The pinnacle for a player or coach after winning a championship is to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. This year NLL Hall of Fame nominees is a list of the who’s who of the players and coaches from recent years in the NLL. All have accomplished great heights in the league as players and coaches alike. With the group of Jake Bergey, Pat Coyle, Chris Hall, Pat McCready and Kaleb Toth it is sure to be a tough decision on who makes it in.
The four players Bergey, Coyle, McCready, and Toth make up 52 years of NLL playing experience. All of them making huge impacts for their squads for a combined 12 NLL champions cup victories. With Pat Coyle edging out all the others with his 5 Championship wins with the Toronto Rock in his 12 years playing. The other Pat, McCready had the longest tenure as a player out of the nominees with 17 years. In that time he played in 8 champions cup games winning 3. Pat is also 3rd in NLL history with 1,593 lose balls.
Each reaching high accolades in their careers with their teams, a are Jake Bergey and Kaleb Toth. Bergey played his entire 10-year career with the Philadelphia Wings winning 2 Championships. Completing his career ranked 2nd in points, goals, and assists in franchise history. Kaleb Toth played 13 NLL seasons under the Toronto Rock and his long career with the Calgary Roughnecks, wining 3 championships. Toth ended his time in Calgary as Calgary’s all-time leader in games played, points, goals, and assists. Toth could also become a nominee someday for his coaching career as he is set to join the Vancouver Stealth this upcoming season.
The lone coach on the list of nominees is coach Chris Hall, who just recently announced his retirement from the NLL. Most recently the head coach for the Vancouver Stealth, leading the team to the 2010 champions Cup win. Only the 2nd coach in NLL history to win a champions cup with 2 different teams, as he also lead Calgary to the win in 2004. With his illustrious career he ranks 3rd in all time wins, and 4th in playoff streak wins.
With such a great class of champions it is a shame that not all five will make it to the hall. Only three will get the honors at the end, no matter how deserving all are. My personal pick for the hall would be Coyle, Bergey, and Hall. Both McCready and Toth being very deserving and most likely entering the next time around, maybe Toth for his coaching career as well. No matter who it is out of this great cast of lacrosse genius, they will be a great addition.
