Lacrosse Legends

There are a number of families that are synonymous with the game of lacrosse. The Thomas family is one of them. Join Steve and Ron Thomas as they tell stories of their lacrosse careers at the local to international levels as both amateurs and professionals. Steve ‘s playing career went from 1960 -1984. He played for Akwesasne/St. Regis through Bantam,Midget, Junior and Senior. During this time he...

Walter “Butch” Goodleaf received his first lacrosse stick at age 7 from his Grandmother. This humble start lead to his well-deserved induction into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame. He would display unique leadership skills as a Player, Coach and Builder in the Kahnawake community along the way. “Butch” is known for being a team player and possessing great defensive skills, with the ability of cr...

Joe Curotte is known as one of the toughest defensemen to come out of Kahnawake. His playing career stretched from 1965 through 1980 for both the Junior and Senior Caughnawaga Indians teams. He played against the best including Gaylord Powless, Johnny Davis, Bruce Roundpoint, Frank Benedict and Mike Benedict. As a Junior he received the Best Defenceman Award in 1966 and 1968 and a similar award as...

Dennis Joseph descends from a long line of lacrosse players. His father, Willard Joseph, played box and field lacrosse for the famed North Shore Indians teams. Dennis Joseph’s grandfather , Andrew Paull was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Paull was the founder/coach/manager of the North Shore Indians and the Squamish box and field teams. Paull was able to build capacity crowds of...

Barry Powless has made his mark in lacrosse on both sides of the border as a player, coach and manager in both the box and field versions of the game. While at Lafayette H.S. near Syracuse he was named a USLA High School All American. He went on to play attack at Syracuse University. After Syracuse he played in the 1980 World Lacrosse Championship and won the Silver Medal as part of the Can-Am War...

As our interview team conducted dozens of interviews across Canada over the last 4 years one name kept popping up – Jim Bishop. Bishop is one of the most well-known names in the game. He is deceased, but his influence and work lives on. We have put together a number of former players and coaches who knew him to discuss the lacrosse life of one of Canada’s most important contributors to the game. H...

After leading the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League in scoring in 1954, Bob Parry went on to an outstanding Senior A career with the Vancouver Burrards, winning the Inter-City Lacrosse League outstanding Rookie award in 1955 and becoming an integral part of three Vancouver Mann Cup winners. It was after his playing days when he really excelled. As Burrard General Manager for 1970 - O76 he was largely...

Gary Bottomley was introduced to the game in 1968 and began to play in 1969. He has continued to play, coach, coordinate leagues and run skill development programs for Tyke to Senior players over the past fifty years. Bottomley retired from playing in 1996 at the age of 43. He played in 13 Canadian Championships and in some years he was a player-coach. In addition, Bottomley was the coach of the 1...

Our interview with Jojie Engemann is unique in that he is a son talking about his parents and their legendary contributions to the game. And Jojie was a fine player in his own right. Rose and Joe Engemann were inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame as Builders – for their tireless efforts in the creation and operation of the Spartan Athletic Club. It all began for their family when the E...

Monty Slingerland learned his lacrosse on the dirt floor of an outdoor rink within view of the Niagara Escarpment and Wine Country. He loved being involved in all facets of the game, adding coaching to his resume almost as soon as he began playing. He embraced Management as well with the Niagara Warriors Junior B Team and becoming a co-owner at a fairly young age. 1973 was a dream year for Monty a...

Wayne Shuttleworth is known as a fine scorer and a rugged competitor. He was a member of four Mann Cup Championship teams for three different clubs. He had been a late starter to lacrosse, coming from a soccer background. The delayed start didn’t seem to matter. He was selected to the Intercity League All Star Team on three separate occasions. In 1971 he won the League Scoring Title with 61 goals...

The Maritimes is an area for growth for lacrosse in Canada. There are some important individuals that brought it forward. Wayne Finck can easily be referred to as the “Father of Maritime Lacrosse”. We had hoped Wayne could tell his own story but he tragically entered into a struggle with life-ending cancer before his interview could take place. We are proud to bring Wayne Finck’s story to you thro...

Troyhann Santos is a trailblazer. She was made a Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee this past fall. It was just one of a number of inductions for her which include the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame and the Whitby Lacrosse Hall of Fame. As a player, Troyhann was a natural leader, having been named Co-Captain of Team Canada twice. She also was Captain of her NCAA team at James Madison Universit...

It is one thing to launch a program. Eventually that energy dissipates and some important work begins in order to keep the program going. Cheryl MacNeill really stepped up after the great beginning provided by those associated with Team Canada ’82. You need players, coaches, managers, builders and officials to grow the game and in one way or another MacNeill contributed at all those levels. As a p...

Women’s field lacrosse in Canada had very humble beginnings. There were two small programs operating out of British Columbia and Ontario. The women who played in these programs were mainly versed in box lacrosse. One day, a huge opportunity presented itself. Brine had stepped up to sponsor the first Women’s World Lacrosse Championship. The Canadian women wanted to be part of this historic event –...

Jim Price can quite possibly claim the title of “Father of Canadian Field Lacrosse Officiating”. He would not think of himself in that way but the hundreds of officials he developed in Canada and around the world would feel the title was justified. He started out with the game through his son playing Tyke Level Box Lacrosse around Canada’s Centennial in 1967. He would coach and eventually referee...

Craig Moore is a Maritimer who has given and received a great deal from his involvement with lacrosse. He started out participaing in the Sackville Minor Lacrosse Association and played on the All New Brunswick Team that participated in the annual Lobster Trap Tournament. When he advanced to the Junior ranks he played for Sackville, Ottawa and Alberta teams as well as in the Canada Games. He may b...

Aitchison or “Aichy” was born and raised in New Westminster, B.C., but he never played as a Salmonbellie. His career was as unique as his personality and he came to the game later than most as a high school field lacrosse player at age 16. A friend got him involved with the Junior Coquitlam J-Hawks. Aitchison felt so embarrassed by his inferior stick skills that he quit after 8 games. The coaches...

Brian “Butch” Keegan had a lacrosse career that many would dream about. He had great success as a player and a coach. Keegan was one of the top scorers in both Junior and Senior Lacrosse, played on a Mann Cup team, a Professional League Nations Cup team and also coached four Presidents Cup champions. As a player he was awarded the Most Gentlemanly Player Award at both the Junior and Senior levels....

Bill Lefeuvre was inducted nto the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2002. His induction was fitting as he was a member of the core group that built the institution having raised much of the funding for the project. Lefeuvre also has stories on many of the major acquisitions on display there. There’s the 12 foot First Nations carving that greets visitors to the Hall, and the venerable Globe Shield...

A.J. Jomha is one of the great lacrosse people to come out of Alberta. He has excelled as a player, coach and builder of the game at all levels – local to national. Jomha started his time with the game in Edmonton’s minor program. As a player he was on the 1979 Alberta team that hosted the Minto Cup. Many players of that team would go on to win the first ever Founders Cup by Alberta in 1980. He we...

Ron Pinder grew up in Richmond, B.C. His first national championship came in the form of a Minto Cup ring playing for the legendary Richmond Roadrunners team in 1971. He would go on to win two Mann Cups for the Vancouver Burrards in 1975 and 1977. He finished his career with close to a 3 points per game scoring average. Pinder really made his mark in the Mann Cup. His dad, Roy Pinder, had won the...