The Rock on a roll this season
First appearance in Major Series Lacrosse championship series for Oakville begins tonight against the Lakers
It’s been a steady climb up the Major Series Lacrosse ranks for the Oakville Rock.
League observers have felt for several years Oakville was a team on the rise and 2018 has been a breakthrough year.
The Rock posted their best record and finish to date, won their first playoff series and make their first appearance in the final when they face the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers in Game 1 Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the Memorial Centre.
Their six-game win over the Six Nations Chiefs broke a string of four straight years of the Lakers and Chiefs in the final.
“We’re very happy,” said Rock GM Josh Sanderson. “The top four teams are really, really strong. For us to get past Six Nations and to give it a shot against Peterborough to go to the Mann Cup, we’re definitely happy but we know we’ve got our hands full.”
The Rock franchise originated in 2010 as the Ajax-Pickering Rock. They finished last for three consecutive seasons.
In 2013, the team joined forces with ownership of the National Lacrosse League’s Toronto Rock and moved to their practice facility in Oakville.
With Terry Sanderson named general manager those in the MSL expected the organization to improve.
The initial season was another last place finish at 2-17-1 but there were signs of improvement.
The following season they improved to 6-12-0 and climbed out of last place.
Josh Sanderson took over as GM in 2015 following his father Terry’s passing. The upward trend continued with a third-place finish and first playoff appearance with a 7-11-0 slate. They fell to the Lakers 4-1 in semifinals.
Matt Sawyer took over as head coach in
2016 and Oakville posted their first winning season in 2016 at 10-7-1 but again were failed by the Lakers in the semifinals 4-2.
The Rock were learning from those playoff losses.
“We definitely needed to get more defensive depth for one and offensive depth, too,” Sanderson said.
“Six Nations and Peterborough are pretty stacked offensively and defensively and have a good goalie. We needed to get deeper.”
In 2017 their regular season record slipped to 7-10-1 but they took Six Nations to seven games in semifinals.
This year, the Rock broke through finishing in second place at 10-5-1.
They got over the hump in playoffs knocking off Six Nations in six games to reach their first final.
“We feel we’re in a good spot but we have a lot of work to do if we’re going to make that next step,” Sanderson said.
Game 2 is Thursday at 8 p.m. at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville, Game 3 is Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Memorial Centre and Game 4 is Aug. 28 at 8 p.m. at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville.
If necessary, Game 5 in the best-of-seven series would be Aug. 30 at the Memorial Centre at 8 p.m., Game 6 Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. in Oakville and Game 7 would be on Labour Day at 7 p.m. at the Memorial Centre.
The winner of the series will then host the Mann Cup national senior men’s lacrosse championship, which the Lakers won last season against the New Westminster Salmonbellies, against either the Victoria Shamrocks and the Maple Ridge Burrards.
NOTE: Tickets for the championship series went on sale Friday to season ticket holders. All unclaimed season ticket seats and singlegame tickets for the first two home games will go on sale to the general public at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. Ticket prices have increased by $1 per round from regular season prices. They can be purchased in person at the Memorial Centre box office, online at www.memorialcentre.ca or by phone at 705743-3561.