‘LEGENDS NEVER DIE’
Kyle Miller and Chris Sanderson’s legacy lives in Dillon Ward, who broke out in a big way on the world stage
By Corey McLaughlin
s transitions go, the story of 23-year-old Dillon Ward’s ascension as Team Canada’s
starting goaltender is as unique as the so-Canadian denim jean jacket that came to symbolize the whole tale, and moreover the legacies of former Canadian world championship goalies Chris Sanderson and Kyle Miller. Ward, a known commodity north of the border and on both sides of the hundredth meridian given his box success growing up, emerged as Canada’s next goalie to the
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PARTICIPATING NATIONS, AN EVENT RECORD
lacrosse world at-large during the FIL World Championship — first with an 18-save performance in a loss to Team USA on opening night and closing with 10 key stops in a gold medal-winning, World MVP- clinching 8-5 win in the rematch with the U.S. nine days later. Ward’s slender 6-foot-5 frame, black sweatpants, long sleeves, unorthodox approach — any body part counts, he said — and even keel in big games defined him on the field. Off-field nuances are an entirely different matter. It wasn’t like Ward, a world games rookie who hadn’t played a competitive field game in more than a year, was charged with simply replacing a veteran, to fill the shoes of an open position heading into a tournament.
He was following two men, Sanderson — the All-World goalie in 2002, 2006 and 2010 widely beloved as a face and voice of Canadian lacrosse — and Miller — Sanderson’s backup on Canada’s gold-medal 2006 team. Both died after bouts with cancer since the last world championship. Both were life-of-the-party personalities woven tight into the fabric of Canadian lacrosse, part of a group from the small town of Orangeville, Ontario, that, if it didn’t lead the proliferation of Canadians into the American college game, was certainly very close to the leading edge. Miller was current Canada co-captain Brodie Merrill’s best friend, and both were inspired by the older Sanderson to pick up the field game after seeing him
the first goalie camp Ward attended was run by Sanderson in Ontario. A 9-year-old Ward Arrived wearing all box lacrosse gear.
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©SCOTT MCCALL (ALL)
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