Timbermen shut out of the PMC
Sullivan back as coach for third season in Arena Lacrosse
They won’t play a game in Peterborough this season but the Arena Lacrosse League’s Peterborough Timbermen will carry on the team name in hopes of one day landing a home in the city.
Joe Sullivan is back for a third season as head coach and general manager for the Timbermen who will play home games at Oshawa’s Children’s Arena this season. The ALL draft and combine is Dec. 1 in Six Nations.
The first two years the Timbermen played most of their games in Oshawa but secured one weekend at the Peterborough Memorial Centre. Sullivan said they couldn’t find an opening at the PMC on a suitable date or at a cost that worked.
“The 600 or so people we got at the four games we played here over the last couple of years was probably 500 more than we saw anywhere else,” Sullivan said.
“It was really encouraging to see the fans come out here and made it much more viable for the players to get personal sponsors to enable them to play. When you take that away it’s going to be much more of a challenge to attract young guys to play because they’re paying $500 to play plus all their gas.”
Sullivan says players such as Cole McWilliams and Dan Michel have indicated they either won’t return or they’re sitting on the fence.
The only good thing about finishing in last place last season, Sullivan said, is they have the first overall pick in the draft. They also acquired the fourth and eighth overall picks in trades last year when they moved Bill O’Brien to St. Catharines and Mike McDonald to Toronto.
“I have to strengthen our team through the draft and, unfortunately, there are just not enough local guys around who are of that calibre,” Sullivan said.
“The league has proven to be a higher calibre than originally thought. It’s very competitive. We’ve had a lot of guys go through the ALL who are now on NLL rosters. That’s a good thing and shows the concept of the league is working. I’m going to draft the best player available to me first overall.”
The uncertainty about the National Lacrosse League season, currently locked in a labour dispute between players and owners, creates some uncertainty regarding the ALL draft, Sullivan said.
Do they draft a player like Kyle Killen who was selected by Colorado Mammoth in the NLL draft hoping that if the NLL doesn’t play he might consider the ALL, Sullivan said.
If the NLL does play it’s likely you lose Killen to Colorado. Those are the types of things he has to weigh. It could be a good thing for ALL but it could also be a gamble.
“There are a lot of things to consider,” he said. “It will really come down to what the NLL does in the next couple of weeks.”
Key returning players this season will include Mark Vradenburg, Fred Hartley, Riley Campbell, Doug Utting and goalie Brett Perras.
The Timbermen will start training camp Dec. 8 from noon to 2 p.m. at the Baltimore Arena. They’ll play in a pre-season showcase in Oshawa on Dec. 15 with games at 2 p.m. versus Oshawa and 4 p.m. against Whitby. They open the regular season at 4 p.m. Dec. 30 against the Six Nations Snipers at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena.