A goodbye to one more National Lacrosse League legend: Ladouceur, it’s all your fault.

February 20th, 2009 by Lauren Ward

Tonight the Toronto Rock will take to the floor at the Air Canada Centre where they’ll face the Buffalo Bandits. There’s a pretty good chance that they’ll lose. On the heels of his recently announced retirement, one defensive stalwart will be missing. No big loss, some might say, but they’ll say it without looking to the rafters. How soon we forget that at a time when the Toronto Rock stood tall as the class of the National Lacrosse League, it was Dan Ladouceur standing the tallest.

In the past two years he’s likely heard it all: a million different ways to say he’s lost a step. But for the good of the league and for the good of the word parity, if this game outgrew him it was because it had to.

For over half of his entire career, Ladouceur along with Pat Coyle anchored the sadistic Rock defense that held the rest of the league hostage, amassing five championships in six years. It may have been slow, and it may have been plodding, but it was the dominance of a dynasty, the likes of which we may never see again. In one weird way, you can thank this pure defender for the return of the transition game. O/D he was too hard to beat.

At 6’6” and 245 pounds, Ladouceur has always been a big target. For the most grueling defensive assignments, for fighters looking to earn their stripes, and for many a critical eye when it became clear that something wasn’t working for the Rock. The Big Dog bore it all. We can forgive him if he got a little tired.

But by no means should his retirement allow anyone to stop blaming him for any of the Rock’s current woes. No need to let him off the hook so fast. After all, would these recent years look so bad if it weren’t for the five championship banners he helped hang? Gee Dan Ladouceur, thanks a lot.