Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Kodiaks involved in trades with Chiefs and Lakers: Benesch to Six Nations, Llord and Glaves to Peterborough

Ryan Benesch had 5 points in his Six Nations Chiefs debut, helping them to
beat the Oakville Rock 19-2. 
The Six Nations Chiefs filled the hole in their roster left by Cody Jamieson's injury by acquiring Ryan Benesch fron the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks Tuesday. Benesch joined the Chiefs in time to help Six Nations beat Oakville 19-2.

In return, KW received Ian Llord, Rory Glaves, Kedoh Hill, Scott Defrancesco and a player to be named in 2016. The Kodiaks then shipped Llord and Glaves to Peterborough in return for Andrew Watt, David Joyce and a player to be named in 2016.

Benesch led the National Lacrosse League's Buffalo Bandits, where Chiefs head coach Rich Kilgour is an assistant, in scoring this year. The 2007 MSL rookie of the year has finished in the top 10 of MSL scoring four times and the top 10 of WLA scoring once.

Llord and Glaves bolster a Lakers defence that had been thinned by injuries to Andrew Suitor and Kyle Sorensen and the retirement over the last couple of years of Darryl Gibson and Chris White.

Hill had a breakout NLL season this winter after sitting out both the pro league and MSL last summer to focus on other things. He was the MSL rookie of the year in 2012 when he broke into the league with 21 goals and 14 assists then helped the Chiefs win the Mann Cup in 2013.

Watt won a Mann Cup with the Lakers in 2012 after coming over from Six Nations in a trade. He spent the first four years of his MSL career with his hometown Kodiaks. Defrancesco is a lefty forward who once scored 51 goals in Jr A with Mississauga and was third in CLax with 32 goals in the league's inaugural year in 2012. Joyce is a New Westminster, BC native who has played two seasons in the WLA with the Maple Ridge Burrards.