(WILC2015 NEWS) Thousands of friends, family and members of the lacrosse community gathered at the Victoria Conference Centre in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, in December to remember the life of NLL Hall of Famer Chris Hall, former head coach of the Calgary Roughnecks and Vancouver Stealth, who passed away on December 21 at the age of 64 after a four-year battle with cancer.
Hall’s 85 regular-season wins in the NLL rank third all-time behind Darris Kilgour (121) and Les Bartley (93). With an 11-6 career record in the postseason, Hall’s 11 playoff wins rank fourth all-time behind Bartley (22), Troy Cordingley (12) and Kilgour (12). “CH” had taken on an advisory role with the Stealth this past summer after stepping down from head coaching duties.
His role in the international game, grooming an English squad on the cusp of a medal for two consecutive World Championships, may have been less celebrated but certainly not less important. Hall took a roster of mostly “non-pros” into the 2007 World Championships and suffered respectable setbacks to Canada, Iroquois, and USA while topping everyone else for a fourth-place finish.
England delivered another top-five finish in 2011 when they outscored their traditional field lacrosse rivals in Australia, 43-16, in a pair of wins. While they suffered their first loss to Czech Republic to relinquish their fourth-place spot, the English have continued to put out strong squads–a testament to Hall, his process and work-ethic.
