NLL Insider

Steve Toll (Photo: Dave Sanders)

Not a hellua lot went right in Rochester leading up to last year’s pro kick-off, or even 30-days into ‘09.

John Grant and Scott Evans were on the shelf for beyond extended periods. Rumours were, and later came to fruition, that Marshall Abrams and Scott Ditzell were gonna be unusable all year. And Pat O’Toole was watching almost the first month of the season from the press box nursing his own injuries.

The Hawks were losing games (to put  it mildly) at record lows (ie. 23-6L vs. Buffalo Bandits) and ‘09 looked like it was gonna be the biggest wash of a season in franchise history.

Although Rochester turned their season around and even crashed the post-season, one vet gave ‘er from start to finish, no questioned asked, no mater the score or the situation, or how bleak things look during that first hellish month of ‘09.

That player was Steve Toll, who set a career high looseball total last winter and showed that his wheels and style of play is still very much relevant in the league, and his game still very much needed by Rochester, who head into 2010 with a roster that could do some truly serious damage starting in January if all goes as planned.

Although Toll’s O numbers were down last year, he still managed to sit second on the team in defensive scoring behind Chris Schiller, and then of course his loosie digits, ranking him third in the entire league behind only Brodie Merrill and Geoff Snider.

The five-time Champion’s Cup winner followed up his impressive pro year by posting more recent best numbers, his 45-points with the St. Regis Indians this summer the best Toll’s registered since ‘06 in Brooklin. That same 45 led both all MSL and WLA defensive players in scoring too.

Can Steve Toll still get ‘er done? After what he did over the last 365, it shouldn’t even be questioned.

Fact: Toll played for some pretty monumental Jr. A teams in St. Catharines, but only won a single Minto Cup, that coming in ‘91 in what would have been his rookie Jr. A season. There is only one player from that team that is still active as a player in the NLL, Pat McCready, who was actually a call-up from the Spartan Warriors. There are however a few pro coaches and managers from that team in the NLL today. Who? Darris Kilgour (Buffalo head coach), Derek Graham (Buffalo GM) and Mike Lines (Minnesota head coach). Toll and John Tavareswill be joining the Akesasne Indians’ bench in 2010.

# (last year)
39 (47) Steve Toll, Rochester Knighthawks
40 (19) Blaine Manning, Toronto Rock
41 (37) Sean Pollock, Minnesota Swarm
42 (NR) Mike Carnegie, Calgary Roughnecks
43 (NR) Scott Stewart, Edmonton Rush
44 (NR) Kaleb Toth, Calgary Roughnecks
45 (NR) Matt Disher, Edmonton Rush
46 (23) Ryan Ward, Edmonton Rush
47 (NR) Kyle Ross, Boston Blazers
48 (NR) Matt King, Calgary Roughnecks
49 (NR) Mac Allen, Rochester Knighthawks
50 (NR) Nick Inch, Minnesota Swarm

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