10th Annual Jr. NLL Tournament Strongest Yet

It was a clean sweep for the Jr. Toronto Rock this weekend, as they won all three titles up for grabs at the 10th annual Jr. NLL Tournament held at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville, Ontario.

The U13, U15 and U17 Jr. Rock went undefeated at the tournament on their way to the organization’s third title sweep, also having achieved the trifecta in 2016 and 2018.

Teams from 10 NLL markets participated in the prestigious tournament – Buffalo, Calgary, Colorado, Georgia, Halifax, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Rochester, Toronto and Saskatchewan. Each team was coached by either NLL players or staff.

Challen Rogers, who helped coach the U13 and U15 Jr. Rock teams, said he was humbled seeing the success the Jr. Rock had and the excitement on their faces.

“When I was a kid I didn’t have these opportunities,” Rogers said. “To create relationships with these kids and watch them grow up from paperweight to where they are now, it’s a really cool experience. To see where they go and take this sport, it’s endless. It’s amazing to watch them learn and develop and fall in love with this sport.”

“This tournament brings such unique excitement every year and last weekend was no exception,” Terri Giberson stated. “The energy of the players and their families is electric all weekend long proudly representing their beloved NLL teams.”

Giberson, who is Vice President of Business Operations with the Toronto Rock, added her excitement about the All-Star game addition to the two-day event.

“The All-Star game was a huge success this year — very well received. My colleague Mike Hancock had the concept in mind for a couple years now and nailed it! I am really happy we decided to add it to the weekend festivities. The TRAC was packed and everyone seemed very into it.”

The tournament began Friday morning with pool play and featured the annual skills competition to end the day. Each team sends one player to partner with an NLL pro to compete in the longest shot (U13), accuracy (U15) and hardest shot (U17).

Saturday featured more pool play, quarterfinals and then the first-ever Jr. NLL All-Star Game on Saturday night. The All-Star game divided players between Canada (Beavers) and the United States (Eagles).

Each age division played one 20-minute period with the score carrying over from period to period to crown one winner at the end of the night.  The Beavers won 14-9 in a tightly contested game.

The Beavers were coached by sibling duo Tyler and Jordan Hendrycks of Ottawa.

“The game was awesome,” praised Jordan. “They did that whole dynamic with the three different age groups each period and I think that was a phenomenal idea for just the atmosphere and the game itself, it gave it a real fun kind of nuance.”

The brothers said that the kids they coached had a great time.

“We told them to just soak in the experience,” Tyler said. “You don’t get to have a lot of all-star games in these cool events. It was really, just have fun with it and enjoy the game. For us, it felt the same, we just enjoyed the moment as well. It was a good fun atmosphere on our bench.”

“The kids were having fun, we were having fun,” Jordan agreed. “It was a really great time; we had kids eating Welch’s fruit snacks on the bench, having a good time, not being too stressed.”

It was the first chance Jordan had to coach with his younger brother, though they grew up playing in the same Ottawa lacrosse organizations. Tyler made his NLL debut for the Toronto Rock last season, while Jordan plays in the Arena Lacrosse League for the Peterborough Timbermen where he hopes to get noticed by an NLL team.

Either way, he’ll keep doing what he can to help promote and grow the sport in the 613.

“I want to be a part of bringing Ottawa to the next level and making sure kids can play all year round,” he explained. “The kids in Toronto have that ability. Once that happens, this Ottawa lacrosse team can improve so, so much.”

Tyler said it was a blast getting to be on the bench with his brother.

“Not being in Ottawa, and him not being in Toronto, it’s hard for us to really get time to kind of combine on something,” Tyler said. “Whenever I’m back home I try and help out with him, but it was a blast just actually getting to be on a bench together and have that real first experience.”

During the tournament, Tyler helped coach the U17 Jr. Rock, and Jordan helped coach the U17 Black Bears.

Ottawa had a great showing in their Jr. NLL debut. The U15s were named the Gatorade Team of the Tournament. Though they went 0-4, they lost two games by a single goal and one game by only two goals, showing heart and passion for the game throughout the tournament.

Not only that, but the U13 Jr. Black Bears took the Jr. Rock to overtime in the gold medal game on Sunday.

After some blowout scores in pool play, each of the three gold medal games were tight, low-scoring affairs.

The U13 Rock beat Ottawa 5-4 in overtime, with Adam Burchart scoring the game-winning goal 38 seconds into the extra frame. It was Burchart’s sixth goal and 12th point of the tournament after he scored four points last year.

During the tournament, Owen MacDiarmid led the U13 Jr. Rock with 14 goals, while Mackenzie Smith led in assists (15) and points (24). Goaltender Bentley Cuthbertson went 6-0 and made 15 saves in the final game.

Next, the U15 Jr. Rock defeated the Jr. Knighthawks 4-2 in the tournament’s lowest-scoring game. Kyle Peters led the Rock with three goals. Matthias Wagner and Dominic Soares split time in goal, combining for 29 saves. Mac Day, son of Philadelphia Wings’ GM Paul Day, led the team in scoring through the weekend with 11 goals and nine assists.

The U17 Rock prevailed over Rochester 7-6 in overtime, with captain and MVP Owen O’Halloran getting the winner 1:45 into the period. O’Halloran led his team with 10 goals and seven assists in seven games. In the title game, Everest L’Homme led with two goals and two assists, while Lincoln Lawrence made 18 saves. James Holbrough led Rochester with a hat trick and one assist.

Each winning team chose an MVP, who were given the Tucker Williams award as the top player. Bentley Cuthbertson, Ryder Lacasse and Owen O’Halloran were the recipients, as chosen by their coaches.

Challen Rogers was proud of his kids and said they earned it.

“They just bought in. They worked really hard,” Rogers said. “We showed up when we needed to in the final. Give credit to Rochester and Ottawa, they put on an absolute show and by no means was it easy. Our group just stuck with it and earned the result they wanted.”

For Rogers, the tournament was also a chance to watch some up-and-coming young Indigenous players. There was a marked increase in the number of Indigenous players participating, especially on the Jr. Knighthawks and Jr. Bandits.

“It’s their sport. It’s our sport,” said Rogers, a member of Kwakwaka’wakw First Nation in BC.

“Just to see them get the recognition and make these teams and put on a show. For them to fall in love with the game and make these teams and be big parts of them, it’s special to watch. Maybe I’ll get to play with them – or against them – one day.”