The PennZone

PHILADELPHIA - PennZone -- The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the largest and most successful professional lacrosse property in the world, today announced its first six season awards. Tracey Kelusky of Panther City Lacrosse Club is the winner of the Les Bartley Award, as the Head Coach of the Year; Steve Dietrich of the Buffalo Bandits takes the General Manager of the Year Award; Toronto Rock Owner, General Manager, and President Jamie Dawick is selected as the Executive of the Year; Pat Gregoire broadcast analyst for TSN's Game of the Week broadcasts and the Halifax Thunderbirds claims the Tom Borrelli Award for Media; Lyle Thompson of the Georgia Swarm nabs the Sportsmanship Award; and his brother, Jeremy earns Teammate of the Year.

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Kelusky, inducted into the NLL Hall of Fame in 2016, in his first season as a head coach in the NLL, led the expansion Panther City Lacrosse Club to a 7-11 record. At 1-8, the season looked lost for Panther City, but PCLC went on a five-game winning streak and won six of seven games to fight for a playoff spot late into the season.

Dietrich, who also serves as assistant coach for Buffalo, earned his third General Manager of the Year Award which now ties him with Saskatchewan Rush General Manager, Derek Keenan, for the most all-time.

For Dawick, this is his second Executive of the Year award, the other coming in 2013. Coming out of the global pandemic, Dawick made the difficult decision to relocate his team's home games from Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto to FirstOntario Centre in nearby Hamilton.

This is Gregoire's first Tom Borrelli award for outstanding media coverage of the NLL. Gregoire was instrumental to the success of the NLL's first season on TSN and its' Game of the Week broadcasts. He is also the analyst for the Halifax Thunderbirds on TSN.ca and ESPN+, his second year with the team.

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Lyle Thompson, 29, won his fourth consecutive Sportsmanship Award. Lyle finished with 102 points on the season on 47 goals which was tied for a league high and is a career high.

Jeremy Thompson, 35, won the Teammate of the Year Award, a particularly high honor as it is voted on by the players of the NLL from among one nominee per team. Jeremy helped lead the expansion Panther City Lacrosse Club to a 7-11 record and at one point, a five-game winning streak.

http://www.nll.com