2009 Toronto Rock season

The Toronto Rock are a lacrosse team based in Toronto playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2009 season was the 13th in franchise history, and 12th as the Rock.

2009 Toronto Rock
League	NLL
Division	6th East
2009 record	6-10
Home record	3-5
Road record	3-5
Goals for	194
Goals against	218
General Manager	Mike Kloepfer
Coach	Jamie Batley Glenn Clark
Captain	Chris Driscoll
Alternate captains	Blaine Manning Lewis Ratcliff
Arena	Air Canada Centre
Average attendance	13,922
Team leaders
Goals	Lewis Ratcliff (34)
Assists	Blaine Manning (42)
Points	Luke Wiles (69)
Penalties in minutes	Craig Conn (52)
Loose Balls	Rob Marshall (116)
Wins	Bob Watson (6)
Goals against average	Bob Watson (13.16)
← 2008 season 2010 season →

On November 6, 2008, the Rock announced that veteran Chris Driscoll would be the new team captain, replacing the retired Jim Veltman.[1]

Only three games into the season, the Rock fired head coach Glenn Clark and assistant coach Terry Bullen and hired former Chicago Shamrox and Colorado Mammoth coach Jamie Batley as the new head coach. Assistant coach Jim Veltman was relieved of his coaching duties, but remained with the Rock as an advisor.[2]

After winning their first game of the season, the Rock won only once in their next eight games before a three-game winning streak gave fans some hope that the season was not lost. However, three straight losses forced the Rock out of the playoffs for the second straight year. Rock President Brad Watters said that the team "drastically under-delivered", and vowed to make whatever changes were necessary to fix the team.[3]

Regular season

Conference standings

Reference: [4]

East Division

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	New York Titans – xy	16	10	6	.625	0.0	5–3	5–3	190	180	+10	11.88	11.25
2	Buffalo Bandits – x	16	10	6	.625	0.0	5–3	5–3	223	170	+53	13.94	10.62
3	Boston Blazers – x	16	10	6	.625	0.0	4–4	6–2	181	168	+13	11.31	10.50
4	Rochester Knighthawks – x	16	7	9	.438	3.0	6–2	1–7	169	197	-28	10.56	12.31
5	Philadelphia Wings	16	7	9	.438	3.0	4–4	3–5	188	193	-5	11.75	12.06
6	Toronto Rock	16	6	10	.375	4.0	3–5	3–5	194	218	-24	12.12	13.62

West Division

P	Team	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	GF	GA	Diff	GF/GP	GA/GP
1	Calgary Roughnecks – xyz	16	12	4	.750	0.0	5–3	7–1	206	167	+39	12.88	10.44
2	Portland LumberJax – x	16	9	7	.562	3.0	4–4	5–3	181	177	+4	11.31	11.06
3	San Jose Stealth – x	16	7	9	.438	5.0	5–3	2–6	200	185	+15	12.50	11.56
4	Colorado Mammoth – x	16	7	9	.438	5.0	4–4	3–5	172	184	-12	10.75	11.50
5	Minnesota Swarm	16	6	10	.375	6.0	2–6	4–4	174	198	-24	10.88	12.38
6	Edmonton Rush	16	5	11	.312	7.0	4–4	1–7	159	200	-41	9.94	12.50

x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games Played
W: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowed
Differential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game

Game log

Reference:[5]

Game	Date	Opponent	Location	Score	OT	Attendance	Record
1	January 3, 2009	@ New York Titans	BankAtlantic Center	W 15–14		5,733	1–0
2	January 10, 2009	Buffalo Bandits	Air Canada Centre	L 6–8		15,923	1–1
3	January 17, 2009	Calgary Roughnecks	Air Canada Centre	L 9–16		12,865	1–2
4	January 31, 2009	@ Rochester Knighthawks	Blue Cross Arena	L 11–13		7,088	1–3
5	February 7, 2009	Edmonton Rush	Air Canada Centre	W 16–9		13,468	2–3
6	February 14, 2009	@ Buffalo Bandits	HSBC Arena	L 10–25		18,690	2–4
7	February 20, 2009	Buffalo Bandits	Air Canada Centre	L 16–17	OT	12,844	2–5
8	February 27, 2009	Minnesota Swarm	Air Canada Centre	L 10–13		13,324	2–6
9	February 28, 2009	Rochester Knighthawks	Air Canada Centre	L 10–18		6,739	2–7
10	March 14, 2009	@ Boston Blazers	TD Banknorth Garden	W 9–8	OT	6,485	3–7
11	March 21, 2009	Rochester Knighthawks	Air Canada Centre	W 16–10		14,812	4–7
12	March 27, 2009	@ Calgary Roughnecks	Pengrowth Saddledome	W 12–10		10,586	5–7
13	March 28, 2009	@ Edmonton Rush	Rexall Place	L 12–16		7,356	5–8
14	April 3, 2009	Boston Blazers	Air Canada Centre	L 13–14		12,884	5–9
15	April 11, 2009	@ Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014)	Wachovia Center	L 14–16		11,924	5–10
16	April 18, 2009	San Jose Stealth	Air Canada Centre	W 15–11		15,252	6–10

