Friday, May 9, 2014

Pair of big trades in MSL


Jeremy Noble and his twin brother Jason will be suiting up
with the Oakville Rock this summer. (Photo: Tim Prothero)
A pair of big trades were announced by Major Series Lacrosse today. The Peterborough Lakers acquired goalie Matt Vinc from the Brampton Excelsiors in exchange for transition player Jimmy Purves, lefty forward Pat Saunders, a pair of second-round picks in the 2015 MSL draft and other considerations.
Vinc is the two-time defending NLL goalie of the year and led the Victoria Shamrocks to the WLA championship last year, after which they fell to the Six Nations Chiefs in the Mann Cup finals. Saunders enjoyed a breakout year in the NLL, scoring 25 goals for the Philadelphia Wings. He played only three games with Peterborough last year because of a broken hand.

The other big deal sees Jeremy and Jason Noble, along with defender Bill Hostrawser, go from the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks to the Oakville Rock. In return, the Kodiaks get three players as well as four first-round draft picks over the next three years.

KW receives AJ Masson, who played primarily forward for Oakville last year but is considered by many to be best suited as a transition player. That is the role he played with the Toronto Rock in the pair of games he dressed for this year after signing with the team. Hayden Smith is a defender familiar to Kodiaks GM Steve Dietrich, who is also his GM with the Buffalo Bandits. Smith is known as a tough-nosed stay at home defender. The Kodiaks also get Mike Woods, whose impressive transition play with Oakville last year led to him being drafted by the Rochester Knighthawks. The four first-round picks are one in 2015, two in 2016 and one in 2017.