2008 Toronto Rock season
# 2008 Toronto Rock season

The Toronto Rock are a lacrosse team based in Toronto playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2008 season was the 12th in franchise history, and 11th as the Rock.

The 2008 season almost never happened. On October 16, 2007 the league released a statement officially cancelling the season, after no agreement could be reached on a new collective bargaining agreement. However, negotiations continued, and on October 25, the league announced that a new CBA has been agreed on, and that the season would proceed. The new revised schedule was released on November 2, 2007, but only included 12 of the expected 14 teams were included. The expansion Boston Blazers and 2007 Western division champion Arizona Sting had decided for "a number of business reasons" to opt out of the 2008 season and return in 2009. Due to the short time frame between the agreement on a new CBA and the start of the season, the New York Titans were unable to secure 8 home dates for the revised schedule, and thus both the Toronto Rock and Buffalo Bandits hosted a Titans home game in their own arena.

The Rock had their second consecutive sub-.500 season, finishing 7–9, and out of the playoffs for the first time since they were the Ontario Raiders in 1998. Despite the losing season, veteran Bob Watson was named NLL Goaltender of the Year.

This was captain Jim Veltman's final season as a player; he retired after 16 seasons and joined the Rock coaching staff in 2009.

## Regular season

### Conference standings

Reference:

East Division :

| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Buffalo Bandits – xyz | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 7–2 | 3–4 | 203 | 174 | +29 | 12.69 | 10.88 |
| 2 | Minnesota Swarm – x | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 6–2 | 4–4 | 199 | 196 | +3 | 12.44 | 12.25 |
| 3 | New York Titans – x | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 5–1 | 5–5 | 197 | 186 | +11 | 12.31 | 11.62 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Wings – x | 16 | 10 | 6 | .625 | 0.0 | 7–1 | 3–5 | 225 | 220 | +5 | 14.06 | 13.75 |
| 5 | Rochester Knighthawks | 16 | 8 | 8 | .500 | 2.0 | 4–4 | 4–4 | 197 | 171 | +26 | 12.31 | 10.69 |
| 6 | Toronto Rock | 16 | 7 | 9 | .438 | 3.0 | 4–5 | 3–4 | 172 | 174 | −2 | 10.75 | 10.88 |
| 7 | Chicago Shamrox | 16 | 6 | 10 | .375 | 4.0 | 3–5 | 3–5 | 176 | 212 | −36 | 11.00 | 13.25 |

West Division :

| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | San Jose Stealth – xy | 16 | 9 | 7 | .562 | 0.0 | 4–4 | 5–3 | 185 | 172 | +13 | 11.56 | 10.75 |
| 2 | Colorado Mammoth – x | 16 | 9 | 7 | .562 | 0.0 | 6–2 | 3–5 | 184 | 167 | +17 | 11.50 | 10.44 |
| 3 | Calgary Roughnecks – x | 16 | 7 | 9 | .438 | 2.0 | 5–3 | 2–6 | 183 | 178 | +5 | 11.44 | 11.12 |
| 4 | Portland LumberJax – x | 16 | 6 | 10 | .375 | 3.0 | 3–5 | 3–5 | 179 | 194 | −15 | 11.19 | 12.12 |
| 5 | Edmonton Rush | 16 | 4 | 12 | .250 | 5.0 | 3–5 | 1–7 | 141 | 197 | −56 | 8.81 | 12.31 |

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:

| Game | Date | Opponent | Location | Score | OT | Attendance | Record |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | January 5, 2008 | @ Chicago Shamrox | Sears Centre | W 11–9 | | 6,116 | 1–0 |
| 2 | January 11, 2008 | Minnesota Swarm | Air Canada Centre | L 16–17 | OT | 13,317 | 1–1 |
| 3 | January 12, 2008 | @ Minnesota Swarm | Xcel Energy Center | L 4–11 | | 10,104 | 1–2 |
| 4 | January 19, 2008 | @ Edmonton Rush | Rexall Place | W 14–9 | | 12,107 | 2–2 |
| 5 | January 26, 2008 | New York Titans | Air Canada Centre | W 14–10 | | 14,142 | 3–2 |
| 6 | February 9, 2008 | @ Rochester Knighthawks | Blue Cross Arena | L 4–11 | | 9,925 | 3–3 |
| 7 | February 15, 2008 | Buffalo Bandits | Air Canada Centre | W 11–8 | | 14,611 | 4–3 |
| 8 | March 1, 2008 | Calgary Roughnecks | Air Canada Centre | W 9–7 | | 14,542 | 5–3 |
| 9 | March 14, 2008 | New York Titans | Air Canada Centre | L 10–14 | | 14,233 | 5–4 |
| 10 | March 21, 2008 | Edmonton Rush | Air Canada Centre | W 14–9 | | 14,312 | 6–4 |
| 11 | March 22, 2008 | @ Buffalo Bandits | HSBC Arena | W 13–9 | | 15,230 | 7–4 |
| 12 | April 5, 2008 | Rochester Knighthawks | Air Canada Centre | L 6–9 | | 15,422 | 7–5 |
| 13 | April 6, 2008 | @ Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | Wachovia Center | L 9–11 | | 10,244 | 7–6 |
| 14 | April 12, 2008 | Chicago Shamrox | Air Canada Centre | L 12–13 | OT | 15,238 | 7–7 |
| 15 | April 19, 2008 | @ Calgary Roughnecks | Pengrowth Saddledome | L 11–12 | OT | 1,808 | 7–8 |
| 16 | April 27, 2008 | Philadelphia Wings (1987–2014) | Air Canada Centre | L 14–15 | | 15,332 | 7–9 |

