2024 Toronto Rock season

2024 Toronto Rock
LeagueNLL
DivisionEast
2024 record15-3
Home record7-2
Road record8-1
Goals for218
Goals against169
General ManagerJamie Dawick
CoachMatt Sawyer
CaptainChallen Rogers
Alternate captainsRob Hellyer
Bill Hostrawser
Brad Kri
Tom Schreiber
ArenaFirstOntario Centre
Average attendance7,894
2025 season →

The Toronto Rock are a lacrosse team based in Hamilton, Ontario playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2024 season is the 26th in franchise history, and 25th as the Rock.[1]

Regular season

It was originally announced that beginning in January 2024, the Rock would need to temporarily relocate their home games to the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, as following their home games in December 2023 Hamilton's FirstOntario Centre would close for renovations for approximately two years.[2][3][4] This also forced the Bulldogs and Honey Badgers to temporarily and permanently relocate to Brantford and Brampton, respectively. However, in September 2023 it was announced that the renovations would be delayed and that the Toronto Rock would play the entirety of the 2023/24 season in Hamilton before temporarily relocating to Mississauga for the following season until the renovations are completed.[5][6][7]

Prior to the season the league announced a new alignment of teams, with the Eastern and Western conferences being eliminated in favour of a single unified standings for ranking the teams.[1][8][7]

The Rock made a number of notable acquisitions in the offseason via trades and free agency, including Mark Matthews, Chris Boushy, Dan Lintner, and Justin Martin.[8] Meanwhile, the team lost Jamison Dilks, Zach Manns and Adam Jay. Additionally, Dan Dawson retired.[8][7]

Latrell Harris, the defending National Lacrosse League Defensive Player of the Year Award, injured his ACL in the offseason and will be out for the full season.[8][7]

The team had a strong start to the regular season, winning its first 5 games.[9] The Rock finished 15–3, and clinched first place after defeating the Rochester Knighthawks 13–6 on April 13.[10]

Final standings

Reference:[11]

PTeamGPWLPCTGBHomeRoadGFGADiffGF/GPGA/GP

1Toronto Rock – xz18153.8330.07–28–1218169+4912.119.39
2San Diego Seals – x18135.7222.08–15–4210178+3211.679.89
3Albany FireWolves – x18117.6114.05–46–3206191+1511.4410.61
4Buffalo Bandits – x18117.6114.06–35–4237212+2513.1711.78
5Georgia Swarm – x18108.5565.06–34–5198197+111.0010.94
6Halifax Thunderbirds – x18108.5565.06–34–5228200+2812.6711.11
7Panther City Lacrosse Club – x1899.5006.05–44–5205202+311.3911.22
8Rochester Knighthawks – x18810.4447.04–54–5214226−1211.8912.56
9New York Riptide18810.4447.04–54–5206234−2811.4413.00
10Saskatchewan Rush18810.4447.04–54–5217210+712.0611.67
11Calgary Roughnecks18810.4447.06–32–7198194+411.0010.78
12Vancouver Warriors18810.4447.05–43–6202211−911.2211.72
13Philadelphia Wings18612.3339.01–85–4198233−3511.0012.94
14Las Vegas Desert Dogs18513.27810.02–73–6176223−479.7812.39
15Colorado Mammoth18513.27810.04–51–8193226−3310.7212.56


Game log

Regular season

Game Date Opponent Location Score OT Attendance Record
1 December 9, 2023 Philadelphia Wings FirstOntario Centre W 11–7 7,217 1–0
2 December 22, 2023 @ Panther City Lacrosse Club Dickies Arena W 13–10 2,862 2–0
3 December 30, 2023 New York Riptide FirstOntario Centre W 14–8 9,566 3–0
4 January 12, 2024 @ Halifax Thunderbirds Scotiabank Centre W 11–9 8,921 4–0
5 January 20, 2024 Georgia Swarm FirstOntario Centre W 12–9 7,420 5–0
6 January 27, 2024 Buffalo Bandits FirstOntario Centre L 14–16 8,586 5–1
7 February 3, 2024 @ Calgary Roughnecks Scotiabank Saddledome W 9–7 9,971 6–1
8 February 10, 2024 Calgary Roughnecks FirstOntario Centre L 10–11 7,263 6–2
9 February 16, 2024 @ New York Riptide Place Bell W 16–10 6,437 7–2
10 February 24, 2024 Vancouver Warriors FirstOntario Centre W 9–5 7,611 8–2
11 March 1, 2024 @ Las Vegas Desert Dogs Michelob Ultra Arena W 16–11 6,039 9–2
12 March 2, 2024 @ San Diego Seals Pechanga Arena W 15–13 4,199 10–2
13 March 9, 2024 Colorado Mammoth FirstOntario Centre W 12–7 9,220 11–2
14 March 16, 2024 @ Buffalo Bandits KeyBank Center L 12–14 18,463 11–3
15 March 23, 2024 Halifax Thunderbirds FirstOntario Centre W 9–8 OT 9,588 12–3
16 April 6, 2024 @ Albany FireWolves MVP Arena W 10–7 5,749 13–3
17 April 13, 2024 Rochester Knighthawks FirstOntario Centre W 13–6 11,256 14–3
18 April 20, 2024 @ Saskatchewan Rush SaskTel Centre W 12–11 9,069 15–3

