It’s back again! The complete list of verified (as much as possible, anyway) pronunciations for difficult-to-pronounce names in the NLL including players, coaches, executives, and media.

Thanks as always to Stephen Stamp for his help in verifying the pronunciations. Please let me know (in the comments, or hit me up on Twitter) if I got any wrong!

Names are organized alphabetically within teams.

Buffalo

Kevin Brownell – brow-NELL. brow rhymes with “cow”. Not BROWN-ull.

Doug Buchan – BUCK-in

Josh Byrne – BURN

Chris Cloutier – CLOO-chay

Chase Fraser – FRAY-zer, not FRAY-zher

Matt Gilray – GILL-ray

Jon Harnett – har-NET

Marcus Minichiello – MIN-ih-kee-EL-o

Chukwuemeka Okaeme – CHOO-kuh-o-MEE-kuh o-KAY-me

Steve Priolo – pree-O-lo

Dhane Smith – DANE

Matt Spanger – SPANG-er. Like hanger but with an SP instead

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

Nick Weiss – WEES

Calgary

Reece Callies – REES CAL-ees

Christian del Bianco – dell bee-AN-ko

Dane Dobbie – DOUGH-bee. Not like Dobby.

Rhys Duch – REES DUTCH

Greg Harnett – har-NET

Zach Herreweyers – HAIR-wires (not HAY-wires as many say and as I had in previous years)

Anthony Kalinich – KAL-in-itch

Ryan Martel – mar-TELL

Eli Salama – sa-LA-ma

Colorado

Scott Carnegie – CAR-nuh-gee (hard g)

Joey Cupido – koo-PEE-doe. Not KYOO-pid-o or KOO-pid-o.

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

Dylan Kinnear – kih-NEER

Eli McLaughlin – E-lie muh-GLOCK-lin

Jacob Ruest – His mom says roo-EH where EH is pronounced like the e in “best”. Jacob says roo-AY is fine.

Georgia

Alex Crepinsek – CREP-in-seck

Ryan MacSpadyen – mick-SPADGE-en

Kevin Orleman – OR-luh-min

Mike Poulin – POO-lin

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

Leo Stouros – STIR-us. According to Leo, it “rhymes with thermos”.

Kasen Tarbell – KAY-sen. Like Jason, but with a K.

Adam Wiedemann – WEED-uh-min

Halifax

James Barclay – BAR-klay

Ryan Benesch – buh-NESH

Chris Boushy – BOO-shee

Pete Dubenski – doo-BEN-skee

Eric Fannell – fuh-NELL

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

Graeme Hossack – GRAY-um HOSS-ick

Stephen Keogh – KEY-o. Not KEY-ho

Luc Magnan – LUKE MAG-nun

Clarke Petterson – PETE-er-sin

Trevor Smyth – like SMITH

Nonkon Thompson – NUN-go

Luke Van Schepen – van SHEP-en

New England

Mike Byrne – BURN

Nick Chaykowsky – chay-KOW-skee

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

Jordan Durston – DER-stun

Dave Emala – EM-a-la

Andrew Kew – Q

John LaFontaine – LA-fon-tane

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

Joe Nardella – nar-DELL-uh

Jackson Nishimura – ni-shi-MOOR-uh

Creighton Reid – CRAY-tun

Joe Resatarits – res-uh-TARE-its

New York

Gowah Abrams – GO-uh

Alex Buque – boo-KAY

Jean-Luc Chetner – ZHON-luke CHET-ner

Ryan Fournier – FOORN-yay

Dan Lomas – LOW-mus

Kieran McArdle – KEER-un muh-KAR-dl

Brooker Muir – MYOOR

Leland Powless – LEE-land

Cody Radziewicz – RAZ-a-witz

Philadelphia

Trevor Baptiste – bap-TEEST

Liam Byrnes – BURNS

Steph Charbonneau – STEFF char-buh-no. Since it’s French, the stress is sort of evenly placed throughout, or even char-buh-NO, but the Anglicized version is SHAR-buh-no.

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

Isaiah Davis-Allen – eye-ZAY-uh

Anthony Joaquim – JOKE-um

Kiel Matisz – KYLE muh-TEEZ

Blaze Riorden – REER-dun

Eric Shewell – SHOO-ull

Cory Vitarelli – vit-uh-REL-ee

Daryl Waud – WOD

Rochester

Phil Caputo – ka-POO-toe

Holden Cattoni – ka-TONE-ee

Julian Garritano – gar-uh-TAN-o

Tyler Gaulton – GOLL-ton

Rylan Hartley – RY-lin. There’s an L in there. It’s not Ryan.

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

Dan Michel – MICK-ell. Like nickel but with an M

Pat Saunders – SAWN-ders. Not SAND-ers.

