NLL Insider

With the single season assist record, six All-Pro appearances and a Champion’s Cup ring, the Toronto Rock’s Josh Sanderson is no stranger to greatness. These days, however, he’s also no stranger to battling it out for a playoff spot in the tough eastern division. On the eve of a major match-up between New York and Toronto, Shooter Sanderson talks offensive woes, trade rumours, and that other Glenn Clark incident.

This year, just like the past few years, the Rock are right in the middle of a playoff hunt. How much importance are you guys placing on this game versus New York?
It’s huge, actually. We’re putting a lot of importance on it because it’s a tiebreaker in the division and everybody in the east at the top end is winning so we have to keep pace.

You’ve beaten the Titans once before this season, what are the keys to winning this game?
They’re a high-scoring team so we’re going to try to minimize their chances. Last game we played against them we played one good half and they really outplayed us for a half so we want to try to play a full 60 minutes.

What has to happen for the Rock to make the playoffs this year?
We just have to keep winning! Everybody seems to be winning. We’ve got a big stretch here in March, we’ve gotta get as many games as we can to put ourselves in a good position for April.

Not to be rude, but you guys haven’t exactly been winning a lot of big blow-out games. Is there something going on offensively, something that’s not working or that needs to be addressed?
We’ve definitely struggled at times, you’re not being rude at all. We’ve got to get our powerplay going, first and foremost. We’ve really struggled with the power this year and the offense needs to start getting more powerplay goals. Our five-on-five hasn’t been that bad but obviously we still want to get better there. We’ve really gotta get a few extra powerplay goals, give our defense a little bit of breathing room.

What do you think your record would look like without Bob Watson back there?
Obviously he’s the backbone of our team, there’s no question about it. He’s the best goalie in the league and he has been for a long time so I wouldn’t know. We’ve got a good young goalie in [Mike] Poulin but I don’t think we’d be five and three.

The trade deadline is coming up and it seems like your name is always bouncing around the rumour mill. Are you starting to get a little nervous as the deadline approaches?
That’s a good question! But no, not really. I’m just trying to play a little bit better than I have been, we’re trying to make the playoffs here in Toronto so I’m obviously going to keep playing hard until I hear different.

Have you been given any indication as to whether the Rock will be buyers, anything like that at the deadline?
I haven’t heard anything. I’m sure they’re always looking to make the team better so I’m sure if they can add a guy they will. If nothing makes sense they might stay put. Obviously if we win Friday night we’ll be in a good situation to make a run at having a high seed in our division.

A lot has been made of an incident between yourself and Glenn Clark in summer ball last year. Is there any sort of strain or awkwardness in your relationship?
No no, it’s been fine this year. You know, when you’re on the floor playing against your coach there’s going to be some heated emotion but that’s all it was. Glenn’s doing a good job and I’m just trying to play hard for him. There’s really nothing to it anymore.

We can just skip over the other Glenn Clark incident, unless there’s something you’d really like to say.
Well, not really. We’ve moved past it. It was a different situation we’re not used to but we’ve moved past that and we’re just worried about trying to win games. We know how tough the eastern division is and all our concentration is on trying to get some more wins on the board.

Currently you are the assist legend. Do you ever take a look around the league at the young guys and try to figure out who’s going to be the next Josh Sanderson?
Oh there’s a lot of great players in the league and everybody plays different. There’s a lot of star players. I don’t really know how to answer that! Everybody finds their own game. I’m definitely no assist legend this year. I wouldn’t know who to pick. I’m more of like a basketball point guard. Gavin [Prout] and I are kind of similar, guys like that. I don’t get to see some of these young guys that are lighting it up so much. We haven’t played Philly yet. They’ve got that Merrick Thomson that’s real good. Jamie Rooney’s playing well for them. [Craig] Point looked really good against us when we played him earlier in the year. But I don’t have his type of hands. We’re different players. You’ve got good questions!

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