Playoffs

Game Date Opponent Location Score OT Attendance Record
Quarterfinals April 27, 2024 Rochester Knighthawks FirstOntario Centre W 9–6 6,934 1–0
Semifinals (game 1) May 3, 2024 Buffalo Bandits FirstOntario Centre L 4–12 7,130 1–1
Semifinals (game 2) May 5, 2024 @ Buffalo Bandits KeyBank Center L 8–10 16,312 1–2

Roster

Reference:[12]

Toronto Rock roster
Active (21-man) roster Inactive roster Coaches
Goaltenders
Defensemen
  • 71 Canada Sheldon Burns
  • 21 Canada Mitch de Snoo
  • 42 Canada Jamison Dilks
  • 45 Canada Damon Edwards
  • 93 Canada Latrell Harris
  • 91 Canada Billy Hostrawser (A)
  •  3 United States T. D. Ierlan
  • 33 Canada Josh Jubenville
  • 20 Canada Bradley Kri (A)
  • 22 Canada Jason Noble
  • 61 Canada Brandon Slade (D)
Forwards
  • 25 Canada Dan Craig
  •  6 Canada Dan Dawson
  • 10 Canada Rob Hellyer (A)
  •  2 Canada Zach Manns
  • 97 Canada Reid Reinholdt
  • 19 Canada Justin Scott
  • 26 United States Tom Schreiber (A)
Transition
  • 14 Canada Phil Mazzuca
  • 23 Canada Challen Rogers (C)
Practice Squad
  • 17 Canada Aaron Forster (F)
  • 92 Canada Troy Holowchuk (G)
Injured Reserve
  • 47 Canada Adam Jay (D)
  • 55 Canada Chris Weier (D)
Holdout
  • 51 Canada Jordan McKenna (D)
Head Coach
  • Matt Sawyer
Assistant Coaches
Legend
  • * Suspended list
  • (C) Captain
  • (A) Alternate captain

Roster updated 2022-3-1
NLL Transactions

Entry Draft

The 2023 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 11, 2023. The Toronto Rock made the following selections:[13]

Round Overall Player College/Club
3 39 Zack Kearney Umass Amherst- Oakville Rock Sr. B
3 50 Chase Schiavon Orangeville
4 65 John Wheller Whitby Warriors
5 79 Brett Handsor Johns Hopkins- Oakville Rock Sr. B
6 94 Luke Dawick Oakville Buzz Jr. A

References

  1. ^ a b "NLL ADOPTS UNIFIED STANDINGS FORMAT, UPDATED PLAYOFF STRUCTURE". National Lacrosse League. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  2. ^ "Rock Will Relocate Home Games for 2023-24 Season Following HUPEG Announcement". Toronto Rock. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  3. ^ "2023-24 Toronto Rock Season Will Begin In Hamilton Followed By Temporary Relocation To Mississauga". June 2023.
  4. ^ Marshall, Kyle (2023-06-03). "Toronto Rock temporarily relocating to Mississauga as home arena in Hamilton undergoes renovation". The Mississauga News. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  5. ^ "Toronto Rock Will Play Upcoming Season in Hamilton From Start to Finish". 14 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Renovation change allows Toronto Rock to keep playing in Hamilton this upcoming season". CBC News. 2023-09-14. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  7. ^ a b c d Mauntah, Richard (2023-12-07). "Toronto Rock season preview: Going everywhere, except Mississauga". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  8. ^ a b c d Milton, Steve (2023-12-08). "Rock added 'serious firepower' in off-season". The Hamilton Spectator. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  9. ^ Mauntah, Richard (2024-01-20). "Franchise-best start for Toronto Rock after win against Georgia". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  10. ^ Mauntah, Richard (2024-04-13). "Rock's win clinches top spot in NLL standings". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  11. ^ "Standings". National Lacrosse League.
  12. ^ "FINAL ROSTER ANNOUNCED". torontorock.com/. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  13. ^ mhancock (2022-09-10). "Rock Select 8 At NLL Draft". Toronto Rock. Retrieved 2022-10-28.