After an outstanding career at the University at Albany, Rocky Point native Troy Reh found his way into professional lacrosse. After starting with Major League Lacrosse’s (MLL) New York Lizards, Reh transitioned to the Premiere Lacrosse League where he was one of two long stick midfielders for the Chaos. Reh scooped up 17 ground balls in seven regular-season games in 2020 and added a goal and an assist. Coach Wink sat down with Reh last May, before the 2020 season, to discuss his journey to the pros.
With his father and uncles involved in lacrosse, it seemed like an easy choice as his first sport but Reh made the rounds on other fields before picking lacrosse. “My uncles and my dad are big names on Long Island, especially Rocky Point and they played at Adelphi but me and my twin brother, we kind of played every other sport when we first started growing up,” Reh said. “We didn’t start playing lacrosse until fifth grade I want to say. My dad didn’t want to push to just throw us into that, he wanted to see what we liked. We started with baseball, soccer, football and then picked up lacrosse, it’s the last sport we picked up and we kind of went full force at that.”
At UAlbany, Reh enjoyed a lot of success including the program’s first Final Four appearance his senior year. That season, he played in a memorable game at Hofstra University. Although they lost, he still enjoyed the experience. “We played Denver [University] my senior year at Hofstra,” Reh said. “It was awesome. In the pouring rain, it was a pretty sweet atmosphere.”
After that, Reh was selected in the third round of the 2018 MLL draft by the Lizards. His twin brother, Justin, was picked by the Lizards in the seventh round. After a year there, Reh joined the PLL. In his new league, Reh has gotten the opportunity to play in front of some large crowds. “Albany and Maryland, when we played at [Johns] Hopkins were sold out,” Reh said.
While in Albany, he got to reconnect with his old fans from his college days. “What the PLL does an awesome job of [is] when we play a certain arenas and you went to that school, they do a good job of doing the media,” Reh said. “A bunch of us, the next day after we played, we stayed the following day and did autographs and stuff like that and greet and meets right before the other games were playing so it definitely drew a nice crowd.”
A couple of years ago, Reh signed with Epoch Lacrosse for his gear and loves their ties to Long Island and his family. “I love everything I use and everything they have,” Reh said. “I signed with Epoch because they’re a family. James Casseli and Joe Vitale are from Long Island. They both played Adelphi too so they had ties with my family, my dad and my uncles. Talking to them, it felt like a family, it felt like I could always go to them for anything.”
Off the field, Reh also has a job in the business world. “Right now I have a job with Canon U.S.A. in Melville, I’m an account representative right now,” Reh said. “I started that in January [2020] so I’ve been doing that since then.”
That job should keep him busy until he returns to the field for the 2021 PLL season beginning in June.
Video Timestamps
:23 How the PLL expansion draft works
1:28 Roster size
2:19 When he started playing lacrosse
4:11 High school sports he played
4:46 Going to UAlbany games
5:20 Experience at UAlbany
7:06 Side job outside of lacrosse
7:41 Playing in the MLL
7:54 Former Coach Joe Spallina
9:20 Family growing up in Rocky Point
10:08 Where his uncle coaches
11:30 UAlbany alumni
11:56 Playing in PLL at Albany and Maryland
13:21 Relationship with Epoch
14:51 Where he’s living
15:22 What his brother is up to
15:36 His commute to work
16:15 Next PLL season
