By: Riley Pollock – 31.10.24
A Roughneck great will become a Hall-of-Famer on Saturday.
The Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame has announced their 2024 classand it includes Calgary lacrosse legend, Geoff Snider.
Snider played five seasons for his hometown Roughnecks after being drafted by Philadelphia. Snider says it was a bit of a shock when he found out he was going into the CLHOF.
“I was driving back from Kelowna when I found out,” he explained. “It’s always an interesting time of the year transitioning from the summer back to the fall and getting ready to work so it was a regular rough week not anything spectacular.
“So when I got the news I was very flattered and shocked and ultimately really honoured.
“It was something that I wasn’t expecting and it caught me off guard for sure but I’m very grateful and humbled by it.”
Snider is second all-time in the NLL in faceoff wins with 2,468 as well as fifth in loose balls 1,857. When it comes to why he was so dominant in the dot, his answer is simple.
“I had never faced-off before I got to University in Denver,” he said. “When I got to DU I wanted to play. It was one of those things where if I wanted to get onto the field I had to find ways to do that so I threw myself in there.
“While I was there, I competed against a guy named Scott Davidson and we competed more like brothers than we did as teammates. We were really scrappy and he really motivated me and made it hard on me and it ultimately boiled down to battling adversity and overcoming it.”
Snider wrapped up the final five seasons in the NLL with the Riggers, the five-time all-star says what he liked most about returning home to play was the knowledge from the fan base.
“It was definitely an adjustment coming from Philadelphia to Calgary,” said Snider. “The one thing about Calgary fans that I think people take for granted is they know the sport. They watch a lot of lacrosse, they understand the game and they are insanely passionate about it.
“Philly was more of a rough around the edges type of city so they liked that pugilistic style of play that I brought. When I came to Calgary I couldn’t go out there and be a meathead and the crowd would go crazy, they wanted you to play the game because they understood the game. Coming home was special but at the core I think Calgary lacrosse fans are passionate about the sport. They deeply understand the sport and they want to win.”
The Roughnecks faceoff–wins record holder (1,394 as a Rigger) continues to give back to the sport of lacrosse through the Elev8 Lacrosse program for which he is Founder and CEO.
Elev8 is a lacrosse training program for field and box which has developed many college and pro athletes since it was founded in 2007.
Snider says it’s important to give back to a sport that has given him a lot throughout his life.
“I owe the sport everything,” he said. “From my peer group to my education to my current line of work and what we do within the city of Calgary with Elev8. I would have never have thought that when I picked up a stick for the first time that a career like this would have unfolded for me. With education and a career after sports working here in the community.
“We’re really passionate about sports in this community. I relied on sports growing up, as an outlet and as a place for my peer group and a place to burn off steam and unwind so I think we just want to be able to see kids go and pursue that. We’re starting to see more and more Calgarians come out of here into the pro ranks.
“I think for us it’s the relationships we’re developing, it’s the kids we’re impacting, it’s the component of making sure kids stay engaged with sport, both men and women, because we believe in the power of what sport is.”
Snider joins a star–studded hall of fame class that includes players such as NLL all-time leading scorer John Taveres, goaltending legend Pat O’toole and John Swan who is on a very exclusive list of players to win three straight Minto Cups.
The hall is also inducting the 1996-2006 Victoria Shamrocks WLA team which won four Mann Cups in that span and rostered many former Roughnecks including Kaleb Toth, Ted Dowling, Tyson Leies and former head coach Chris Hall among others.
He says it’s an honour to be selected with this group.
“I have been thinking about this for my speech,” said Snider. “I remember being at the all-star game and John was there. I was blown away that I was sitting in the same locker-room as these guys. Pat O’Toole was the first guy to pick me up at the airport. I competed like crazy against him and now I’m on his team and never knew him personally and he’s picking me up from the airport. Lacrosse is such a unique sport like that and John Swan was an incredible competitor and one of the only guys in the world to win three Minto Cups in a row which is very hard to do.
“Being in this class I’m very humbled by it. When I saw John’s name I thought really? One of the greatest players of all time. I ended up chatting with John last weekend, everyone is so humble, so polite. John would never elude to the fact that he should have been in there a long time ago. I’m wildly flattered to even be in the same breath as these guys.
“I’m going to soak it up and enjoy the opportunity. I don’t know what else to say because it feels a little surreal.”
