TORONTO – The Toronto Rock has announced the signing of four players, all to one-year agreements, pending league approval. Defenders Hayden Smith and Eric Pitre along with forwards Dylan Webster and Keegan Bal will all try to earn spots with the Rock when training camp opens in less than two months. Smith played four games with the Buffalo Bandits in 2013, his rookie season in the NLL after being selected in the 2nd round, 13th overall by the Bandits in the 2012 NLL Draft. The 61, 195-pound native of Owen Sound, Ontario, is a tenacious defender who is not afraid to mix it up. He finished the 2014 season on Buffalos practice roster, making Smith a free agent at seasons end. The 23-year old capped off his 2-year Junior A career by capturing the Minto Cup Canadian Junior A Lacrosse Championship with the Orangeville Northmen in 2012. He spent the early portion of his Junior lacrosse career playing for his hometown Junior B club, the Owen Sound North Stars. Smith has split his two years of Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) between Brampton and Kitchener-Waterloo. Following his 3rd round selection by the Rock in the 2013 NLL Draft, Keegan Bal was placed on the Rocks draft list as he was committed to completing grad school in England at the University of Durham where he obtained his Masters degree in Business Management and Finance. This year, the offensive righty will come to training camp with an eye on a roster position. Bal has enjoyed two successful summers in the Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) playing for the New Westminster Salmonbellies. Prior to playing Canadian Senior A lacrosse, he played his Junior A lacrosse with the same New Westminster organization and was a top-10 scorer in his final year of eligibility putting up 57 points in just 16 games. He also had a fantastic NCAA career at Lake Erie College where he was named the ECAC Division 2 Offensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2013. He established a school record with 80 points in his final year of college outdoor lacrosse. Lefty forward Dylan Webster will bring some intangibles to the table as he is also a terrific on faceoffs. He went undrafted in the 2014 NLL Draft and has signed with Toronto as a free agent. Webster has a great touch around the net and is a pure finisher, scoring at a 20-goal per season pace throughout his 4-year Junior A career with the Brampton Excelsiors. In his first year of Junior lacrosse, he scored 50 goals in 19 games with the Halton Hills Junior B Bulldogs. In his senior year of NCAA Division 1 outdoor lacrosse at Quinnipiac, Webster had his most successful season in the goal scoring department, notching 26 goals and starting all 14 games at Attack. This past summer, in his rookie season of MSL with the Brampton Excelsiors, the Brampton native scored 9 points in 8 games and handled a great deal of the faceoff load for the club. Eric Pitre, also a free agent addition, has played the last two summers of MSL for the Oakville Rock under the watchful eye of Toronto Rock GM Terry Sanderson who also serves in the same role for the Oakville summer Senior A club. Pitre is a physical defender who often flies under the radar. The 23-year old played his Junior A lacrosse with his hometown Toronto Beaches. Andre Johnson Jersey . 1. Did the Senators trade the wrong goalie? Lets make one thing clear: The Ottawa Senators acquired Ben Bishop from the St. Louis Blues for one reason and one reason alone. Deshaun Watson Jersey . Bowditch, the 30-year-old Australian seeking his first PGA Tour title, shot a 4-under 68 to reach 12 under at TPC San Antonio. Matt Kuchar and Andrew Loupe were tied for second. Kuchar shot 65, and Loupe had a 70. http://www.officialhoustontexanspro.com/. -- A.J. Burnett was happy to escape from New York. Arian Foster Jersey . Unfortunately for the Cleveland Cavaliers, James Harden was in the building. Justin Reid Jersey . The Extreme Heat Policy was enacted at Melbourne Park just before 2 p.m. Thursday, suspending all matches on outer courts until the early evening and requiring the closure of the retractable roofs at Rod Laver and Hisense arenas before play could continue on the show courts.TORONTO – The difference was as simple as special teams on this night. The ongoing funk on penalty kill and an unusually quiet night on home ice for the power play divided the Leafs from the Bruins at the ACC in a rare Sunday night affair. “Theres a responsibility thats borne out by special teams in tonights hockey game,” said Randy Carlyle after the 5-2 loss to Boston, which snapped a brief two-game win streak. Combative with their top rival for much of the 60 minutes, the Leafs were ultimately undone by both special team units. Their once prideful penalty kill allowed two more power play goals – falling to fifth-worst overall – while a typically potent man advantage stood empty in four chances. “Our PK just let us down again,” said Jay McClement after the loss. “Its a huge momentum builder for us and right now its going the other way. Its killing our momentum.” Up 1-0 on the Bruins after a period – on a goal from Peter Holland – the Leafs veered off the road when penalties to Carter Ashton and Carl Gunnarsson struck early in the middle frame. Boston scored twice in less than two minutes with the consecutive power plays, momentum spiraling downward in rapid order for the Leafs. “It was bang-bang,” said Carlyle. “All of a sudden they score two goals and the life went out of our hockey club.” The Bruins scratched out another marker at even-strength late in the period, a puck from rookie Kevan Miller squeezing through the pads of Jonathan Bernier. And though they would claw back to cut the deficit to 3-2 on McClements first of the year, the Leafs failed to score with consecutive man advantage opportunities in the third. “We