2009 Toronto Rock season
# 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.

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

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.

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.

## Regular season

### Conference standings

Reference:

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:

| 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:

### 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 | To Toronto RockSteve Dietrich | To Edmonton Rush Second round pick, 2009 entry draft |
| - | - | - |
| March 7, 2009 | To Toronto Rock Second round pick, 2010 entry draft | To Colorado MammothCurtis Palidwor |
| February 26, 2009 | To Toronto RockCurtis Palidwor | To Colorado Mammoth Second round pick, 2010 entry draft |
| January 14, 2009 | To Toronto RockFirst round pick, 2009 entry draft Second round pick, 2010 entry draft | To Edmonton Rush Ryan Benesch Derek Suddons |
| September 7, 2008 | To Toronto Rock Luke Wiles Stephen Hoar | To Rochester KnighthawksAaron Wilson first round pick, 2009 entry draft (from Toronto) | To San Jose Stealthfirst round pick, 2008 entry draft (from Rochester) |

### Entry draft

The 2008 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 7, 2008. 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 |
