CALGARY, AB — On Saturday, November 14th, Calgary Roughnecks coach Curt Malawsky was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
He was one of only 10 new members to join the hall in 2015. The new inductees will bring the number of those honoured in lacrosse’s national shrine to 505 — 149 Builders, 307 Players and 49 Veterans (those who played prior to 1975).
Malawsky grew up playing lacrosse in Coquitlam’s Smith Box. He played all of his Minor, Intermediate and Junior lacrosse with the Coquitlam Adanacs. He was a two-time Junior league All-Star and was the 1991 BCJALL league Top Scorer. In 82 Junior A regular season and playoff games, Malawsky scored 102 goals and 184 assists for 286 points.
Malawsky was a top draft pick of the Salmonbellies in 1992. His 13-year WLA career had stops in New West, North Shore and Coquitlam where he was a six-time WLA All-Star and also captured the WLA’s Maitland Trophy for sportsmanship, ability and commitment to minor lacrosse (2000, 2001, 2002 & 2007). In 227 regular season games, he scored 326 goals and 390 assists for 716 points. In playoff action, he netted 179 goals and 231 assists in 137 games. Malawsky won the 2001 Mann Cup with Coquitlam in seven games over the Brampton Excelsiors.
During his 12 seasons in the NLL, Malawsky made stops in Calgary, Arizona, San Jose, Vancouver and Rochester. In 177 games, he scored 287 goals and 294 assists for 581 points, winning one NLL title with Calgary (2009).
As a coach, Malawsky’s Junior A teams won three Minto Cups – two with the Burnaby Lakers (2004 & 2005) and one with the Coquitlam Adanacs (2010). Curt currently coaches the NLL Calgary Roughnecks.
Malawsky was inducted alongside many other influential lacrosse names, many of which had Roughnecks connections.
Chris Hall (BC-Deceased) — As a youngster in Victoria, BC in the early 1960’s, Chris Hall watched his dad work as a scorekeeper for the Shamrocks lacrosse team. Chris played basketball, rugby and other sports, but it was box and field lacrosse, that he went on to excel in as a player, coach and General Manager. Hall played for the Victoria Shamrocks in the Western Lacrosse Association (1973, 1974, 1976-1982). He played one season (1975) for the Boston Bolts of the original National Lacrosse League. He went on to coach or co-coach the Shamrocks for 10 seasons between 1983 and 2001. He won the Mann Cup as a player in 1979 and as a coach in 1983 and 1999. He played for Canada in the World Games in Baltimore (1982), in Los Angeles (1984) and in the World Championships in Toronto (1986). He was selected all-world defenceman at the World Games (1984). Chris was the head coach and GM of the Canadian National Field Team from 1988-1994 and led the squad to a silver medal in Australia (1990) and a bronze medal in England (1994). In 1980, he co-founded and head coached the Victoria Seaspray field lacrosse club. Under his leadership, the team captured 12 Ross Cup Senior Men’s National Championships. Hall’s NLL coaching career began in 2002 with the Calgary Roughnecks. He took the Roughnecks and the Washington Stealth to NLL championships in 2004 and 2010 respectively. He also coached Team England in two world indoor box lacrosse championships. Chris was inducted into the Greater Victoria and National Lacrosse League Halls of Fame prior to his death in December, 2014 at the age of 64.
Terry Sanderson (ON-Deceased) — Terry Sanderson is one of Canada’s all-time winningest coaches at the highest levels of lacrosse. He played his Junior lacrosse in Bolton, Ontario and Senior with Orangeville, Fergus and in Victoria. Sanderson played pro lacrosse for the NLL Syracuse Sting (1974) and Quebec Caribou (1975). He was a pick-up player for the Mann Cup winning Brampton Excelsiors in 1980. In 218 Major lacrosse games, he tallied 610 points and in 158 Senior B games, he scored 816 points. After his playing days, he helped create the Orangeville Junior B Northmen in 1989 and the Orangeville Junior A team in 1991. He coached the Junior A team to three Minto Cup championships (1993, 1995 & 1996). He was a member of the coaching staff of the Mann Cup winning Brampton Excelsiors (2002) and the team’s assistant coach in their Mann Cup victories (2008 & 2009). He was the General Manager and coach of the professional Toronto Rock when they won the NLL championship in 2005. After stints with NLL teams in Philadelphia and Calgary, Terry rejoined the Toronto Rock in 2010 as assistant coach and eventually GM. He is a member of the Orangeville Sports Hall of Fame and the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Terry Sanderson died in November, 2014 at age 62.
Chris Gill (Pitt Meadows, BC) — Chris Gill was born and raised in Coquitlam across the street from Smith Box. He played 16 years of minor, Intermediate and Junior lacrosse with the Adanacs. In Junior, this two-time All-Star netted 137 goals and 104 assists for 241 points in only 72 games. In one of the most memorable Minto Cup finals, he led the Adanacs to the 1992 final, only to lose in seven games to Six Nations. Gill followed in his father’s footsteps and at 21 years of age joined the Vancouver Fire Department and was selected number one overall in the WLA draft (1994). In 13 WLA seasons with the Burrards and Salmonbellies, he scored 482 goals and 352 assists for 833 points in 282 regular season and playoff games. Gill was a five-time WLA All-Star, a two-time league leading scorer (1997 & 2000), the Three Star Award winner (1997) and WLA MVP (1998). He played in two Mann Cups (2008 & 2009) with the Salmonbellies. In 2001, Chris won a President’s Cup with the North Shore Indians. His 186 game pro career had stops in Baltimore, Ontario, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Colorado where he scored 354 goals and 235 assists for 589 points. He won two NLL Championships with Toronto and Colorado. Gill also was a member of the Team Canada U19 team in the 1991 World Field Lacrosse Championships as well as a member of the Men’s National Field Lacrosse team (1998 & 2002). He coached four seasons the WLA Salmonbellies and is currently bench boss for the Maple Ridge Burrards. In the off season, Gill is a co-coach with the NLL Colorado Mammoth. Chris Gill will enter the Hall of Fame as a fourth generation inductee after great grandfather Les Dickinson, grandfather Bill Dickinson and father Sohen Gill.