made a few mistakes on our penalty kill and thats the difference against top teams,” said a terse Dion Phaneuf. At equal with the Atlantic division-leading Bruins for the most part at even-strength – the shots were 32-25 in Bostons favour – the failure on special teams proved disappointing, especially in light of the daunting schedule that lays ahead. The Leafs clash with the Kings, Blues, Blackhawks and Penguins over the next week, clutching just two regulation victories in their past 17 games. Five Points 1. Penalty Killing Funk Countering the effects of a potent Toronto power play (more below) is an increasingly ineffective penalty kill, one that surrendered two more goals to the Bruins on Sunday night. The unit, now stumbling at just 77 per cent, has allowed an astounding 13 goals over the past eight games – at least one in all eight – and two or more in five of the past 10. “Our penalty kill is something that definitely needs work,” said Jake Gardiner, the 23-year-old leading the Leafs with over 25 minutes against the Bruins. “Youve seen that in the past few games or even weeks I guess so its something we need to work on.” Simple mistakes were punished. The Leafs failed to clear pucks on each of the two Boston power play goals; Dion Phaneuf moments before the first marker from Carl Soderberg, Mason Raymond shortly before the second from Torey Krug, a blast that ricocheted off the shin-pad of Gardiner. “Those two specifically came back to haunt us,” said Carlyle. His team has allowed a league-leading 28 power play goals this season. 2. More Penalty Kill Carlyle slightly altered the composition of the penalty kill in the past couple games, cutting down on the minutes of the increasingly over-worked James van Riemsdyk while inserting rookie Jerry DAmigo, a mainstay for years on the Marlies typically strong unit. Personnel aside, the confidence of a group that finished as the leagues second-best last season has simply vanished in recent weeks. “I think when were going really good with it – last year and then the start of this year &ndassh; we had almost a swagger when we went out there,” said McClement.dddddddddddd “We expected to kill it and we were all working together. And right now were just making tiny little mistakes and it seems like we just cant get away with anything so we have to correct those [mistakes].” Not helping matters much either is the amount of penalties taken. The Leafs have earned more power play opportunities than their opponent in just one of the past nine games. 3. A Little Depth The Leafs entered the night with 83 per cent of their offence emerging from just seven different sources, but against the Bruins they finally managed to find some depth. Energizing the fourth line – and later moved up to the third unit – Peter Holland scored his second goal with the Leafs, setting up McClement with his first this season in the third. “Obviously weve been relying on our big guys pretty much completely all year,” said McClement, who has just three points all season after posting 17 in 48 games last season. “Its huge if we can get contributions from the rest of us and take the weight off our big boys a little bit.” 4. Power Play Right up there with goaltending, the Toronto power play has been a consistent hub of success so far this season. Though it came up empty against the Bruins, the unit still ranks third-best in the NHL through 31 games. “We work on it a lot and we focus on trying to execute cleanly,” said Cody Franson prior to the game, the 26-year-old leading the team with 11 power play points. “When you can do that it enables things to speed up a little bit and its harder to defend as a penalty kill.” “Just movement, lots of traffic, timely goals,” said Nazem Kadri, asked whats made it effective to date. “Theres a few things that have been contributing; the way we bring the puck up the ice to set up the power play. Its definitely been working for us and one of our strengths of the year. But weve got to keep going and weve got to keep putting pucks to the net. Sometimes maybe we get a little too cute and sometimes were just better off just looking for those bang-in rebounds around the crease.” Especially potent on home ice – save Sunday – the Leafs have clicked on 31.9 per cent of their power plays at the ACC, tops in the league this season. Of note is the limited number of penalties drawn, just 97 on the year, seventh-fewest in the NHL. 5. Critical Areas Harping on the need to cut down on goals against from the critical areas, Carlyle was bothered by the various locations of the Bruin markers on Sunday. “The disappointing part for us as a coaching staff is where the goals are scored from,” he said. “We have got to have better coverage in those areas. If they score them from the outside those are going to happen … Its where theyre scoring the goals from is the most important thing for us to attend to right away.” After yielding 50 shots in consecutive wins against Dallas and Ottawa, the Leafs allowed a comparatively scant 39 on Sunday night against Boston. Stats-Pack 13 – Power play goals against the Leafs in the past eight games. 8 – Consecutive games in which the Leafs have allowed at least one power play goal. 25:21 – Ice-time for Jake Gardiner, leading the Leafs against the Bruins. 28 – Power play goals against the Leafs this season, most in the NHL. 14-19 – Jay McClement in the faceoff circle against the Bruins. 32-25 – Shots advantage for Boston at even-strength. 3 – Points for Peter Holland in nine games with the Leafs. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-4 Season: 26.7% PK: 1-3 Season: 77% Quote of the Night “Our PK just let us down again.” - Jay McClement, following the 5-2 loss to the Bruins. Up Next The Leafs host the Kings at the ACC on Wednesday night. 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