Top defender keeps tradition alive
Dilks’ defensive player of year win team’s fifth in row
School commitments kept Ryan Dilks from attending the National Lacrosse League awards ceremonies this week where he was up for defensive player of the year honours.
“So I sent the next best man, which was my grandfather, Papa (Bert) Dilks,” said the Saskatchewan Rush defender. “I told him I didn’t know if I would win, but he thought it would be pretty cool to accept the award if I did.”
Dilks did win the defensive player of the year award, making it the fifth year in a row a Rush player has won the award (Kyle Rubisch had won it the previous four years).
“It all worked out. (Bert Dilks) gave a nice little speech and it was pretty cool,” said Dilks, who is trying to become a firefighter in Edmonton. “It was pretty special for him and pretty special for me.”
The Rush won three awards Tuesday night. Besides Dilks, who beat out runner-up and teammate Chris Corbeil, Ben McIntosh won the league’s sportsmanship award and Rush president Lee Genier was named the NLL’s executive of the year.
Saskatchewan forward Mark Matthews was third in the MVP balloting, finishing behind winner Dhane Smith of Buffalo. Saskatchewan’s Jeremy Thompson was the runner-up for transition player of the year, and Derek Keenan was third in coach-of-the-year balloting.
Matthews and Dilks both earned spots on the NLL’s all-pro first team, while Thompson and Corbeil made the second team.
Last season, Dilks snagged 77 loose balls and created 51 turnovers though 18 games during the regular season and was a rock during their playoff run.
The 25-year-old credits his added experience for moving into the top echelon of NLL defenders.
“The more experience you have, the more confidence you have,” he said. “And I still feel good athletically and am able to get on people’s hands and cause trouble for an offence.”
Dilks is just one of a plethora of all-star defenders on the two-time defending champion Rush that include Corbeil and Rubisch.
“We have such a talented group,” said Dilks, who played senior B lacrosse with the St. Albert Miners who won the President’s Cup. “I think what makes us so good is that we are such a tight group and our chemistry level is so high with each other.
“Our core defence has been together for a good five years so we don’t need to spend those practices (before the season) figuring each other out. We are coming into the year already knowing each other and knowing the system so we can get right after it.”