2024 Toronto Rock season
Season of Toronto Rock lacrosse team
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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]
| 2024 Toronto Rock | |
|---|---|
| League | NLL |
| 2024 record | 15-3 |
| Home record | 7-2 |
| Road record | 8-1 |
| Goals for | 218 |
| Goals against | 169 |
| General Manager | Jamie Dawick |
| Coach | Matt Sawyer |
| Captain | Challen Rogers |
| Alternate captains | Rob Hellyer Bill Hostrawser Brad Kri Tom Schreiber |
| Arena | FirstOntario Centre |
| Average attendance | 7,894 |
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]
| P | Team | GP | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | GF | GA | Diff | GF/GP | GA/GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto Rock – xz | 18 | 15 | 3 | .833 | 0.0 | 7–2 | 8–1 | 218 | 169 | +49 | 12.11 | 9.39 |
| 2 | San Diego Seals – x | 18 | 13 | 5 | .722 | 2.0 | 8–1 | 5–4 | 210 | 178 | +32 | 11.67 | 9.89 |
| 3 | Albany FireWolves – x | 18 | 11 | 7 | .611 | 4.0 | 5–4 | 6–3 | 206 | 191 | +15 | 11.44 | 10.61 |
| 4 | Buffalo Bandits – x | 18 | 11 | 7 | .611 | 4.0 | 6–3 | 5–4 | 237 | 212 | +25 | 13.17 | 11.78 |
| 5 | Georgia Swarm – x | 18 | 10 | 8 | .556 | 5.0 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 198 | 197 | +1 | 11.00 | 10.94 |
| 6 | Halifax Thunderbirds – x | 18 | 10 | 8 | .556 | 5.0 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 228 | 200 | +28 | 12.67 | 11.11 |
| 7 | Panther City Lacrosse Club – x | 18 | 9 | 9 | .500 | 6.0 | 5–4 | 4–5 | 205 | 202 | +3 | 11.39 | 11.22 |
| 8 | Rochester Knighthawks – x | 18 | 8 | 10 | .444 | 7.0 | 4–5 | 4–5 | 214 | 226 | −12 | 11.89 | 12.56 |
| 9 | New York Riptide | 18 | 8 | 10 | .444 | 7.0 | 4–5 | 4–5 | 206 | 234 | −28 | 11.44 | 13.00 |
| 10 | Saskatchewan Rush | 18 | 8 | 10 | .444 | 7.0 | 4–5 | 4–5 | 217 | 210 | +7 | 12.06 | 11.67 |
| 11 | Calgary Roughnecks | 18 | 8 | 10 | .444 | 7.0 | 6–3 | 2–7 | 198 | 194 | +4 | 11.00 | 10.78 |
| 12 | Vancouver Warriors | 18 | 8 | 10 | .444 | 7.0 | 5–4 | 3–6 | 202 | 211 | −9 | 11.22 | 11.72 |
| 13 | Philadelphia Wings | 18 | 6 | 12 | .333 | 9.0 | 1–8 | 5–4 | 198 | 233 | −35 | 11.00 | 12.94 |
| 14 | Las Vegas Desert Dogs | 18 | 5 | 13 | .278 | 10.0 | 2–7 | 3–6 | 176 | 223 | −47 | 9.78 | 12.39 |
| 15 | Colorado Mammoth | 18 | 5 | 13 | .278 | 10.0 | 4–5 | 1–8 | 193 | 226 | −33 | 10.72 | 12.56 |
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]
| Active (21-man) roster | Inactive roster | Coaches | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Roster updated 2022-3-1 | ||||||
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 |