Home / News / Currier, de Snoo, Vinc Win NLL Transition, Defensive Player, Goaltender of the Year Awards

Currier, de Snoo, Vinc Win NLL Transition, Defensive Player, Goaltender of the Year Awards

Matt Vinc

The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the largest and most successful professional lacrosse property in the world, today announced that Zach Currier of the Calgary Roughnecks has won the NLL Transition Player of the Year Award; Mitch de Snoo of the Toronto Rock claimed the Defensive Player of the Year Award; and Buffalo Bandits netminder Mat Vinc earned his NLL-record eighth Goaltender of the Year honors, as the league continued its unveiling of 2021-22 award winners this week.

Currier, 28, helped lead the Roughnecks to the second seed in the West Conference after a slow start to the season. The former first round pick from the 2017 NLL Entry Draft led the league in loose ball recoveries at 237. He also set a record for most caused turnovers in a season with 62, the next closest on the season recorded 39. Among defensemen and transition players, he ranked in the top 10 in points with 19, (10 goals, nine assists). It’s the first Transition Player of the Year award for Currier, who became the first Roughneck to win the award since Jeff Shattler in 2011. Currier won 56.8% of his faceoff draws through the season, taking the most he has through his NLL career and led the team in blocked shots at 11.

De Snoo, 29, ends Graeme Hossack’s reign as the Defensive Player of the Year, marking the first of his career and the first for the Rock since 2010 when Sandy Chapman claimed the title. The Rock, anchored by de Snoo, were the only team to allow fewer than 10 goals per game through the regular season. The defenseman was tied for second in the NLL with 39 caused turnovers, with his teammate Brad Kri. De Snoo led the Rock with 185 loose ball recoveries and 18 blocked shots while also contributing 20 points on eight goals and 12 assists.

Vinc, 40, has now claimed the Goaltender of the Year award in eight of the last 12 seasons with three different franchises (Orlando Titans, Rochester Knighthawks, and Buffalo Bandits). He was one of four goalies to surpass the 1,000 minutes played mark during the season and finished third in goals against average at 10.10. Vinc led the NLL in wins (14), saves (747) and save percentage (.807). With Vinc in net, the Bandits had the best record in the regular season at 14-4.

Through the season, Vinc hit multiple career milestones including his 13,000th career minute played (no other player has reached 12,000), 9,000th save (no other player has more than 7,500), and 130th regular season win (no other player has 110). Vinc also contributed with nine assists on the season, third among goalies.

All awards were voted on prior to the start of the 2022 playoffs and were based on regular season statistics.

About Jerry Milani

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Jerry Milani is a writer and public relations executive living in Bloomfield, N.J. He has worked in P.R. for more than 30 years in college and conference sports media relations, two agencies and for the International Fight League, a team-based mixed martial arts league, and as a freelance professional. His PR clients have included Wizard World and FAN EXPO, which produce pop culture and celebrity conventions across North America, USA Wrestling, the National Lacrosse League, Strat-O-Matic Media, the Pacific Life Open and Pilot Pen Tennis tournaments and dozens of others. Milani is also the director of athletic communications for Caldwell University. He is a proud graduate of North Rockland High School and Fordham University and when not attending a Yankees, Rams or Cougars game can be reached at Jerry (at) JerryMilani (dot) com.

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