Two local lacrosse greats, Chris Gill and Curt Malawsky, will be inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame for 2015.
They are among 10 people who will be inducted at a banquet and ceremonies on Nov. 14 at the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster.
Gill, of Pitt Meadows, is the head coach of the Maple Ridge Burrards of the Western Lacrosse Association.
He was born and raised in Coquitlam across the street from Smith Box and with the Junior Adanacs netted 241 points in only 72 games.
Gill was selected number one overall in the WLA draft in 1994, and 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 and 2000), the Three Star Award winner (1997) and WLA MVP (1998). He played in two Mann Cups (2008 and 2009) with the Salmonbellies.
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.
He coached four seasons the WLA Salmonbellies. In the off season, he 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.
Malawsky of Maple Ridge also played with the Junior Adanacs. He scored 102 goals and 184 assists for 286 points, and was a top draft pick of the Salmonbellies in 1992.
His 13-year WLA career has stops in New West, North Shore and Coquitlam. The six-time WLA All-Star also captured the WLA’s Maitland Trophy for sportsmanship, ability and commitment to minor lacrosse (2000, 2001, 2002 and 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 Brampton.
He played 12 seasons in the NLL with 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 and 2005) and one with the Coquitlam Adanacs (2010).
Curt currently coaches the NLL Calgary Roughnecks.
The new inductees will bring the number of those honoured in lacrosse’s national shrine to 505 – 149 builders, 307 -layers and 49 veterans (those who played prior to 1975).
