Nationals Announces Inaugural Season Roster
May 11, 2009 - Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
Hamilton Nationals News Release
TORONTO - After just one Training Camp session yesterday, Toronto Nationals Lacrosse announced their final roster this afternoon and will kick off the 2009 Major League Lacrosse (MLL) season this coming weekend on the road in Annapolis, MD against the Washington Bayhawks.
The 23-man active roster was due at the MLL office by 5:00 p.m. today with an exception for the Toronto Nationals who are able to submit a 28-man roster. Teams who have a significant number of players still finishing their season in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) are able to keep these particular players active until decisions on their status have been made following the NLL Championship game this weekend.
Head coach Dave Huntley is looking forward to getting the group together over the next couple of weeks.
"It was difficult to pare this roster down given the talent and interest of the players we had available to us" said Huntley. "I think we have a group that loves playing lacrosse and will enjoy playing with each other."
Of the final active roster players, ten were members of the 2008 MLL Championship Rochester Rattlers team, including Brodie Merrill, Joe Walters, John Grant Jr. and Colin Doyle to name a few.
Toronto Nationals President & GM, Stuart Brown said the team will need to get a few games under their belt before they will really know what the team identity is going to be.
"Our strategy behind the final roster was to create a strong team from the net out," said Brown. "We shouldn't have any trouble scoring goals this season so the focus quickly became defence, transition and face-offs."
"I think we have addressed all three of those areas, especially with the acquisition of Geoff Snider," Brown added.
Toronto Nationals acquired midfielder and draw-man Geoff Snider in an early morning trade with the Denver Outlaws in exchange for a third round selection in the 2010 Collegiate Draft.
In 25 career regular season games with the Outlaws, Snider tallied 25 points (18 goals, 7 assists) and collected 163 groundballs. He won 372 face-offs in 729 attempts for the Outlaws and was named to the 2007 MLL All-Star Game as a member of the Western Conference squad.
Snider, a Calgary Alberta native was also a Team Canada player from the 2006 World Field Championship and was named the MVP of the gold medal game that year.
The Toronto Nationals return home the following weekend to open their home series of six games on May 22, 2009 when they host the Chicago Machine at BMO Field.
Season tickets and single game tickets for the Toronto Nationals inaugural season are still available. Season ticket packages start as low as $90. For any ticketing information, please call the Toronto Nationals Lacrosse office at 416-596-0676 or email tickets@nationalslacrosse.com.
Visit www.nationalslacrosse.com for the full Toronto Nationals Lacrosse roster and player bio information.
2009 Toronto Nationals Lacrosse Roster
No. Name Position Hometown
1 Joe Walters Attack Rochester, NY
2 Rob Scherr Goalie Reistertown, MD
3 Geoff Snider Midfield Calgary, AB
4 Joe Cinosky Defence Boonton Township, NJ
5 Jon Sullivan Defence St. Catharines, ON
6 Dan Dawson Midfield Oakville, ON
7 Colin Doyle Attack Kitchener, ON
9 Gavin Prout Midfield Whitby, ON
11 Kyle Sorensen Defence Peterborough, ON
17 Brodie Merrill Defence Montreal, PQ
18 Phil Sanderson Defence Orangeville, ON
19 Craig Point Midfield Ohsweken, ON
20 Stephen Hoar Midfield Bowmanville, ON
22 Gary Gait Attack Fayetteville, NY
23 Brett Queener Goalie Penn Yann, NY
29 Merrick Thomson Attack Hamilton, ON
32 Athan Iannucci Attack New Westminster, BC
41 Jordan Levine Midfield Bethpage, NY
51 Shawn Williams Attack Scarborough, ON
63 Tom Montour Midfield Six Nations, ON
67 Jeff Zywicki Attack Ottawa, ON
77 Nick O'Hara Defence Orchard Park, NY
81 Roger Vyse Attack Six Nations, ON
Practice Roster 8 Delby Powless Attack Six Nations, ON
NLL Exempt 16 Patrick Merrill Midfield Montreal, PQ
44 Jordan Hall Midfield Surrey, BC
48 Matt Vinc Defence St. Catharines, ON
Physically Unable to Perform 24 John Grant Jr. Attack Peterborough, ON
- Dan Cocoziello Defence Oldwick, NJ
Major League Lacrosse Stories from May 11, 2009
- Snider Traded to Nationals for Third Round Pick in 2010 Draft - Denver Outlaws
- Nationals Announces Inaugural Season Roster - Hamilton Nationals
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