## Player stats

Reference:

### 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 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Lewis Ratcliff | 17 | 42 | 50 | 92 | 91 | 10 |
| Blaine Manning | 16 | 30 | 44 | 74 | 90 | 4 |
| Aaron Wilson | 16 | 28 | 22 | 50 | 90 | 4 |
| Josh Sanderson | 11 | 23 | 27 | 50 | 61 | 6 |
| Ryan Benesch | 14 | 19 | 31 | 50 | 71 | 38 |
| Kasey Beirnes | 16 | 15 | 14 | 29 | 57 | 8 |
| Rob Marshall | 16 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 109 | 8 |
| Jim Veltman | 14 | 6 | 17 | 23 | 122 | 8 |
| Cam Woods | 14 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 81 | 78 |
| Totals | | 257 | 429 | 349 | 1114 | 36 |

### 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 | 15 | 812:38 | 7 | 6 | 140 | .786 | 10.34 |
| Mike Poulin | 16 | 153:04 | 0 | 3 | 32 | .740 | 12.54 |
| Mike Attwood | 1 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .00 |
| Totals | | | 7 | 9 | 174 | .776 | 10.88 |

## Awards

| Player | Award |
| - | - |
| Bob Watson | NLL Goaltender of the Year |
| Bob Watson | First Team All-Pro |
| Jim Veltman | All-Stars |
| Peter Lough | All-Stars |
| Bob Watson | All-Stars |

## Transactions

### Trades

| March 25, 2008 | To Toronto Rock Lewis Ratcliff conditional first or second round pick, 2009 entry draft | To Calgary Roughnecks Josh Sanderson first round pick, 2008 entry draft |
| - | - | - |
| March 11, 2008 | To Toronto Rock second round pick, 2009 entry draft | To Minnesota Swarm Ian Rubel |

## Roster

Reference:

| No. | Position | Player |
| - | - | - |
| | Goalie | Mike Attwood |
| | ? | Matt Baker |
| 33 | Fwd | Kasey Beirnes |
| 21 | Fwd | Ryan Benesch |
| 37 | Def | Scott Campbell |
| 23 | Def | Matt Carroll |
| 93 | Trans | Chris Driscoll |
| 9 | Fwd | Jon Harasym |
| | ? | James Hinkson |
| 6 | Def | Dan Ladouceur |
| 27 | Def | Peter Lough |
| | Def | Brad MacArthur |
| 17 | Fwd | Mike MacLeod |
| 16 | Fwd | Blaine Manning |
| 14 | Trans | Rob Marshall |
| | Fwd | Tim O'Brien |
| 30 | Goalie | Mike Poulin |
| No. | Position | Player |
| 42 | Fwd | Lewis Ratcliff |
| | Def | Bryan Riddell |
| | Def | Ian Rubel |
| | Fwd | Josh Sanderson |
| | Fwd | Nathan Sanderson |
| 15 | Fwd | Mark Scherman |
| | Fwd | Matt Shearer |
| 13 | Def | Stewart |
| 7 | Def | Derek Suddons |
| 40 | Fwd | Jamie Taylor |
| 94 | Fwd | Matt Taylor |
| | Def | Chad Thompson |
| 32 | Trans | Jim Veltman |
| 29 | Goalie | Bob Watson |
| 10 | Fwd | Aaron Wilson |
| 20 | Def | Jay Winder |
| 22 | Def | Cam Woods |
