Toronto Raiders 2026 Preview - The Raccoonaissance
By: Brandon Borges
Last Season
It was a tough season for the 2025 Toronto Raiders. For the first time ever, they dropped their series against the Cleveland Riff, falling in three close games in an exceptionally fun series to watch. The Raiders then dropped three more games to the Detroit Innovators before environmental factors forced the Raiders to prematurely bow out of MLQ Championships.
Change was necessary for a Toronto team that, upon its inception, battled for the top seeds of the North Division. That change came in the form of MLQ’s league realignment, which effectively combined the Toronto Raiders with their friends from the East, the Ottawa Black Bears. Head coach Sinan Keyder will have work to do to properly manage this shift for his team, which is no easy feat. However, should this coaching staff succeed in marrying these two contingents under one strategy, the Raiders will be poised to earn back some of that earlier success.
Returners
Scott Rousseau (Mischief Quadball)
Brianne Howden (Mischief Quadball)
Joanne Lam (Boom Train; Montreal Flamingos)
Alexander Scherger (Mischief Quadball)
Gabriel Kwok (Mischief Quadball)
Bryan Melchior (Brew Cities; University of Guelph Gryphons)
Izzy Kirby (Mischief Quadball)
Christos Kaldis (Mischief Quadball)
Lauren Matheson (University of Torontoloo)
Aaron Jin (University of Torontoloo)
Lachlan Craig (Mischief Quadball)
New Additions
Hailey Yhap (Boom Train; Carleton Ravens)
Levi Medeiros (Brew Cities; Mischief Quadball)
Kyle Ricker (Carleton Ravens)
Deniz Yıllar (ITU Honeybees)
Alex Naftel (Carleton Ravens)
Aya Tessier (Carleton Ravens)
Rachael Bishop (Mischief Quadball)
Sinan Keyder (Mischief Quadball)
Attila Zsoldos (University of Torontoloo)
Evander Bentley (Carleton Ravens)
Tiera Velasco (Mischief Quadball)
Departures
Madeline Matcheski
Marissa Noftle
Matthew Bunn
Michael Wanless
Nathan Reid
Shira Hersch
Siri Beke
Tanner Hill
William McMillan
Brittany Taylor
Calla Shantz
Derek Taylor
Grace Davey
Grey Scott
Kieran Smith
Quoth the Ravens
The hallmark of the Toronto chasers has been their physicality on both ends of the pitch.They’ve got punishing drives with a few screens mixed in on offense, and big hits from on-ball defenders and swarming tackles at the hoops on defense. At a cursory glance, this strategy may look hampered by the departures of the dominant Nathan “Nate the Great” Reid and stout defender Marissa Noftle, who are not suiting up this season for the Raiders.
Toronto fans need not fret, however, as the cornerstone chasers of the franchise, Bryan Melchior and Joanne Lam, are sticking around. Melchior frequently ranks among the top chasers in stops, logging 20 last season. He also has great control of his offense, hitting chasers behind hoops with crisp passes as defenses send multiple bodies in an attempt to stop him. Meanwhile, Lam has her signature blend of agility and power. She boasts a slick shot when she gets in space and a knack for tackling chasers almost twice her size by wearing them down with sticky defense and performing textbook tackles to restrict movement.
As great as these two chasers are, they do not work alone. Two major retentions that will help Melchior and Lam are the volume scorer Lachlan Craig and, in particular, the fast-rising Lauren Matheson. Matheson has been a dependable hoop defender for the Raiders to this point, but showed off her offensive capabilities at the latest Quadball Canada Nationals, scoring the most points among all chasers on her Torontoloo team.
We can now address the biggest benefit Toronto received from the league realignment. Adding Ottawa’s city center to Toronto’s player pool has gifted the Raiders access to the talented chaser corps of the Carleton Ravens, and all evidence points to a seamless fit with Toronto’s style.
MLQ fans will immediately notice the arrival of Hailey Yhap, and for good reason. Yhap has been the unquestioned star of the Black Bears for quite some time, excelling in all matters of ball-carrying, finishing, playmaking, hoop defending and all the little things in between. Yhap was able to show off some of that in USQ last season as part of club-championship-finalist Boom Train, and Raiders fans will assuredly be head over heels to have her in the red and black.
Canadian fans will also love the return of perennial Team Canada chaser Alex Naftel to the program after last playing for Toronto in 2019. Naftel’s ability to organize an offense and defend the hoops pairs well with Aya Tessier, who took a hiatus last season for the Black Bears and will now demonstrate her cutting, hoop defense and nifty shot-taking for the Raiders.
With all of this talent coming over from the Black Bears, perhaps the biggest addition to the Raiders roster is a player making their MLQ debut this season. Evander Bentley has been dominant in Quadball Canada for two years now. Bentley has been seemingly made in a lab by Team Canada to perform everything that their brand of quadball is about: tremendous tackling, ruthless drives, slick passing out of defenses sending multiple bodies to them, fast cutting, there is seemingly no end to what Bentley can do. If the Raiders can rely on Bentley this season, their ceiling will double in height.
So Mischievous
Toronto’s beating corps features the heaviest roster turnover. Brittany Taylor and Derek Taylor have frequently ranked among the Raiders’ highest-usage beaters, and they, along with several others, are not returning this summer.
Fortunately for Toronto, they were able to retain a major piece of their corps in the quick and active Alexander Scherger. Scherger logged eight stops in six games for the Raiders last season, and he is not coming back alone, as several of his beater teammates from Quadball Canada’s Mischief Quadball are featured on this Raiders roster. A major addition for Toronto is the return of Levi Medeiros, who spent last summer with Detroit under coach Ryan Hsu. Medeiros brings vocal on-pitch leadership and keen decision-making to pair with their already apparent athleticism and solid arm talent. They will be critical in this period of flux for the Raiders.
Medeiros alone will not be able to fill all the gaps left at the beater position. This is where Toronto’s craftiness and willingness to adapt come in, as Canadian teams rarely shy away from switching up their players’ positions. One Raider expected to make the switch to beater is Scott Rousseau. Mischief Quadball’s semifinals run at QC Nationals featured Rousseau as an aggressive beater, making trades early on defense and in transition to create the chaos needed for chasers like the speedy Gabriel Kwok to generate fast breaks.
Of course, position switches such as Rousseau’s require an experienced, fast-reacting free beater to steer the ship and anchor the defense. This creates a prime opportunity for a player like Brianne Howden to step in as a foundational piece for Toronto. An MLQ sophomore, Howden played this anchoring role for Mischief with confidence, keeping composure in chaotic transitions and flag-runner play while shouldering heavy minutes. Major roster shifts benefit newer players who are ready to make their mark, and Howden’s elevated play demands a bigger role in the Raiders’ beating game.
The Season Ahead
Even with a limited roster size, Toronto has no doubt improved its top-level talent pool. That said, the league realignment giveth and taketh away, as the two other Lake Division teams made the semifinals at last season’s MLQ National Championship.
Recent MLQ news has revealed that Toronto has forfeited their away series against the Minneapolis Monarchs. An unfortunate update for sure, as should that series had occurred, it would have been an absolute battle of physicality. This leaves the Raiders with one regular series before the Central Division Championship. That series will be on July 11th where Toronto will host the Chicago Prowl. At first glance, the Raiders seem to be a massive underdog, as the Prowl have been a perennial title favorite, while Toronto went winless last season. But just as outside factors could work against Toronto in its Minneapolis series, they can also benefit the Raiders in their home series against the Prowl.
Canadian MLQ teams have boasted a great home-field advantage, as opposing teams not only have to travel a ways to get to the series, but Quadball Canada often shows out in the stands for its teams. That level of vocal support can fuel a team on pitch. This series will be no different, and in fact may even be amplified, as Toronto will now bring Eastern Canada’s player base and fandom while the Prowl will need to traverse around 500 miles to get to North York for the series.
Another factor working to the Raiders’ benefit: Chicago’s roster this season features a bevy of younger talent making their MLQ main-roster debuts. Toronto’s roster is experienced and tough, and the Canadian brand of quadball can rattle a younger player not ready to dish it right back. That said, if any coaching staff can get a team ready to withstand heavy contact, it is one headed by Tad Walters. Just as much as Toronto would love to provide the shocking upset of the season, Chicago would love to prove the mettle of its young stars.
Conclusion
A unification of the Canadian MLQ teams has formed an improved Raiders roster. After suffering their worst season ever by record last year before bowing out, the Raiders got the exact type of juice they needed to bounce back, snagging the very best Eastern Canada has to offer. Toronto’s signature brand of hard-nosed chaser play and fast-acting beater play can overwhelm any unit not prepared to counteract it. A reduced season schedule also benefits the Raiders, as it gives them plenty of time to prepare for travel to the States. That said, the Central Division has a brutal collection of teams all vying to stamp their ticket to Lancaster County for a chance to compete for the MLQ Championship. For this Toronto Raiders team to take its new roster back to MLQ Championship weekend, it cannot simply stave off its competitors; it needs to impose its will.
