Presenting the NLL Pronunciation Guide for the 2016 season. This is the fifth year I’ve done this, and it seems to grow in popularity every year. Teddy Jenner even linked to it in a recent IL Indoor article. The league makes such a list as well but I saw last year’s, and even that had some names wrong.

This was originally done because I got tired of hearing play-by-play guys and other announcers talking about NLL players and butchering their names. As I said in last year’s article, this isn’t really done as a criticism of announcers who get them wrong; many of them are new to lacrosse or the NLL so they’re simply not as familiar with the players as others.

Maybe someday the broadcasters will be full-time employees of the teams or league and familiar enough with the players that this isn’t an issue anymore. Until then, I shall persist in this endeavour.

Names are organized alphabetically within teams.

Buffalo

Ryan Benesch – buh-NESH

Kevin Brownell – brow-NELL. brow rhymes with “cow”.

Chad Culp – CHAD CULP. Like BIG GULP.

Davide Diruscio – DAY-vid dih-ROOSH-ee-o

Tyler Ferreira – fur-AIR-uh

Alexander Kedoh Hill – Kedoh sounds like KID-o

Steve Priolo – pree-O-lo

Dhane Smith – DANE

Mark Steenhuis – STAIN-house

Jay Thorimbert – THOR-im-burt

Nick Weiss – WEES

 

Calgary

Dane Dobbie – DOUGH-bee. Not like Dobby.

Greg Harnett – har-NET

Jon Harnett – no idea

Karsen Leung – lee-UNG

Mike Poulin – POO-lin

Frankie Scigliano – shill-ee-ANN-o

Bob Snider – SNY-der. Not SHNY-der.

 

Colorado

Alex Buque – boo-KAY

Callum Crawford – CAL-um. Not CAY-lum.

Joey Cupido – koo-PEE-do. Not KYOO-pid-o.

Ilija Gajic – ILL-ee-ya GUY-ch

Jordan Gilles – GILL-ess. Not the same as Brad Gillies.

Eli McLaughlin – E-lie muh-GLOCK-lin

Creighton Reid – CRAY-ton

Corbyn Tao – COR-bin TOW. TOW rhymes with “cow”.

 

Georgia

Mitch Belisle – buh-LYLE

Alex Crepinsek – CREP-in-seck

Josh Gillam – GILL-um. Not GILL-ee-um

Jordan Houtby – HOWT-bee. Kinda rhymes with “house”.

Joe Maracle – MARE-a-cull. Similar to “miracle”.

Kiel Matisz – KYLE muh-TEEZ

Randy Staats – STOTS. Rhymes with “slots”. Not STATS.

 

New England

Tye Belanger – buh-LAHN-jay

Kevin Crowley – KROW-lee. Not like the bird. KROW rhymes with “cow”.

Ryan Hotaling – ho-TAL-ing

Brian Megill – muh-GILL

Jimmy Purves – PURR-viss

 

Rochester

Brad Gillies – GILL-ees. Not the same as Jordan Gilles.

Graeme Hossack – GRAY-um HOSS-ack

Stephen Keogh – KEY-o

Joe Resetarits – res-uh-TARE-its

Derek Searle – SURL. Rhymes with “pearl”. Also pronounced ROOK-ee PUNK depending on who you ask.

Matt Vinc – like the name “Vince”. Not VINK.

Cory Vitarelli – vit-uh-REL-ee

 

Saskatchewan

Nik Bilic – bee-LEETCH but many people say BIL-itch. Definitely not BIL-ik.

Chris Corbeil – cor-BEEL

Riley Loewen – LOW-en. LOW is like the word “low”, not rhyming with “cow”.

Brett Mydske – MID-skee

Adrian Sorichetti – sore-i-KET-ee

Kyle Rubisch – ROO-bish

 

Toronto

Kyle Aquin – a-KWIN

Kasey Beirnes – BEERns. Not BEER-ness and not BURNS.

Rob Hellyer – HELL-yer. Don’t forget the Y – it’s not HELL-er.

Billy Hostrawser – HO-straw-zer

Bradley Kri – KREE

Stephan Leblanc – STEFF-in luh-BLONK. Not steh-FAWN and not luh-BLANK.

Dan Lintner – LINT-ner. There are two N’s in there, not LINT-er or LIT-ner.

Luc Magnan – LUKE MAG-nun. I would have expected man-YON but I’ve never heard it pronounced that way.

Brock Sorensen – SOR-en-sen

 

Vancouver

Keegan Bal – KEE-gan BALL

Rhys Duch – REES DUTCH

Tyler Hass – HASS. Not HOSS. Rhymes with pass.

Jeff Moleski – muh-LESS-ski

Chris O’Dougherty – O DORT-ee. Or O DOUGH-erty if you say it slowly.

Logan Schuss – SHUSS (rhymes with BUS). Not SHUSH, SHOOSH, or SHOOS.

 

Coaches & Execs

Aime Caines – AMY CANES.  Swarm assistant coach.

Ed Comeau – KO-mo. Swarm head coach.

Jamie Dawick – DOW-ick. DOW rhymes with “cow”. Owner & GM of the Rock.

Lee Genier – JEN-yay. President of the Saskatchewan Rush.

Steve Govett – GUV-it. President & GM of the Mammoth.

Mike Hasen – HAY-zen. Knighthawks head coach.

Darris Kilgour – DARE-iss KILL-gore. Not DARE-ee-us. Former Bandits coach/GM.

Curt Malawsky – I’ve had muh-LOW-skee (LOW rhymes with “cow”) on this list for years but that’s wrong. It’s muh-LAW-skee. Thanks Jake Elliott. Roughnecks head coach.

Dan Perreault – pair-O. Sounds similar to my name but the emphasis is on the O. Stealth head coach.

Nick Sakiewicz – sic-KEV-itch. NLL commish.

Kyle Sorensen – SOR-en-sen. Stealth defenseman assistant coach assistant GM.

Kaleb Toth – KAY-leb TOE-th, not TAW-th. Stealth assistant coach.

 

Other

Steve Bermel – BERM-ull. Rhymes with “thermal”. Bandits beat writer.

Melissa Dafni – DAF-nee. One of my co-hosts on Addicted to Lacrosse.

Tyler Fitch – TY-ler FITCH. My other co-host on Addicted to Lacrosse.

Marisa Ingemi – muh-RISS-a in-JEM-ee. In Lacrosse We Trust writer.

Graeme Perrow – GRAY-um PAIR-o. Yours truly.

Craig Rybczynski – rib-CHIN-skee. Knighthawks broadcaster.

Grant Spies – SPEEZ. NLL ref.