Canadians in the NCAA: Spring Has Sprung?

In college lacrosse terms, it is the spring. 

It feels difficult to use that word across Canada right now. As of this writing, feet of snow line the sidewalks in my hometown of Toronto as they do across much of the rest of the country. But perhaps these snowy conditions are a particularly good time to start analyzing the statistical successes of our Canadians playing lacrosse in the NCAA. 

Especially right now, the cold temperatures and snowy conditions impacting many games should remind them of home. 

Welcome back to the second season of Canadians in the NCAA. Of course, I mean the second since I restarted the project last year. Many moons ago, my father began keeping track of Canadian lacrosse players in the NCAA, in an email newsletter that was called “Canadians in the NCAA.”

In that time, the growth of the Canadian presence has exploded. When my dad started tracking data in the late 2000’s, there were roughly 150 Canadian men across all divisions. This year, more than 220 find themselves on Division I rosters alone, with hundreds more playing at the Division II and III levels.

At that time, only one Canadian man was a Head Coach at a D1 program. Now, at least five Canadians Head Coaches (Gary Gait, Taylor Wray, Matt Brown, Mark Miyashita and Randy Mearns) are running the show. Several others (Merrick Thompson, John Gallant, Adrian Torok-Orban, Joel Tinney, Anthony Joaquim) are prominent assistants. The Canadian influence is impossible to ignore. 

The women’s game has exploded as well, and will be covered weekly going forward. Unfortunately though, it takes some time for me to compile all the necessary information to run my data scraper. So this week, we will just look at D1 mens division. 

Overview 

In total, 222 Canadian men are currently on D1 rosters, while 141 have played in at least one game already. Collectively, they have scored 295 goals, 143 assists, 438 points, caused 140 turnovers and scooped 508 loosies. And before you come for me, this is a Canadian column. Up here we called Ground Balls loosies. 

On a provincial basis, 143 of the players hail from Ontario (64%), while 58 come from British Columbia (26%), and 15 are from Alberta. Three athletes this year are representing Quebec, with Canisius LSM Alexis Simard (Terrebonne), Mercyhurst do-it-all midfielder Jérémi Phoenix-Lefebvre (Terrebonne) and Queens NC’s Zach Miller (Rosmere). The maritimes are also represented, as Quinnipiac’s Nate Watson represents Quispamsis, New Brunswick. 

The Canadian city with the most D1 players is Victoria, British Columbia. In total, 20 current players list the Garden City as their hometown. The next highest are Toronto, Oakville, Coquitlam, and Burlington, while Calgary and Maple Ridge sit right behind. 

A total of 41 of the Canadian players competed for the Hill Academy, which was not only the most of any Canadian high school but of any high school in the data at all. 15 of the athletes played for the Claremont school on Vancouver Island, while 14 competed for Everest Academy, 13 for Culver Academy, and seven each for Western Reserve and my alma mater, St. Michael’s College School. 

Keep in mind there is some leeway in this measure, as schools and players choose to list different schools in cases where an athlete attended more than one. 

There are 74 programs in Division I this season, and 58 of them have at least one Canadian. As feels like tradition, the program with the most Canadians is Robert Morris, who currently list 17 Canucks on the roster, whole St. Bonaventure has 13 and Canisius has 11. 

Following them is Johns Hopkins, where Matt Collison (Scarborough, Ontario) headlines a group of talented northerners. Brooks English (more on him later), and Chuck Rawson (Burlington, Ontario) have both contributed significantly in the offensive midfield, while Eric McDonald (Sarnia, Ontario) followed up a nice summer with some good play in the defensive midfield. 

Denver and Cornell have 8 Canadians each, as both continue to capitalize on their geographical advantages and historical legacies of recruiting Canadians. For Denver, Casey Wilson (Victoria) us one of the best in the world at SSDM, while Noah Manning (Victoria) and Cody Malawsky (Maple Ridge) brought Minto Cup rings back to campus this fall. Grayson Manning (Victoria) is an up and coming goaltender for the Pios who saw action this weekend against the Big Red, and Colm Barnett (Orangeville, Ontario) has played for DU in the midfield as well. 

For Cornell, Willem Firth (Ottawa, Ontario) headlines a trio of lefty snipers from Canada. Andy Dalton (Toronto, Ontario) and Rory Graham (Toronto) are veteran options in the midfield for Connor Buczek. Several other Canadian options are waiting in the wings as well.

The Early Going

It’s been a fast start for many of the Canadian stars. Leading the pack right now is Syracuse lefty sniper Owen Hiltz (Peterborough, Ontario), who has 13 goals and 10 assists in 5 games played. 

But Hiltz leads neither the goals nor the assists column himself. Ohio State’s Alex Marinier (Burlington) has an impressive 19 goals already this season. That puts him fifth in the entire nation in goal scoring. He had 7 goals in a recent victory over Air Force, and still sits above 40% shooting on the season. 

Leading the assists column is Hopkins middie Brooks English (Burlington), who has 3 goals and 12 assists so far for the Blue Jays. The English name is one you need to be familiar with, as brothers Sam (Syracuse) and Ty (UNC) are off to hot starts as well. 

This early in the season, points are obviously heavily dependent on games played. On a per game basis, the leader so far is Silas Richmond at Albany. Richmond exploded onto the scene last year and followed that up with a dominant summer and a Minto Cup trip. He had 16 points in just three games, and was named the America East Offensive Player of the Week this week. In one game, he had 7 assists for the Danes, and in another he had 5 goals. There are very few players around the nation who will accomplish both this year. 

Impact Points 

This year I will also be reviving the idea of the Impact Point. This was a simple idea of my father’s that he started back during the original email days, that attempts to judge a player’s impact on the game, not just the scoreboard. 

Lacrosse analytics have come a long way since then, and there are plenty of fancier stats out there if you choose. But we will keep it simple here. The formula for Impact Points is below. 

Impact Points = (Goals + Assists + Loosies + 2x(Caused Turnovers)) / Games Played

The leader so far is Levi Verch (Victoria), the LSM for St. Joseph’s. Verch is a chaos creator, and has 25 loosies, 2 assists, and 9 caused turnovers in just four outings for the Hawks. He was described by my podcast partner Dan Arestia very well on our recent episode of the College Lacrosse Show!

Levi Verch: The Fire Tornado?

The FAFO Players of the Week is a weekly segment for the College Lacrosse Show, so make sure to check out the full episode for the entire list! pic.twitter.com/2WiRwNCxuk

— Lacrosse Culture Daily (@LaxCulturedaily) January 31, 2025

Some other headliners in the impact points rankings include Jack Oldman (Pickering, Ontario) and Dylan Lee (Oakville, Ontario). Oldman has won 56 of 109 faceoffs for the Ohio State Buckeyes and along with Robert Morris athlete Bo Columbus, is one of a few Canadian options at the X this spring. 

Lee was an under-the-radar weapon last season for the St. Johns, and has 9 caused turnovers in four games for the Johnnies. He also scored in their season opening win over NJIT. 

Shoutout as well to Mount St. Mary’s and Carter Quested (Victoria). He is stuffing the box score, with 11 goals, 2 assists, 13 loosies, and 3 caused turnovers in the first five games for the Mountaineers. 

The full stats list can be found below. NOTE: ONLY PLAYERS WHO HAVE COMPETED IN A GAME APPEAR ON THIS LIST. The full roster can be found in the second spreadsheet below!

And the full roster is below!