Player stats

Reference:[6]

Runners (Top 10)

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; LB = Loose Balls; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	LB	PIM
Luke Wiles	16	33	36	69	76	8
Lewis Ratcliff	16	34	34	68	68	8
Blaine Manning	16	20	42	62	68	22
Jason Crosbie	15	12	38	50	83	6
Kasey Beirnes	15	23	15	38	86	12
Craig Conn	11	14	18	32	68	52
Rob Marshall	16	8	15	23	116	8
Chris Driscoll	16	7	15	22	104	20
Bill McGlone	11	8	9	17	49	4
Totals		289	483	347	1126	31

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games Played; MIN = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; GA = Goals Against; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average

Player	GP	MIN	W	L	GA	Sv%	GAA
Bob Watson	16	820:46	6	8	180	.745	13.16
Steve Dietrich	4	48:39	0	1	11	.800	13.57
Mike Attwood	8	46:31	0	0	16	.600	20.64
Curtis Palidwor	1	45:26	0	1	10	.615	13.21
Totals			6	10	218	.736	13.63

Transactions

New players

• Craig Conn - acquired in dispersal draft
• Jason Crosbie - signed as free agent
• Stephen Hoar - acquired in trade
• Luke Wiles - acquired in trade

Players not returning

• Mike Poulin - taken in expansion draft
• Jamie Taylor - released
• Matt Taylor - released
• Jim Veltman - retired

Trades

March 17, 2009[7]	To Toronto Rock Steve Dietrich	To Edmonton Rush Second round pick, 2009 entry draft
March 7, 2009[8]	To Toronto Rock Second round pick, 2010 entry draft	To Colorado Mammoth Curtis Palidwor
February 26, 2009[9]	To Toronto Rock Curtis Palidwor	To Colorado Mammoth Second round pick, 2010 entry draft
January 14, 2009[10]	To Toronto Rock First round pick, 2009 entry draft Second round pick, 2010 entry draft	To Edmonton Rush Ryan Benesch Derek Suddons
September 7, 2008[11]	To Toronto Rock Luke Wiles Stephen Hoar	To Rochester Knighthawks Aaron Wilson first round pick, 2009 entry draft (from Toronto)	To San Jose Stealth first round pick, 2008 entry draft (from Rochester)

Entry draft

The 2008 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 7, 2008.[12] The Rock selected the following players:

Round	Overall	Player	College/Club
2	17	Mike Fleming	Robert Morris College
3	28	Nick Rose	Orangeville, ON
5	53	Derrick Gordon	Orillia, ON
6	66	Tommy Hurley	Burlington, ON

Roster

2009 Toronto Rock roster
Active (21-man) roster				Inactive roster		Coaches
Goaltenders  1 Steve Dietrich 29 Bob Watson Defensemen 37 Scott Campbell 23 Matt Carroll 93 Chris Driscoll (C)  4 Jeff Gilbert 44 Stephen Hoar 25 Mike Hobbins 27 Peter Lough 14 Rob Marshall 22 Cam Woods		Forwards 33 Kasey Beirnes 20 Jason Clark  8 Craig Conn 54 Jason Crosbie 81 Michael Fleming 16 Blaine Manning (A) 10 Bill McGlone 42 Lewis Ratcliff (A)  5 Mark Scherman 18 Josh Wasson 15 Luke Wiles Transition 12 Chad Thompson		Practice Squad 43 Mike Attwood  0 Derrick Gordon Injured Reserve 17 Nick Carson		Head Coach Jamie Batley Assistant Coaches Jim Milligan Bob Keast Legend * Suspended list (C) Captain (A) Alternate captain NLL Transactions

See also

• 2009 NLL season

References

1. "Rock Announce Chris Driscoll as New Captain". Toronto Rock web site. November 6, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
2. "Toronto Rock hire new coaching staff". TorontoRock.com. January 20, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-01-23. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
3. Girard, Daniel (April 19, 2009). "Rock boss vows big changes as woeful season finally ends". The Toronto Star. Toronto, Ontario. Archived from the original on 20 April 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
4. "National Lacrosse League - 2009 Regular Season - Standings". NLL.com. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
5. "Toronto Rock - 2009 Regular Season - Game Schedule". NLL.com. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
6. http://pointstreak.com/prostats/teamplayerstats.html?teamid=25959&seasonid=3260
7. "Recap of Trade Deadline Moves". NLL.com. March 17, 2009. Archived from the original on 23 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
8. "Curtis Palidwor Returns to Colorado Mammoth". TorontoRock.com. March 7, 2009. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved March 17, 2009.
9. "Rock Acquire Palidwor from Mammoth". NLL.com. February 26, 2009. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
10. "Rock Trade Benesch & Suddons to Rush". NLL.com. January 14, 2009. Archived from the original on 21 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
11. "Draft Day Blockbuster; Wilson, Wiles traded". NLL.com. September 7, 2008. Archived from the original on 9 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
12. "Daryl Veltman Selected First By Boston". NLL.com. September 7, 2008. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-08.