If you’ve ever been drilled with a lacrosse ball, you’ll know that five ounces of solid rubber slamming into some part of your body at high velocity doesn’t feel particularly pleasant.
So how many games a year does Toronto Rock goalie Nick Rose walk off the floor without some new bruising somewhere on him?
“Probably not too many,” he says.
You wouldn’t think. Not when he’s been in the path of 711 of them this year.
That kind of volume makes him not just the most-tenderized man in the National Lacrosse League but also the best goalie. Because nobody has placed himself in the path of more rubber.
It also makes it pretty easy to identify the most-important player in the Rock’s quest to end its 13-year championship drought that begins for real with a quarter-final against Rochester on Saturday (4:30 p.m. faceoff at FirstOntario Centre).
The six-foot, 285-pound human wall has been sensational for the regular-season champs this year. He really should be in the MVP conversation. Playing almost every second of every game, he led the league in goals against average (9.18), save percentage (81 per cent) and wins (15).
And shots. Nobody stopped more than those 711 he did.
Most amazingly, at 36 and after 12 years in the league, this was his best season. You’re not supposed to be getting better as you get older.
“But he is,” says head coach Matt Sawyer.
He really is. His numbers are better than ever and it sure sounds like there have been more Roe-ZEEs — he’s the rare player who has his own specially-designed cheer that’s bellowed by fans after every big save — this year.
In case you’re wondering …
“Yeah,” he says. “I hear them.”
For him this isn’t about records or numbers or accolades or recognition, though. You can’t play this game forever. He’s clearly far from done and not in decline, but he is in the home stretch. Which means chances to win a title aren’t endless.
That is what he wants to talk about.
“I haven’t finished as a champ yet,” he says.
He was traded to the Rock a season after they won their last crown. This is the fourth time they’ve finished the regular season in first place but he hasn’t been able to lift the trophy.
It matters. In part because every elite athlete wants to win. That’s how they’re wired.
In part because his life revolves around lacrosse. When he’s not playing for the Rock, he’s running the team’s facility in Oakville. And working as general manager of the Orangeville junior-A Northmen. He’s immersed in this game 28 hours a day, eight days a week.
And in part because there’s a family tradition to be honoured.
His dad was a great lacrosse player. Tony Rose came from Jamaica as a soccer player, was discovered by legendary coach and general manager Terry Sanderson, introduced to the game, and played for the senior Northmen.
Tragically, he died in a car wreck when Rose was very young. The arena in Orangeville is named for him. And the goalie honours him every time he pulls on his No. 66 sweater.
Dad wore No. 6. That’s not a goalie number.
“So I just put two sixes together,” he says. “One for me and one for my dad.”
Winning a title for the Rose name would be really cool. And with his team setting a club record for wins in a season (15), this looks like the best chance he’s had to do that since joining the organization.
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That’s why he uses the word desperation. There have been some heartbreaks in the past. These days the losses hurt more than the wins feel good. Now’s the time to get over the hump.
Sawyer says Rose has really put them in a position to be able to take a run at it.
Earlier in the year, the Rock has some slow starts to games. The goalie and his defence kept them in those contests until they found their legs.
Today though, things seem to be more consistent. They come into the playoffs on a four-game winning streak and winners of nine of their past 10. No team had a bigger goal differential. They were third in goals scored, second in wins at home and first in wins on the road.
And best in goals allowed. Which is thanks primarily to Rose’s willingness to be smashed again and again by the ball and model a collection of hematomas and various shades of black and blue.
“I guess it’s just my job to have some bruises,” he says. “Some stay the whole season.”
They eventually go away, though. A championship never would.
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