The Toronto Rock is set to try and repeat its regular-season success.
What it doesn’t want is a repeat of how its past four completed seasons ended.
The Rock opens its 27th National Lacrosse League season in Ottawa on Friday with yet another playoff drubbing at the hands of the Buffalo Bandits last May still fresh on the team’s and the fans’ minds.
The 12-4 and 10-8 losses to the now two-time defending NLL champions showed just how much the Rock, who beat the Rochester Knighthawks in the first round after a franchise-best 15-3 regular season, still need to improve to win its first title since 2011.
“The ultimate goal is not to win games, it’s to win championships,” captain Challen Rogers said. “We all took a look in the mirror at the end of last year and found ways that we can be better individually.
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“Collectively, we’ve made some changes in our game play and what we want to attack in games.”
The march to another playoff run will take place in a new setting this season. With FirstOntario Centre undergoing an extensive internal makeover, the Rock will contest home games at Paramount Fine Foods Centre. And while there are fewer seats in the Mississauga venue, chances are the team will feed off a packed arena. The Rock open its nine-game home schedule on Dec. 6 against the Albany FireWolves.
“It’s going to be great when it’s fully packed, which we hope it will be,” Rogers said.
The roster remains mainly intact from last season. Back in goal is Nick Rose, the reigning NLL goaltender of the year who has been a stalwart in the Toronto net since 2012. Troy Holowchuk should also see some spot duty.
The defence and transition is bolstered by the return of Latrell Harris, the NLL’s top defensive player in 2023 who missed all of last season due to injury. Rogers, along with veterans Mitch De Snoo, Brad Kri, and Chris Corbeil, lead the defensive set along with Justin Martin, who had an excellent rookie campaign. New to the team is Elijah Gash, who comes over from the now-defunct Panther City Lacrosse Club.
Also back are Billy Hostrawser, Josh Jubenville, Phil Mazzuca and Chris Weier. T D Ierlan is back as one of the top faceoff men in the sport.
The offensive side is filled with veterans Tom Schreiber, Corey Small, Mark Matthews, Chris Boushy and Dan Craig. Josh Dawick should also see a bigger role.
The Rock added Brian Cameron, who was selected by the team in the 2022 draft.
The biggest challenge on offence may be to consistently get off to better starts in games as many of their wins last year required second-half comebacks.
“We have a good group here and we’ve been together for a while,” head coach Matt Sawyer said. “We’re hoping we’ll take another step this year. We just want to get better week in and week out, and set ourselves up for an opportunity to get over the hump in the playoffs.”
Marley Angus, Tyler Hendricks and Jake Darlison start on the practice roster. Zack Kearney starts on the injured list while rookie Ethan Fisher is on season-ending IR.
The Ottawa Black Bears, the Rock’s first opponent on Friday (7p.m., TSN) formerly operated as the New York Riptide. They are led by Jeff Teat, who led the NLL in goals last year with 58 and was third in points with 131.