaws, enjoying a phenomenal rookie season including a 9-goal game in their MLL semi-final loss.
In the fourth round, 35th overall the Rock selected defender Emerson Clark of the Whitby Jr A Warriors. Clark won the Minto Cup Canadian Junior A Championship in 2011 and 2013 with the Warriors. Clark does also possess an offensive touch but is best known for his toughness.
The Rock selected another steady defender in Alex Lubczuk of the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks of the MSL in the 5th round, 44th overall. Lubczuk played under Rock Head Coach John Lovell with the Kodiaks in the summer.
With one pick left, GM Terry Sanderson traded the Rock’s 6th round pick to Buffalo in exchange for their 6th round pick in the 2014 NLL Draft.
Toronto will open their training camp at the end of November with preseason games slated for the month of December at the TRAC. The complete training camp schedule will be released shortly.
2014 Toronto Rock Season Tickets and the brand new Toronto Rock Season Pass are on sale now. The Toronto Rock Season Pass gets you a seat for all nine regular season home games at Air Canada Centre for just $99.99. For more information, please visit www.torontorock.com or phone 416-596-3075 to speak with a ticket representative get your hands on the BEST ticket in town.
