The National Lacrosse League is the pinnacle of box lacrosse, and nearly every player who has made their way through the ranks of the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League (OJLL) has dreamed of an NLL career.
Two goaltenders, Nathan Whittom and Thomas Kiazyk, were able to reach that goal before the end of their OJLL careers. With a season (or two) of professional lacrosse under their belt, they are both hoping to use that experience to their benefit in their remaining time in Jr. A.
Kiazyk tends the net for the Toronto Beaches, where he has the Beach in third place in the OJLL, coming off a massive 13-6 victory Monday night over the Peterborough Lakers. He spent the winter with the Saskatchewan Rush, serving as the primary backup on a team that went all the way to game three of the NLL Finals. It was his second season with the Rush.
Kiazyk has started 10 games this summer and recorded an 8.28 GAA and a .831 save percentage for the Beaches.
Whittom spends his summers playing for the Mimico Mountaineers, and was the understudy to Dillon Ward last season for the Colorado Mammoth. The 2005 birth year actually has another year of Jr. eligibility after this summer. Whittom has posted a 10.02 GAA with a .780 save percentage in 10 starts this season for the Mountaineers.
Kiazyk was drafted by the Saskatchewan Rush in the second round of the 2023 NLL draft, while the Colorado Mammoth selected Whittom with their second-round pick in the 2024 NLL draft.
Not only were they on the roster, but both netminders actually started games this past NLL season, ironically both in similar situations. In both cases, Kiazyk and Whittom were given their shots to start in the NLL when Frank Scigliano and Dillon Ward were absent from their teams due to personal reasons.
After a lifetime of dreaming for the moment, they each got about five days to prepare.
“I was given the heads up on Wednesday (before the game) that I’d be playing against Albany and made the most of it,” said Kiazyk after getting the nod.
He isn’t kidding when he says he made the most of it. He played all 60 minutes, stopping 39 of 52 shots and leading the Rush to a 17-13 victory. The next week in San Diego, he was even better, leading the Rush to a 12-8 victory over the Seals.
For Whittom, the process occurred in mostly the same way.
“It was on (the) Monday when I found out that I’d be getting the start in Ottawa and was ready for it,” said Whittom.
Whittom held his own, allowing 14 goals to Jeff Teat and the Ottawa Black Bears. But overall, it was a strong start for a player with two years of Jr. eligibility remaining.
Goaltender is widely considered the hardest position to adjust to in the NLL, but the performance of both young netminders provided plenty of optimism for the future.
From the Nation’s Capital to Ontario’s Capital
Neither goaltender grew up playing in the center they play for now, with both taking similar paths to the OJLL.
Kiazyk hails from Stittsville, Ontario, the town the Ottawa Black Bears now call home. Being a player from the Ottawa region, there haven’t been too many players who have made their way to professional ranks. Kiazyk was determined to make it not just to the OJLL, but to the NLL as well.
Kiazyk was a name that was talked about when he entered his U17 year of minor lacrosse with the Nepean Knights. It was once the Toronto Beaches and Nepean Knights formalized their affiliation, that Kiazyk was given a shot with the Beaches and continued to play with the 2004-born players he grew up playing with.
With this being his final year of junior eligibility, Kiazyk hopes to make it to a Minto Cup by using what he was taught and learned with the Rush.
“‘Love to do the hard things’ was our team motto with the Rush last year and I’m trying to translate that into my own game,” said Kiazyk.
Beaches Head Coach Reilly O’Connor is amazed at Kiazyk’s high lacrosse IQ and how much of a student he is when it comes to goaltending.
“What makes him good is his lacrosse IQ. He knows his opponents, he knows defence, and ultimately, he cares. He just loves lacrosse, he cares, and he wants to win” said O’Connor.
The Beaches were active at the trade deadline, adding in all parts of their roster. With Kiazyk and star forward Willem Firth, the Beaches are clearly in the hunt for the Minto Cup. Kiazyk and O’Connor both hope that the goaltender’s playoff run with the Rush will help on Beaches’ own run this summer.
A Mimico Boy… From Fergus?
Growing up in Fergus, Ontario–a small town with a lacrosse background–it was never a matter of “when” but “who” would draft Nathan Whittom out of the Centre Wellington Riverhawks minor lacrosse association to be their goaltender in the OJLL draft. He found a home and family with the Mimico Mountaineers.
“Being an out-of-town guy and getting drafted, Mimico, who had a lot of Mimico boys already on that roster, welcomed me like family, like I was one of their own,” Whittom said.
Standing at 6’1” and 255 lbs, Whittom got his first taste of the OJLL during the first round of playoffs in 2022 when he was the backup goaltender for their series against Burlington and was able to show his abilities in the limited minutes he played. The following year Whittom had his breakout season as he posted a 0.812 save percentage coupled with a 9.11 goals-against average and helped the team to the second round of playoffs before 2024 dawned on him.
“Going into last year, I wanted to become more of a student of the game as I really love that aspect of lacrosse,” Whittom said. .
“(At) 10:00 or 11:00 PM, I’d sit on the couch and I’d watch the game till one or two in the morning and watch what their top offensive guys did and what systems they ran. But I also watch myself in the net. So that’s huge for me, is just watching things, watching guys’ tendencies and my footwork, going post-to-post, things like that.”
Whittom used those lessons to propel Mimico to game seven of the OJLL finals last year, coming up one game short of the eventual prize. Now in a rebuilding year for the Mountaineers, Whittom is focused on developing his game as much as he can.
“A big one for me, before my junior career is done, is being in that conversation for goaltender of the year. That is one honour I’d like to have.”
Back to Summer Ball
For goaltenders especially, the summer game is much different than the winter one. While goalies don’t have to fly in the summer, they play multiple games a week, and have to adapt to different playing surfaces, equipment and nets.
In the National Lacrosse League, large wooden goalie sticks are prohibited, and the nets are wider than the nets used in the OJLL. For a goaltender, it’s an adjustment transitioning from bigger nets and smaller sticks, to bigger sticks and smaller nets.
“Going back to a bigger stick, bigger gear, smaller net, I feel like it took, me a little while to adjust,” Kiazyk stated.
For Whittom, it was the surface that made it most challenging.
“You got the bigger stick between your legs, and the net is a little smaller and you learn how to play on concrete again”, said Whittom.
With a few weeks under their belt now, both goaltenders are focused on leading their respective teams, who both have very different goals this summer.
Whether it’s chasing the Minto Cup or just making the playoffs, Kiazyk and Whittom are using the lessons they learned playing professionally to benefit them, and their teammates, back home.
Great job using 2 photos of Adam Power instead of Whittom 😂
Great article but would be better if you would have posted a picture of Nathan Whittom. The picture in the article is of the backup goalie Adam Power #30. Nathan Whittom is #29.