TORONTO – Jeremy Noble saw his childhood dreams come true Monday night in the 2014 National Lacrosse League Draft at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville, Ont.
The highly-touted Orangeville, Ont. native was selected second overall by the Rochester Knighthawks, who made a blockbuster trade earlier in the day to move up and nab the attack man.
“It’s a dream come true, ever since I was little watching the draft growing up,” said Noble. “It’s a moment I won’t ever forget.
“And having family members here who have supported me throughout my career since I was young and my brother and to have them here with us and to show their appreciation for us, it’s a dream come true and I couldn’t be more excited to be joining Rochester.”
Honored and humbled to be joining such a great organization @RocKnighthawks can’t wait to get started ! #dreamcometrue #gohawks
— Jeremy Noble (@jernoble45) September 22, 2014
The Knighthawks, who have won the last three NLL championships, traded forward Johnny Powless and transition player Joel McCready — the ninth and 23rd picks in the 2014 draft — to the Vancouver Stealth for the second overall pick (used to draft Noble), the 11th pick in the 2014 draft and the Stealth’s first round picks in 2015 and 2017.
Landon Miller, the Knighthawks Assistant General Manager, admitted the trade was something that has been in the works for a while and was a result of trade requests and the need to fill big holes.
“We had some requests for movement from Joel and John and it was the toughest trade we had to do in quite some time, but it was something we had to do,” said Miller. “We made the deal with Vancouver and Jeremy was the guy we selected to fill that hole we created.
There was no one else we wanted other than Jeremy and we were hoping he was going to be there at two.
—Landon Miller- Rochester Knighthawks assistant general manager
“He fills a big role, and in Rochester we want team first guys, and Jeremy has always been a team first guy and I think he’s going to fit in great.”
The 23-year-old appreciates that Rochester thought so highly of him, admitting it adds a little more pressure to perform, but that it’s just added motivation.
“That means a lot to me personally that they showed the ability and wanted to trade one of their really good players to acquire me in the draft,” said Noble. “I think pressure is a good thing.
“Ever since I started thinking about the draft, the pressure you have even coming into the NLL is what motivates you to work out every day.”
Noble’s twin brother Jason sat in the same spot just one year ago when the former All-American defender was selected second overall by the Minnesota Swarm.
Noble insists that his slightly-older brother would have liked him to drop one more spot in the draft, as Minnesota held the third overall pick.
“He said just to enjoy the day,” said Noble. “Obviously he was hoping I was going to be in Minnesota, but obviously he’s happy with where I got drafted.”
It’s been a year to remember for Noble.
After helping lead the Denver Pioneers to the NCAA semi-finals, the mid-fielder won the Major League Lacrosse Championship with the Denver Outlaws as a rookie.
Following the season, he represented Canada at The FIL World Lacrosse Championships in Denver, where he recorded ten goals and ten assists in seven games.
Noble has not let his recent successes get to his head.
“I didn’t even think about it,” said Noble. “I mean I’ve been such a fortunate player to play on such good teams the last couple of years, but who knows what the future will bring, but this is definitely a cherry on top.”