IL Indoor

Yeah, you read that right. I typed Rock… and I meant it.

I’m catching waffs of what Mike Kloepfer and his crew have got cookin’ in the kitchen, and I gotta say, it’s smellin’ pretty damn good from here.

I’m lovin’ the three-team-draft-eve-trade the Rock helped cook up, and even though I think it addressed needs for all teams involved (for now and for the future), I think the Rock come out smellin’ a million times better than where they left things comin’ outta last season.

With off-floor locker room dust-ups, late season coach firings, blockbuster trade deadline day trades and what many felt were oddly timed end of year healthy scratches, the Rock, who tripped head first down the staircase into a non-postseason disaster of a season, were smellin’, well, not so fresh at the end of April.

I’ve heard form a lot of Rock fans online and in person since the weekend trade went off, and I gotta say, I don’t get the negativity they’re vibin’ this time around.

The trade, which saw the Rock pickup sniper Luke Wiles from San Jose and tranny D stud Stephen Hoar from Rochester, shores up two areas the team has been slumpin’ in as of late and continues keeping them fairly young, versus the one dimensional, aging team that the franchise was quickly turning into a couple years back.

Offensively, I really like the turnaround the Rock have made during the off-season.

For those that don’t know Wiles, which for some reason seems like a lot of eastern fans, the kids golden. He’s a natural goal scorer but also always lookin’ for the feed, works his ass off for the loose stuff to keep the play alive (especially when it’s all on the line), and for anyone that saw his beyond gutsy performance for St. Catharines in the Minto, you know heart isn’t something you gotta push Luke for. Toronto, you got a gamer that brings another element to your O that hasn’t been there on a consistent level for years. And for those wondering if he’s healthy, Wiles broke his foot last year, not his neck, so yeah, he’ll be 100 coming into camp. No worries there.

And then with Hoar, not only do you get a guy that’s been material for some of the best fan jeering in years, the former Whitby Warriors captain, when “on”, is probably a top ten defender in the bigs. I’ll get nailed for that comment, but I really dig his game, so there!! He’s fast, athletic, smart, can take draws (and will likely be the main draw-man for the Rock in ‘09) and has a mean streak that gives him all the tools to be a slick pure defender in the NLL. Only thing is, he can score the odd goal and setup one or two per game on top of that. I’ll say it again Rock fans, you got one helluva gamer on your hands. Sure a lot of you don’t even remember Hoar played for Team Canada during their upset of the Americans at the ‘06 worlds. Bottom line, the five year NLL vet, who is still in his mid-20’s, is one helluva pickup and makes that saggin’ two-way game a lot more effective.

Add in having Craig Conn fall into your laps in the Sting Dispersal, getting a healthy Chad Thompson back, and then a solid free agent signing in Jason Crosbie, another guy that’ll add another element to your O that just wasn’t there before, and things are lookin’ up heading into the ‘09 season. And sh**, I haven’t even mentioned Lewis Ratcliff yet. Having Ratcliff on board from the start of the year will be super beneficial and hopefully make their offense a lot more cohesive from the first hop in January.

I also like the fact that they were able to get their hands on Mike Fleming in the draft. Whether he’ll be able to find a spot on their O this year will remain to be seen, but finally we’re seeing some good, smart picks comin’ outta the Rock camp that will hopefully pay-off in the future.

No knock on Aaron Wilson or any of the other names that have recently passed through the TO turnstile, but as long as the chemistry is there, the Rock are better today than they’ve been in years.

I’ve been tagged as a Rock lover in my early days of covering the league and then a TO hater due to some of my ‘08 coverage, but rep aside, I like the off-season moves Kloepfer and his boys churned out and think they’ll be smellin’ fresh once the snow starts to fall.

Also, stayed tuned for more post Entry Draft weekend coverage on NLLInsider.com all this week.

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