Josh "Shooter" Sanderson (born April 23, 1977 in

Orangeville, Ontario Orangeville (Canada 2016 Census 28,900) is a town in south-central Ontario, Canada, and the seat of Dufferin County. History The first patent of land was issued to Ezekiel Benson, a land surveyor, on August 7, 1820. That was followed by land ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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. Sanderson played 19 seasons in the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United Stat ...

including nine with the

Toronto Rock The Toronto Rock are a professional box lacrosse franchise based in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the North Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The team was the first Canadian franchise in the NLL. ...

. In 2002, as a member of the

Brampton Excelsiors Brampton Excelsiors may refer to: *Brampton Excelsiors (MSL) The Brampton Excelsiors are Senior "A" box lacrosse team from Brampton, Ontario, Canada. The Excelsiors play in the Major Series Lacrosse Senior "A" Lacrosse League. History Perkin ...

, Sanderson was awarded the

Mike Kelly Memorial Trophy The Mike Kelley Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the Most Valuable Player of the Mann Cup competition. The trophy is named after Michael Edward Francis "Mike" Kelley who was the owner and manager of the Hamilton Tigers lacrosse club in the e ...

as most valuable player in the

Mann Cup The Mann Cup is the trophy awarded to the senior men's box lacrosse champions of Canada. The championship is a best-of-seven, East vs West series played between the league champions of Major Series Lacrosse, the East, and Western Lacrosse Associati ...

competition.

Professional career

Sanderson began his NLL career with the

Rochester Knighthawks The Rochester Knighthawks (also known as the K-Hawks) are a professional box lacrosse team in the North Division of the National Lacrosse League. They play in Rochester, New York at the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial. The Knighthawks are ow ...

. After two seasons in Rochester, Sanderson was left unprotected in the

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansion ...

, and was chosen by his father,

Albany Attack The Albany Attack was the name of a franchise which played in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) from the 2000 season through the 2003 season. The Attack played in the former Pepsi Arena in Albany, New York (now known as the Times Union Center). A ...

GM Terry Sanderson. Josh went on to be the leading scorer on the Attack for four years, including setting a new NLL record for assists in a season, with 68 in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. After the 2003 NLL season, the Attack moved to

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, becoming 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 until 2009. They played at the HP Pavilion at San Jose, which is also the home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks and t ...

. After one year in San Jose, now-

GM Terry Sanderson once again acquired his son, as Josh was traded to the Rock in a 6-player blockbuster deal. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, Sanderson broke his own single-season assists record with 71, and helped the Rock win their fifth NLL Championship. During the 2008 season, Sanderson was traded to the

Calgary Roughnecks The Calgary Roughnecks are a professional box lacrosse team based in Calgary, Alberta. They are members of the Western Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and play their home games on WestJet Field at Scotiabank Saddledome. The te ...

for

Lewis Ratcliff Lewis Ratcliff (born April 24, 1981) is a retired professional lacrosse player. Originally from London, England, Ratcliff moved to Victoria at the age of 7. NLL career Ratcliff was drafted 49th overall by the Calgary Roughnecks in the 2001 NLL ...

. Calgary became the third team (after Albany and Toronto) where Sanderson played for his father, who was an assistant coach for the Roughnecks until the end of the 2009 NLL season. In 2009, Sanderson broke his own record once again, as he and

Dan Dawson Dan Dawson (born December 11, 1981) is a Canadian professional lacrosse player for the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League, Brampton Excelsiors (MSL) of Major Series Lacrosse, and is currently a free agent in Major League Lacrosse. Daws ...

both finished the season with 74 assists. Sanderson was named to the NLL All-Pro teams in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, 2004,

, and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. During the 2009 NLL season, he was named a starter 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 ...

. On August 13, 2010, Sanderson was traded to the Boston Blazers along with a 1st round draft pick in the 2010 entry draft in exchange for

Daryl Veltman Daryl Veltman (born September 25, 1985) is a Canadian professional lacrosse player. He is currently a member of the New England Black Wolves in the National Lacrosse League. High School/College career Veltman attended the Connecticut college-prep ...

, Jon Harnett and transition player

Kyle Ross Kyle Ross (born May 12, 1983) was a professional box lacrosse player for the Washington Stealth, Toronto Rock, Boston Blazers and Minnesota Swarm in the National Lacrosse League. Ross was drafted 44th overall in the 2004 NLL draft. He stopped p ...

as well as the Blazers' first round selection in the 2010 Entry Draft. He was selected with the 4th pick in the Boston Blazers Dispersal Draft by the Minnesota Swarm. He was then traded from the

Minnesota Swarm The Minnesota Swarm was a box lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League who played at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota from 2004 until 2015. The team's previous owners (Minnesota Sports & Entertainment) who also own the NHL's ...

to the

, along with

Nick Inch Nick Inch (born December 20, 1984) is a Canadian lacrosse player in the National Lacrosse League. He was drafted to the NLL in 2005 by the Toronto Rock in the 5th round as the 55th overall pick. On September 13, 2006, the Rock traded Inch to the ...

in exchange for 9th pick in the Boston Blazers dispersal draft, 12th pick in the 2011 NLL Entry Draft and a conditional first round pick in the 2012 NLL entry draft. After contemplating retirement before the 2016 season, Sanderson decided to return for one more season, picking up 42 points in 11 games. Sanderson announced his retirement shortly after the conclusion of the 2016 season. He was subsequently named assistant General Manager of the Rock.

Statistics

NLL

Reference:

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanderson, Josh 1977 births Boston Blazers players Calgary Roughnecks players Canadian lacrosse players Living people National Lacrosse League All-Stars People from Orangeville, Ontario Rochester Knighthawks players San Jose Stealth players Sportspeople from Ontario Toronto Rock players