These days, everyone in box lacrosse is
looking for the next Tom Schreiber. Could the Oakville Rock have
found him?
Oakville was missing several of its
regular players when they opened the 2017 Major Series Lacrosse
season by facing the Kodiaks in Cobourg on Sunday afternoon. They
wound up flooring an offensive left side of callup Todd Kozak, usual
transition player Brandon Slade and someone named Connor Fields.
If you're just a box lacrosse person,
there's a good chance you don't know Fields. He is an American field
player who has starred with the Albany Great Danes in the NCAA. He
puts up tons of points and has been a finalist for the Tewaaraton
Award, presented to the top player in US college lacrosse.
Fields hasn't played a whole lot of box
lacrosse, although he did lead the Founders Cup Canadian Jr B
championship tournament in scoring last year as a member of the
Seneca War Chiefs, who hail from near his East Amherst, NY hometown.
He made his MSL debut a memorable one,
scoring 2 goals and 3 assists to help Oakville dump the Kodiaks 13-5.
He may not be the next Tom Schreiber—that's a lot of pressure to
put on a young player, given that Schreiber is the reigning Major
League Lacrosse MVP and came one point short of matching Randy
Staats' rookie scoring record in a stunning National Lacrosse League
season—but Fields showed that he's not overwhelmed by stepping up
to the senior level.
Kozak and Joe French each had hat
tricks for the Rock. Oakville also got solid contributions from some
callups from the Jr A St. Catharines Athletics. Latrell Harris is no
regular callup. The Toronto Rock rookie standout was solid for
Oakville playing defence alongside Athletics' teammate Holden
Garlent, who scored his first MSL goal on a lovely transition play.
Cobourg got off to a slow start,
falling behind 4-1 in the first period, but kept battling through the
second period and managed to post an even frame with each team
scoring three times to exit the frame with Oakville up 7-4. The
wheels came off for the home team in the third, though. Oakville ran
roughshod to pile up a 6-1 advantage in the final 20 minutes and win
going away.
John St. John and Logan Holmes each
scored 2 goals to lead Cobourg. Nick Rose got the win in net for
Oakville. Rose was solid for the Rock although he wasn't tested much
as Oakville outshot Cobourg by a wide margin.
Oakville is back in action right away;
the Peterborough Lakers come to the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre for
the Rock's home opener Monday at 8 pm. Cobourg has Monday off then
heads to Six Nations to face the Chiefs in their opener Tuesday at 8
pm.
