Jeff Zywicki (born April 8, 1981) is a former professional

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

player from

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He played college lacrosse at UMass. He was drafted 8th overall by the

San Jose Stealth The San Jose Stealth were a member of the National Lacrosse League, the professional box lacrosse league of North America from 2004 NLL season, 2004 until 2009 NLL season, 2009. They played at the HP Pavilion at San Jose, which is also the home of ...

in the 2005

National Lacrosse League Entry Draft The National Lacrosse League entry draft is an annual event where the general managers of National Lacrosse League teams choose eligible players for their rosters from US college programs and Canada's junior lacrosse system. A player is deemed el ...

. He also played in

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff f ...

for the

San Francisco Dragons The San Francisco Dragons were a professional field lacrosse team based in San Francisco and San Jose, California. From 2006–2008, they played in Major League Lacrosse and they ceased operations before the 2009 season due to the economic situati ...

Denver Outlaws The Denver Outlaws were a Major League Lacrosse professional men's field lacrosse team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They began playing in the MLL in 2006 as an expansion team. Since joining the league, the Outlaws have played in the ...

and the Toronto Nationals, who drafted him.

Early career

Zywicki grew up in

Nepean, Ontario Nepean ( ) is a former municipality and now geographic area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Located west of Ottawa's inner core, it was an independent city until amalgamated with the Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton in 2001 to become the ne ...

, Canada where he played his minor lacrosse. At 15, he led his Midget lacrosse team to a Provincial championship with his father, Eugene Zywicki as the head coach. At 16, Zywicki began playing for the

Nepean Knights The Nepean Knights is a minor lacrosse association playing within the Ontario Lacrosse Association. The name is also shared by The Nepean Knights Jr. B and a newly formed (2019) Junior C team. While the Jr. B team is privately owned, the Junior C t ...

of the

OLA Junior B Lacrosse League The Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League (OJBLL) is a box lacrosse league sanctioned by the Ontario Lacrosse Association in Canada. The league features twenty-five teams in Ontario, one in Quebec, and one in the Akwesasne (which straddles the two af ...

, where he finished second with 5.0 points per game to Andre Leduc (5.4 points per game) for most career points per game. In 1998, Zywicki had a career high 96 points and was awarded as the League's Most Outstanding Rookie. During his time with the Knights, Zywicki also split time playing with the Jr. ‘A’

Orillia Rama Kings The Orillia Kings are Junior "B" box lacrosse team from Orillia, Ontario, Canada. The Kings play in the OLA Junior B Lacrosse League The Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League (OJBLL) is a box lacrosse league sanctioned by the Ontario Lacrosse Associ ...

College & professional career

Zywicki attended the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

where he was awarded

ECAC Lacrosse League The ECAC Lacrosse League was an American NCAA Division I college athletic conference and part of the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Founded in 1999 with play beginning in 2000, this part of the conference only sponsored men's lacrosse. It di ...

First Team honors as a senior. That same year, Jeff was drafted 8th overall by the

in the

National Lacrosse League entry draft The National Lacrosse League entry draft is an annual event where the general managers of National Lacrosse League teams choose eligible players for their rosters from US college programs and Canada's junior lacrosse system. A player is deemed el ...

. He also plays for the Toronto Nationals of

. During the

2009 NLL season The 2009 National Lacrosse League season, the 23rd in the history of the NLL, began January 3, 2009 in Buffalo, Portland, and Sunrise, Florida, and concluded with the Calgary Roughnecks defeating the New York Titans 12—10 in the Champion's Cup ...

, he was named a reserve to the

All-Star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

International career

In 2006, Jeff lead the Canadian Men's lacrosse team to its first

World Lacrosse Championship The World Lacrosse Championship (WLC) is the international men's field lacrosse championship organized by World Lacrosse that occurs every four years. The WLC began before any international lacrosse organization had been formed. It started as a ...

since 1978, when it defeated the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

15–10 in the final of the

2006 World Lacrosse Championship 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. Jeff had an outstanding championship, being awarded the 'Best Attackman' and earning a spot on the All-World team after scoring a tournament record 28 goals in 8 games.

Statistics

NCAA

NLL

MLL

Junior

Senior

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zywicki, Jeff 1981 births Living people Canadian expatriate lacrosse people in the United States Canadian lacrosse players Lacrosse forwards Lacrosse people from Ontario Major League Lacrosse players National Lacrosse League All-Stars San Jose Stealth players Sportspeople from Ottawa Hamilton Nationals players UMass Minutemen lacrosse players Washington Stealth players