University of Delaware Athletics
Kurtz And Grant Lead New Generation Of Canadian Standouts
4/16/2019 6:50:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Owen Grant was in a tight situation: a loose ball to the immediate right of Matt DeLuca's cage, Delaware men's lacrosse protecting a late lead against Hofstra in a crucial conference game, Pride attackers closing in. The freshman defender swooped in, deftly controlled the ground ball, and escaped pressure to clear the zone.
It was an impressive display of stick skills for any long-pole defender, but even more so considering Grant was playing in just his fifth collegiate game, and doubly impressive considering his background.
Grant is from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, just to the north of Toronto. Canadians love lacrosse (the National Sports of Canada Act declared lacrosse to be the national summer sport of Canada), but they almost exclusively play indoor or "box" lacrosse.
Box lacrosse is played within the dimensions and boards of a hockey rink on artificial turf with six players on the floor (field lacrosse has 10). The goals are smaller and the goalie pads are larger. The game is physical and compact, forcing players to think and act quickly. One big difference: there are no long poles in box lacrosse.
So how did Grant, a freshman Canadian, end up starting for the Blue Hens defensive unit?
"They wanted to see a long pole in my hands and I liked hitting people," Grant said with a smile on his face after Delaware had wrapped up a 13-7 victory over Hofstra.
Grant had the advantage of attending Everest Academy, a Canadian prep school that plays a full American high school field lacrosse schedule, for a year. His classmate and fellow Canadian Tye Kurtz, an attacker, did not.
"Getting used to American long poles, for sure, was definitely a challenge," Kurtz said. "But the IQ in box is a lot different, which helps me excel in different ways, gives the defense something they've never seen before."
Kurtz said about 90% of the lacrosse he played growing up was box, and even the field lacrosse that he played wasn't at the level he now sees in Division I. But the quick hands he developed through a lifetime of box lacrosse have helped make that transition smoother. Kurtz is second on the team with 30 goals and 16 assists, but has done so on just 60 shots (47 of them on goal). As of April 15, his .500 shooting percentage was the fifth-best mark in the country. Penn State's TJ Malone, also at .500, is the only other freshman in the top 10, but he only has 22 goals this season.
The Puslinch, Ontario native is putting together a strong case for Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year. He's won CAA Rookie of the Week a league-leading three times, and was also named Player of the Week after his seven-goal performance at Fairfield on March 30.
"Tye has been fantastic," head coach Ben DeLuca said. "He's been, I think, above and beyond what we had hoped and expected from him in his first year. We knew that he could develop into something special, but he really adapted quickly from having never played the game before and he's a critical part of our offense."
Delaware has a long of history of high-scoring Canadians, several of whom have gone on to have prolonged professional careers. The trailblazer was John Grant Jr. Grant only spent his junior and senior seasons in Newark from 1998-99, but he still skyrocketed up the Blue Hens' all-time scoring list. In 1999, he amassed 110 points for the season (56 G, 54 A) at a clip of three goals per game. As a professional, he won every major award and championship there is to win, from MVPs and titles in MLL (Major League Lacrosse, a field league) and the NLL (National Lacrosse League, a box league) to a World Championship with Canada. He's currently an assistant coach at Air Force.
Grant was the model legendary coach Bob Shillinglaw used to recruit other talented Canadians to Delaware, namely Jordan Hall.
"It was funny, they said, 'Hey, we want you to come to Delaware and be the next John Grant Jr.' I said, 'I don't know about that, but I'd love to come [for a tour],'" Hall said. "I went to campus and I loved Delaware. Campus was awesome. You look back at it: best decision ever."
Hall played at Delaware from 2004-07, winning the 2005 CAA Player of the Year award and leading the Blue Hens to the Final Four as a senior. He's played in both the MLL and NLL for over a decade, and this season notched his 700th career NLL point with the Philadelphia Wings. Hall, from Surrey, British Columbia, was then key in getting fellow British Columbia product Curtis Dickson in a Delaware uniform.
