Toronto Rock Tickets

Toronto Rock
The Toronto Rock is name of a lacrosse team. They play in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. In ten seasons, they have an 11-4 record in playoff games.

The Rock of the late 1990s have been called a dynasty, having won five NLL championships in seven years. From 1999 to 2003, the Rock appeared in an NLL-record five straight championship games.

History
The franchise was originally founded as an NLL expansion team for Hamilton, Ontario to begin play in the 1998 season. They were known as the Ontario Raiders, and played their home games at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton during their first year.

However, at the conclusion of the season they were sold to a group of investors led by Bill Watters, who was then the Assistant GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL, and relocated to Toronto in time for the beginning of the 1999 season. They were subsequently renamed the Toronto Rock.

During their first two seasons in Toronto, they played at Maple Leaf Gardens, the historic former home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, before moving to the Air Canada Centre for the 2001 season, which they currently share with both the Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors of the NBA.

In 2005, the Rock went on to defeat the Arizona Sting with a 19-13 win in front of an NLL record crowd of 19,432, becoming NLL champions for the fifth time in seven years and solidifying their distinction as an NLL dynasty.

In 2006 season, their record balanced out to 8-8 at season's end. They made the playoffs, only to be defeated by the first place Knight Hawks at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester with a score of 16-8.

Head coach and GM, Terry Sanderson was fired after the season, and was replaced by new Director of Lacrosse Operations Mike Kloepfer and new head coach Glenn Clark.

Clark had played eight seasons with the Rock and had just finished an All-Star season as a member of the Philadelphia Wings, but retired from playing to take the head coaching job with his old club.

Less than 18 hours after the Toronto Rock won their 5th NLL Championship, former coach and General Manager Les Bartley died on May 15, 2005 of cancer at the age of 51.

Bartley is remembered as an exceptional coach, having led the Toronto Rock to win the championships in 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

In 2007, a first Rock season was conducted without All-Star forward Colin Doyle, who was traded with Darren Halls to San Jose in the off-season for former first-overall draft pick Ryan Benesch, Kevin Fines, and Chad Thompson. Benesch was named Rookie of the Year.

Laurels for the Team
The Toronto Rock won the Champion's Cup in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2005. The 2002 final was against the Albany Attack, and the 1999, 2000, and 2003 finals were against the Rochester Knight hawks.

In 2001, the Toronto Rock went to the league title game but came up one goal short against the Philadelphia Wings. In 2004, the Rock earned a first round bye after clinching the East Division regular season crown. The Buffalo Bandits came to town and upset the Rock 19-10.

Les Bartley Award
In 2007, the Toronto Rock established an award also called the Les Bartley Award, given to the Rock player that best exemplifies Les' emphasis on the importance of character and commitment to the team. The first winner of this award was team captain Jim Veltman.