The National Lacrosse League has announced that former goaltender Pat O’Toole has been voted into the NLL Hall of Fame as the lone inductee of the Class of 2013. O’Toole will become the fifth goaltender and 21st member of the league’s Hall of Fame after the first-time nominee received votes on 100 percent of the ballots cast by Hall of Fame members and over 78 percent of the ballots overall.
O’Toole played 16 seasons in the league from 1995-2010, highlighted by 12 years with the Rochester Knighthawks and three seasons with the Buffalo Bandits. The 2003 NLL Goaltender of the Year made 6,464 saves, second-most in league history, in 204 regular season games, which are the 10th-most games played in NLL history. O’Toole won two championships as a player, first with Buffalo in 1996 when he was named title game MVP, and again with the Knighthawks in 2007.
Rochester’s all-time franchise leader in wins (102) and saves (5,756), O’Toole posted a career record of 115-56 with an 11.40 goals against average and .768 save percentage while adding an NLL-record three goals and 136 assists. O’Toole had a 9-9 record in 23 career playoff games with six Championship Game appearances (1996-1997, 1999-2000, 2003, 2007).
The Brampton, Ontario native currently serves as Rochester’s goaltending coach and has now won back-to-back championships as a member of the team’s coaching staff. O’Toole was inducted into the Knighthawks Hall of Fame this past March during a pregame ceremony. O’Toole joins fellow goaltenders Bob Watson and Steve Dietrich as the lone inductees into the Hall of Fame for the third-straight year.
The six finalists for the Class of 2013 were selected last month by the league’s Hall of Fame Committee. The other five finalists were first-time nominees Pat McCready and Kaleb Toth, along with three automatically returning from last year’s ballot in Chris Driscoll, Regy Thorpe and the 1993 Buffalo Bandits.
Hall of Fame ballots were cast by the teams, current members of the NLL Hall of Fame and senior members of the league’s covering media. Voters were able to select up to three of the six nominees on the ballot. To win induction into the Hall of Fame, nominees must be selected on a minimum of 75 percent of the ballots cast.
NLL Hall of Fame Class of 2013 induction ceremony plans will be announced at a later date.