"The Canadian pipeline hadn't really opened up yet, there wasn't a ton of guys coming down south to play," Dickson said.
Dickson, known in the lacrosse community as "Superman" for his knack for flying horizontally through the crease to score goals, is the all-time record holder at Delaware for career goals with 162. In fact, his name is written all over the UD record book for all kinds of scoring feats. In 2010, he was an All-American in addition to the CAA Player of the Year and a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award, given annually to the most outstanding American college lacrosse player.
The 2011 NLL Rookie of the Year is a star in the sport, and was one of the big names recruited by the brand-new Premier Lacrosse League, a barnstorming field lacrosse league started by Paul Rabil, the Lebron James of the sport.
Lacrosse has grown across the continent in the past decade, with Americans playing more box and Canadians playing more field. But Dickson remembers having to adjust to the field game on his arrival at Delaware.
"We didn't play a ton of field lacrosse growing up. If you did, it was basically box lacrosse on grass," Dickson said. "That's really all I knew when I went down there, was box lacrosse. So again, hats off to Coach Shills and the staff and all my teammates for having patience to teach me the ways of the true field lacrosse game."
Hall had to find the balance of adjusting to a new style, but staying true to his own game.
"I didn't have a lot of experience. I got there and guys were like, 'what's with this guy?' I was cross-checking people in the back," Hall laughed. "[Shillinglaw] was awesome in kind of molding that and letting me do what I do."
Just as Shillinglaw molded Canadians into standout American collegiate players, DeLuca has the opportunity to forge a new generation of Canadians in the blue and gold with Kurtz and Grant.
"[Grant's] got a great stick, he's got really good instincts. He has a knack for putting the ball on the ground, and then creating transition or creating offense out of it," DeLuca said of Grant's playmaking ability. "I think he's adjusting to the speed of the Division I game, but in the short time that he's been practicing on the field, he's done a really good job of adjusting and learning to play with his teammates."
"I think I play more of a Canadian-style game," Kurtz said. "The guys have been really great. Charlie [Kitchen], Joe [Eisele] especially up there on attack with me. They've been doing a great job, they were really patient with me to get used to it. Started off a little slow, but we're getting used to each other now and we're clicking pretty well."
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It was an impressive display of stick skills for any long-pole defender, but even more so considering Grant was playing in just his fifth collegiate game, and doubly impressive considering his background.
Grant is from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, just to the north of Toronto. Canadians love lacrosse (the National Sports of Canada Act declared lacrosse to be the national summer sport of Canada), but they almost exclusively play indoor or "box" lacrosse.
Box lacrosse is played within the dimensions and boards of a hockey rink on artificial turf with six players on the floor (field lacrosse has 10). The goals are smaller and the goalie pads are larger. The game is physical and compact, forcing players to think and act quickly. One big difference: there are no long poles in box lacrosse.
So how did Grant, a freshman Canadian, end up starting for the Blue Hens defensive unit?
"They wanted to see a long pole in my hands and I liked hitting people," Grant said with a smile on his face after Delaware had wrapped up a 13-7 victory over Hofstra.
Grant had the advantage of attending Everest Academy, a Canadian prep school that plays a full American high school field lacrosse schedule, for a year. His classmate and fellow Canadian Tye Kurtz, an attacker, did not.
"Getting used to American long poles, for sure, was definitely a challenge," Kurtz said. "But the IQ in box is a lot different, which helps me excel in different ways, gives the defense something they've never seen before."
Kurtz said about 90% of the lacrosse he played growing up was box, and even the field lacrosse that he played wasn't at the level he now sees in Division I. But the quick hands he developed through a lifetime of box lacrosse have helped make that transition smoother. Kurtz is second on the team with 30 goals and 16 assists, but has done so on just 60 shots (47 of them on goal). As of April 15, his .500 shooting percentage was the fifth-best mark in the country. Penn State's TJ Malone, also at .500, is the only other freshman in the top 10, but he only has 22 goals this season.
