Oakville Rock acquire Stephan Leblanc from Six Nations Chiefs for two first-round draft picks and Corey Fowler

The Oakville Rock have made their first major statement that they intend to be competitors in Major Series Lacrosse, acquiring talented lefty forward Stephan Leblanc from the Six Nations Chiefs. In return the Chiefs get a pair of first round draft picks and Corey Fowler, who led CLax in scoring in its recently-completed season.

Leblanc had spent the past two seasons with the Chiefs after playing his first two years of major with the Langley Thunder. He scored 20 goals and 34 assists for 54 points in 2011 before having an off year last summer, in which he missed time with an injury and only played 4 regular-season and 9 playoff games.

Oakville GM Terry Sanderson is familiar with Leblanc because the latter has played for the former with the Toronto Rock. “We think we're going in the right direction,” says Sanderson, who has also added Toronto forward Brendan Thenhaus to his MSL team and has Colorado netminder Tye Belanger—who is having a breakout NLL season—between the pipes.

Hasen ends long, illustrious career with Brampton Excelsiors

The Brampton Excelsiors will be searching for new leadership. Their coaching staff of Mike Hasen, Dan Teat and Paddy O'Toole are stepping down. All three have young children and want to spend more time with their families.

 "It's been almost 20 years in that dressing room and unfortunately my family's been put on the back burner for all of it." Hasen said. I've got three kids now and my oldest is a bantam now. I'd like to spend more time with that and just more time with family in general."

 Hasen is a Brampton native and he says that makes the playing and coaching career he has had with the Excelsiors even more special. "Growing up as a kid, that's where I wanted to be and that's what I wanted to do," Hasen said. "Having that chance is great and having the chance to have that success with it is not something you can even dream of. It's very difficult to leave but at the same time it's very rewarding when you look back at it."

 It's not hard to guess where Hasen will be during Excelsiors home games, though. "We'll be there, probably for every single game. Except I'll be able to show up at game time and leave when it's done. My two girls will have that ability to bounce around me and my wife during the games." The Excelsiors are currently conducting a search for their new coaching staff.

Six Nations Chiefs officially announce that Colin Doyle will be returning for 2013

No one is happier about the official announcement that Colin Doyle is returning to the Six Nations Chiefs this summer than Chiefs'Head Coach Rich Kilgour. "I'm absolutely ecstatic that he's back," Kilgour said, noting that he's much happier being on the same team with Doyle rather than opposing him. "

When we played against each other, we weren't the best of friends. But now that he plays for the team that I've coached for the last three years, I have nothing but the utmost respect for the guy. He is a true leader on and off the floor. I'm hoping this year we can get the job done." Last year, the Chiefs got the closest to getting the job done they have in a while, reaching the Major Series Lacrosse finals against the Peterborough Lakers but falling short in the series.

"We've gotten a little step closer every year and last year we made the finals. Hopefully this year we can get back and get a trip out west," Kilgour said. "It's much better trying to win one with Colin than having to fight against him all the time."

Kodiaks fans have a treat in store when defender and second overall draft pick Jason Noble joins the team

If you haven't heard of Jason Noble yet, you will soon. The 21-year-old defender was the second selection in the Major Series Lacrosse draft this year (behind his twin brother Jeremy, the offensive half of the brilliant yin and yang of Noble lacrosse). He won't go much lower than second when the National Lacrosse League gathers this September for its annual entry draft, if at all.

Jason isn't the biggest defender around, but he was voted the best in the Ontario Junior A league last summer. In fact, he's better without a stick than many players are with one. That's not idle speculation or hyperbole, either. Noble lost his stick early in a shift during last summer's OLA semi-finals against Whitby. He was manned up against one of the Warriors stud offensive talents and never let him get so much as a sniff of the net. That's how good his positioning and footwork are. Think Sandy Chapman with the potential to be even better than the Rock star.

First Capital Cup in Kingston will feature a KW Kodiaks home game against the Peterborough Lakers

There'll be something a little different when the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks entertain the Peterborough Lakers in a June 8 Major Series Lacrosse game. Rather than playing the contest in their usual home arena, the Kodiaks will face off with the defending Mann Cup champions in front of thousands of fans in Kingston's K-Rock Centre. That's the plan, anyway, for the First Capital Cup.

The game is the brainchild of Kodiaks' owner Al Orth and his business officer/executive assistant for his job in Queen's University's human resources department, Nicole Fowler. It is being held June 8 to coincide with the Kingston Krossfire minor lacrosse tournament, which is expected to have 40 teams across the minor age groups. The registration fee for the tournament includes tickets to the game, so Orth and Fowler envision an arena full of young players and their parents and coaches watching what should be an exciting early-season game.

Jim Brady and John Fusco will be inducted into the Whitby Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, April 27

MSL Commissioner Jim Brady and former Brooklin Redmen star John Fusco are both being inducted into the Whitby Sports Hall of Fame at the end of the month. Brady and Fusco will be honoured at an induction gala on Saturday, April 27. Details are available on the poster to the right.