Jay Thorimbert – THOR-im-burt

Craig Wende – Like the name Wendy

San Diego

Oliver Bolsterli – BOWL-stir-lee

Mike Carnegie – CAR-nuh-gee (hard g)

Brandon Clelland – CLELL-and

Nick Damude – DAY-mood

Garrett Epple – EPP-il

Mark Glicini – gli-SEE-nee

Eli Gobrecht – GO-breckt

Connor Kearnan – KEER-nan

Tor Reinholdt – RINE-holt

Mikie Schlosser – SHLOS-er

Frank Scigliano – shill-ee-ANN-o

Austin Staats – STOTS

Saskatchewan

Chris Corbeil – cor-BEEL

Matt Hossack – HOSS-ick

Mike Messenger – MESS-in-jer

Kyle Rubisch – ROO-bish

Adam Shute – SHOOT

Toronto

Scott Dominey – DOM-in-ee

Latrell Harris – la-TREL

Billy Hostrawser – HO-straw-zer

Brad Kri – KREE

Reid Reinholdt – REED RINE-holt

Challen Rogers – CHA-lin

Tom Schreiber – SHRY-ber

Alec Tulett – tuh-LET (here’s proof)

Vancouver

Keegan Bal – BALL

Nik Bilic – BEE-leech according to Nik himself. Many people say bee-LEETCH which he’s apparently OK with. Not BILL-ick or BILL-itch.

Tyler Codron – COD-run

Riley Loewen – LOW-en

Joel McCready – muh-CREED-ee

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

James Rahe – RAY

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

Bob Snider – SNY-der. Not SHNY-der.

Warriors – WOR-ee-ers. It’s a pet peeve of mine when people say it quickly enough that it sounds like WOYERS. Three syllables, people.

Coaches & Execs

Ed Comeau – kuh-MO. Swarm head coach.

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

Clem D’Orazio – duh-RAZZ-ee-o. Black Wolves assistant coach.

Steve Govett – GUV-it. President of the San Diego Seals.

Mike Hasen – HAY-zen. Not HAN-sen. Knighthawks head coach.

Tracey Kelusky – kuh-LUSS-key. Wings assistant coach.

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

Dan Ladouceur – ladda-SIR. Assistant coach of the Swarm.

Curt Malawsky – muh-LAW-skee. Roughnecks head coach.

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

Kaleb Toth – KAY-leb TOE-th, not TAW-th. Former NLL player and coach. Hearing Toth’s name mispronounced on a broadcast (after a decade as a star in the league) was the inspiration for the very first pronunciation guide.

First Nations terms

Haudenosaunee – HO-dun-uh-SHO-nee. The collective name for the people belonging to the Six Nations: Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora.

Iroquois – In Canada it’s EAR-uh-kwa, in the US it’s EAR-uh-kwoy. Another name for the Haudenosaunee people.

Tewaarton – tuh-WAHR-tun. The Mohawk name for the sport of lacrosse and the name of the award given annually to the top American college lacrosse player.

Place names

Coquitlam – ko-KWIT-lum. Town in greater Vancouver, BC, home to lots of NLL players. Note that Port Coquitlam (aka Poco) is nearby but is a different town.

New Westminster – noo west-MIN-ster. Often shortened to just New West. Note that it’s not MIN-is-ter – there is only one i. Also part of the greater Vancouver area and also home to lots of NLL players.

Saskatchewan – Well, it’s complicated. I got in trouble a few years ago because I listed it as “sas-CATCH-uh-won” which is how I’ve been pronouncing it all my life, but apparently that’s wrong. The last syllable shouldn’t be “won”, and it shouldn’t really be “win” either. It should be “wən” where the ə symbol is a “schwa”, indicating an “unstressed and toneless central vowel sound”. Say it like there is no vowel there at all, like “sas-CATCH-uh-wn”. And some locals pronounce the first syllable as “sis” rather than “sas”, though I’d say the first vowel should also be a schwa. The end result is səs-CATCH-uh-wən.

Saskatoon – sas-ka-TOON. The emphasis in the word Saskatchewan is on the second syllable while in the word Saskatoon it’s on the third.

Toronto – tor-ON-toe. Or TRON-uh if you’re a Torontonian.

Other

Steve Bermel – BERM-ull. Rhymes with “thermal”. Bandits colour commentator.

Brad Challoner – CHALL-ah-ner. Brad says it’s like “challenger” without the g. Warriors broadcaster.

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

Pete Dalliday – DAL-i-day. Thunderbirds play-by-play guy.

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

Tyson Geick – GUYK. Like Geico without the o. Big Lacrosse Flash team guy.

Pat Gregoire – greg-WAHR. Thunderbirds colour guy and popular podcast guest.

Marisa Ingemi – muh-RISS-a in-JEM-ee. Boston Herald hockey reporter but used to write about lacrosse.

Devan Kaney – DEV-in KAY-nee. NLL content producer and host.

Adam Levi – LEE-vee. NLL and Lacrosse Flash contributor. Big team AND big stats guy.

Ty Merrow – MARE-o. Like bone marrow. Rhymes with Perrow, if that helps. Writer for the Georgia Swarm.

Tehoka Nanticoke: day-HO-ga NAN-ti-coke. No, he’s not an NLL player but he will be someday and if you follow lacrosse at all, you’ve likely heard his name.

Graeme Perrow – GRAY-um PAIR-o. It’s-a me!

Craig Rybczynski – rib-CHIN-skee but apparently “rib-ZIN-skee” is acceptable. Knighthawks broadcaster.

Evan Schemenauer – SHEM-en-our. Lacrosse blogger over at laxallstars.com and co-host of the Lacrosse Classified podcast.

Stephen Stamp – STEE-ven. STAMP-er is also acceptable. IL Indoor writer and editor, podcaster, name pronunciation verifier.