The Puslinch, Ontario native is putting together a strong case for Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year. He's won CAA Rookie of the Week a league-leading three times, and was also named Player of the Week after his seven-goal performance at Fairfield on March 30.
"Tye has been fantastic," head coach Ben DeLuca said. "He's been, I think, above and beyond what we had hoped and expected from him in his first year. We knew that he could develop into something special, but he really adapted quickly from having never played the game before and he's a critical part of our offense."
Delaware has a long of history of high-scoring Canadians, several of whom have gone on to have prolonged professional careers. The trailblazer was John Grant Jr. Grant only spent his junior and senior seasons in Newark from 1998-99, but he still skyrocketed up the Blue Hens' all-time scoring list. In 1999, he amassed 110 points for the season (56 G, 54 A) at a clip of three goals per game. As a professional, he won every major award and championship there is to win, from MVPs and titles in MLL (Major League Lacrosse, a field league) and the NLL (National Lacrosse League, a box league) to a World Championship with Canada. He's currently an assistant coach at Air Force.
Grant was the model legendary coach Bob Shillinglaw used to recruit other talented Canadians to Delaware, namely Jordan Hall.
"It was funny, they said, 'Hey, we want you to come to Delaware and be the next John Grant Jr.' I said, 'I don't know about that, but I'd love to come [for a tour],'" Hall said. "I went to campus and I loved Delaware. Campus was awesome. You look back at it: best decision ever."
Hall played at Delaware from 2004-07, winning the 2005 CAA Player of the Year award and leading the Blue Hens to the Final Four as a senior. He's played in both the MLL and NLL for over a decade, and this season notched his 700th career NLL point with the Philadelphia Wings. Hall, from Surrey, British Columbia, was then key in getting fellow British Columbia product Curtis Dickson in a Delaware uniform.
"The Canadian pipeline hadn't really opened up yet, there wasn't a ton of guys coming down south to play," Dickson said.
Dickson, known in the lacrosse community as "Superman" for his knack for flying horizontally through the crease to score goals, is the all-time record holder at Delaware for career goals with 162. In fact, his name is written all over the UD record book for all kinds of scoring feats. In 2010, he was an All-American in addition to the CAA Player of the Year and a finalist for the Tewaaraton Award, given annually to the most outstanding American college lacrosse player.
The 2011 NLL Rookie of the Year is a star in the sport, and was one of the big names recruited by the brand-new Premier Lacrosse League, a barnstorming field lacrosse league started by Paul Rabil, the Lebron James of the sport.
Lacrosse has grown across the continent in the past decade, with Americans playing more box and Canadians playing more field. But Dickson remembers having to adjust to the field game on his arrival at Delaware.
"We didn't play a ton of field lacrosse growing up. If you did, it was basically box lacrosse on grass," Dickson said. "That's really all I knew when I went down there, was box lacrosse. So again, hats off to Coach Shills and the staff and all my teammates for having patience to teach me the ways of the true field lacrosse game."
Hall had to find the balance of adjusting to a new style, but staying true to his own game.
"I didn't have a lot of experience. I got there and guys were like, 'what's with this guy?' I was cross-checking people in the back," Hall laughed. "[Shillinglaw] was awesome in kind of molding that and letting me do what I do."
Just as Shillinglaw molded Canadians into standout American collegiate players, DeLuca has the opportunity to forge a new generation of Canadians in the blue and gold with Kurtz and Grant.
"[Grant's] got a great stick, he's got really good instincts. He has a knack for putting the ball on the ground, and then creating transition or creating offense out of it," DeLuca said of Grant's playmaking ability. "I think he's adjusting to the speed of the Division I game, but in the short time that he's been practicing on the field, he's done a really good job of adjusting and learning to play with his teammates."
"I think I play more of a Canadian-style game," Kurtz said. "The guys have been really great. Charlie [Kitchen], Joe [Eisele] especially up there on attack with me. They've been doing a great job, they were really patient with me to get used to it. Started off a little slow, but we're getting used to each other now and we're clicking pretty well."
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Players Mentioned
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