Brady is being enshrined as a builder for his many years of coaching and working in administration in the sport of lacrosse in Ontario. He's played a big role in the game's development in his native Whitby, his current St. Catharines home and with Major Series Lacrosse.

Fusco is being recognized for his brilliant playing career. He won two Minto Cups with Whitby and five Mann Cups with the Redmen. According to the Bible of Lacrosse he is the fourth-leading all-time playmaker in OLA Jr A history with 403 assists. Fusco was a top-10 scorer in Major Series eight times and won the Jim Murphy Trophy in 1991 as the league's Most Valuable Player.

MSL announces regular season webcast schedule

Major Series Lacrosse will once again provide free live webcasts of games this season. JVI Video will produce the nine regular season games listed below. Other games may be added to the schedule during the season, but this is the base schedule at this time. There are no Six Nations Chiefs home games scheduled to be webcast because the internet strength at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena is currently not sufficient to enable casting. Arena management is looking at addressing the issue, however, and if it is improved we may add a game or games from the ILA later in the season. Games can be accessed by clicking the Webcast Sports logo in the right column of this page.

2013 MSL regular season webcast schedule

May 23   Brampton at Peterborough  8 pm

June 5     KW at Brooklin  8 pm

June 13   KW at Brampton  8 pm 

June 24   Brooklin at Oakville  8 pm

July 4      Oakville at Peterborough  8 pm

July 9      Six Nations at KW  8 pm

July 17    Six Nations at Brooklin  8 pm

July 22    Brampton at Oakville  8 pm

July 25    Six Nations at Peterborough  8 pm

Western Lacrosse Association announces Mann Cup dates

The Western Lacrosse Association has announced the schedule for the 2013 Mann Cup, which will be hosted by the WLA champion.

The series will open on Friday September 6 and Game 7 will be held Saturday, September 14 if it goes the distance. The full schedule is below.

Game 1  Friday September 6
Game 2  Saturday September 7
Game 3  Monday September 9
Game 4  Tuesday September 10
Game 5  Wednesday September 11 (if necessary)
Game 6  Friday September 13 (if necessary)
Game 7  Saturday September 14 (if necessary)

Lakers re-acquire Alex Henderson from Rock for a 4th round pick in 2015

The Peterborough Lakers have added transition player Alex Henderson, who spent his rookie year with the team in 2009. The 26-year-old lefty spent the following season with Ajax then played with the Kahnawake Mohawks of the Quebec Senior B league. Henderson scored 7 points (2g, 5a) in 11 games with Peterborough then added 6 assists in 8 games for Ajax.

In exchange for Henderson, the Oakville Rock receive a fourth-round selection in the 2015 Major Series Lacrosse draft.

Peterborough Lakers announce players returning for 2013, including Self, Evans and Sorensen brothers

John Grant, Jr. may or may not be playing for Peterborough this summer. Andrew Suitor (hugging Grant) is out
for sure with a knee injury. The Lakers will attempt to defend their 2012 Mann Cup championship

The Peterborough Lakers held a press conference to announce players that will be returning from and joining the 2012 Mann Cup champions Wednesday at the Peterborough Memorial Centre. While much of the core of the team is back, someone who may or may not be available will garner plenty of attention as well. John Grant, Jr. is in the process of obtaining his U.S. Citizenship and is uncertain whether he'll be able to cross the border regularly to play. Head Coach and GM Jamie Batley said, though, that if Grant is able to travel freely he will suit up for a limited number of games, similar to the way he has in the past because of his commitments to Major League Lacrosse and other lacrosse work in the States.

Oakville Rock acquire Thenhaus and a pick for England

Terry Sanderson has completed his first trade as GM of the Oakville Rock, and it’s for someone he acquired in his other GM role with Toronto. Oakville sent Craig England to the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks in exchange for Brenden Thenhaus and a fourth-round pick in the 2014 Major Series Lacrosse draft.

England scored 5 goals and 8 assists in 7 games for the Rock in Ajax last year, his first in the league after graduating from the Orangeville Northmen Jr A program.

Thenhaus, a product of the Oakville Jr B team, has spent six years playing MSL with a pair of two-year stints in KW sandwiching two years with the Six Nations Chiefs. He posted 12 goals and 20 assists in 13 games with the Kodiaks last summer. His best statistical season was 2009 with KW when he put up 25 goals and 27 assists for 52 points in 18 games.

Oakville Rock name Phil Sanderson and Blaine Manning coaches

by Stephen Stamp

Major  Series Lacrosse’s Oakville Rock continue to build a resemblance to the Toronto Rock, out of whose training facility they will be playing their home games when the team begins the 2013 after transferring from Ajax. Terry Sanderson, who is the General Manager of both teams, has told IL Indoor that he has added Phil Sanderson as Oakville’s Head Coach and Blaine Manning as an assistant. Phil Sanderson retired from the Toronto Rock this year and Manning is still a forward with the team, which clinched the National Lacrosse League’s East Division with a win over Rochester yesterday.