April 20, 2007

by Tom Borrelli, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

Steve Toll doesn't deny that perhaps he's lost a step. Maybe two.

But that doesn't mean he isn't a better player now, at 32 years old, than he was back in 1998 when he entered the National Lacrosse League with the blazing speed that engendered the nickname "Speedin' Steve."

"Obviously, you're not always going to be the fastest guy," said the Rochester Knighthawks' 10th-year transition man. "But when I lose a step, I try to make up for it in other ways. That's probably where Jim Veltman taught me the most. He wasn't the fastest guy, but he just kept outthinking the other players. That's why he's kept collecting 200 loose balls a year."

Master meets apprentice tonight when Veltman, the 41-year-old captain of the rival Toronto Rock, visits Blue Cross Arena for a first-round playoff game against the Knighthawks.

Toll broke into the NLL with the Ontario Raiders in 1998, a year before the franchise moved from Hamilton to Toronto.

Even though he possessed those golden wheels, to go along with outstanding skills, he still wasn't sold on the idea of becoming a pro indoor lacrosse player.

"At the time we weren't making any money, so we were like, 'Go play hockey for as long as you can,'" said Buffalo Bandits coach Darris Kilgour, who was a teammate of Toll's with the Niagara Falls Gamblers of the Ontario Lacrosse Association's Major Division. "We told him that lacrosse would still be here as long as he stayed in shape. Hockey is a very tough sport to make it in, so I was very happy when he made the decision to stick with lacrosse."

Toll, a native of St. Catharines, Ontario, nurtured a professional hockey dream after playing three seasons (1994-97) in college at Rochester Institute of Technology.

He spent three winters toiling around as a center in the East Coast Hockey League, enduring bus trips to exotic locations like Oklahoma City, Wichita, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Indianapolis and Fayetteville, N.C.

"It's something I don't regret doing," said Toll, who this season finished with 14 goals, 24 assists, 38 points and 177 loose balls, which tied him for second in the league with Philadelphia Wings rookie Geoff Snider. "I was in my early 20s and really lived the life. You wake up, you go to the rink, you tell stories, you hit the golf course, you go out on the town all night, and then maybe the next day you have a game and do it all over again.

"I would recommend for anyone to do it for a couple of years, get everything out of your system before you get married."

Toll started his pro hockey career as a scorer. He tallied the game winner in overtime in his first ECHL game and thought he was on his way to the National Hockey League.

"After I tore it up at RIT, and early in my first year in the ECHL, I thought I had a legitimate shot," said Toll. "Things didn't work out, but it was fun. Hockey probably helped me the most with being a team guy, how to act in certain situations so that I never feel the pressure. Even now I don't get too high or too low, whether we're down by five or up by five. You always have to keep the boys positive."

After compiling a couple of 60-point seasons in the ECHL, Toll became a third-line checker. That transition, plus the bus rides that were as long as 24 hours at a crack, began to wear on Toll.

Though he played just one regular season game in 1999, Toll was added to the Rock's playoff roster and won the first of his four championship rings.

The following summer, he was traded to the OLA's Brooklin Redmen and saw the light.

"I was a terrible skater," said Toll, who has collected 974 loose balls in 125 career NLL games. "If you watch me run, you'll see that I have a bad stride, and I also had a bad stride in hockey. When I got traded to Brooklin, I met a girl (his wife Carolyn), then packed up my hockey, came back and played for the Rock, got married the next September, and the rest is history."

Hockey's loss became the Rock's gain. Toronto won another title in 2000, a third two years later, then another in '03.

But after seven years in the Rock organization, Toll was traded to the San Jose Stealth, which meant coast-to-coast journeys for games.

"I wasn't happy when I went to San Jose, everything from family to everything else, just really didn't set well," Toll said. "But coming here has really helped things over the past two and a half years."

Toll's salvation came in the form of a trade to the Knighthawks late in the 2005 season. San Jose sent him much closer to home for first- and second-round draft picks the following September.

The acquisition of Toll, and the addition of Ed Comeau as head coach in 2006, helped transform Rochester from a walk-it-up-the-floor type of team into a squad that doesn't mind going up and down.

"I've seen the value over the years of that [transition] style, and it's something in this league that you have to have," said Comeau, who assisted the late Les Bartley while Toll was a member of the Rock. "To what degree depends on what personnel you have. It's definitely something I would have brought, but Steve's been the premier guy at that, how he can change games and make plays. When we got him, we knew we were going to use him to the fullest extent, and he's done a great job for us."

Like Veltman, Toll is a master thief.

"He's a guy teams can't pass the ball through," said Comeau. "He doesn't get credit for a loose ball when he picks a pass off, but he picks off about a half dozen of those a game, quite often turning those into transitions."

Said Bandits captain Rich Kilgour: "As smart as [NLL career scoring leader and Buffalo teammate] Johnny Tavares is on offense, that's how smart Steve is on defense. If you watch him, he never hits anyone, never takes a hit, but he picks off several passes each game and usually gets, like, a goal and three assists. He knows his role and plays it to the Nth degree."

Toll, who is a car salesman for Gus Brown Buick, Pontiac and GMC in Whitby, Ontario, brings a wealth of life experience along with his lacrosse prowess.

He worked as a prison guard for young offenders (ages 12-18). He also spent time in the insurance industry in Toronto, and as an educational assistant at the high school level and at a YMCA.

Toll sold cars to teammates Shawn Williams and Mike Accursi. "I'm kind of like I am on the floor, I'm all over the place," said Toll. "But I've settled down selling cars. I try to [sell to] all the lacrosse boys."

Toll hasn't played competitive hockey in at least seven years. He says the only time he puts on skates is to play with his 5-year-old daughter Olivia, the older of his two children. He also has a 6-month-old son, Zack.

What drives him now is the desire to acquire a fifth championship ring. He had left the Rock when it won its fifth title in 2005, and former teammates like Toronto defenseman Dan Ladouceur ride him about having one fewer ring.

"I ache bad for that fifth ring," said Toll, who Comeau describes as both a team jokester and non-stop talker. "But this team stacks up real well. We have a nice mix of younger guys and older guys who haven't won a championship in this league."

What does the future hold?

If NLL commissioner Jim Jennings keeps expanding the league, Toll said, he may be able to play until he's 38 or 39. By then, his daughter will have had plenty of time to work on her golf game, for which she has already shown an affinity.

"If she gets a scholarship somewhere in Florida," Toll said with a wide grin, "I wouldn't mind retiring.

"I could see myself being her caddy."