John Tavares (lacrosse)

Infobox Lacrosse Player


position = Forward
shoots = Both
height_ft = 5
height_in = 11
weight_lb = 175
nll_team = Buffalo Bandits
league= MSL
team= St. Regis Indians
nationality = Canada
career_start = 1992
birth_date = birth date and age|1968|09|4
birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, CAN

John Tavares (born September 4, 1968 in Toronto, Ontario) is a professional box lacrosse player in the National Lacrosse League and mathematics teacher at Philip Pocock Catholic Secondary School in Mississauga Ontario, Canada. He attended D'Youville College in Buffalo, NY

Tavares has played his entire career with the Buffalo Bandits since their inaugural season in 1992. He was acquired from the Detroit Turbos in exchange for Brian Nikula in October 1991. John is also the Professional Lacrosse Players' Association Representative for the Bandits.

Tavares is the uncle of ice hockey player John Tavares, a forward with the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League who has won the CHL Rookie of the Year Award and the OHL Rookie of the Year for the 2005-06 OHL season. He is of Portuguese descent. [cite web |title =Inaugural Celebrating Outstanding Portuguese-Canadian Achievement Awards|url =http://www.congresso.ca/congresso/copa.htm|publisher =Portuguese Canadian National Congress|accessdate =2007-08-07] cite web|author=Stuart McDonald| title = Featured Article, 2009 prospects: Q&A with John Tavares| publisher = Hockey's Future|url=http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/10024/2009_prospects_qa_with_john_tavares/|accessdate = 2007-12-19]

Playing career

NLL

On Saturday February 18, 2006, the Buffalo Bandits defeated the Minnesota Swarm by a score of 14-9 in front of 12,458 fans at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York. In that game, John Tavares tied the NLL Career Points (goals + assists) record at 1,091 points held by Gary Gait, who had retired after the 2005 season. [cite web|url=http://nll.com/article.php?id=589|work=NLL.com|title=Bandits Beat Swarm 14-9, Tavares Ties Record|date=February 18, 2006|accessdate=2007-05-28]

On Saturday March 4, 2006, 10,961 fans witnessed history. On that night, the Buffalo Bandits played their 7th regular season game again hosting the Minnesota Swarm, and Tavares scored two points in an 11-8 loss. The first was his 1,092nd career point, the record-breaker, which was an assist to Mark Steenhuis who scored a power-play goal at 11:57 in the second period. (The second point, Point 1,093, was also an assist to Steenhuis in the third period.) Play was stopped, and Tavares was given the game ball. [cite web|url=http://nll.com/article.php?id=556|work=NLL.com|title=Tavares Breaks Points Record, Bandits Fall|date=March 7, 2006|accessdate=2007-05-28] [cite web|url=http://www.bandits.com/newsarchive.cfm?id=360|work=Bandits.com|title=Tavares Breaks Scoring Record|date=March 4, 2006|last=Wheeler|first=Brian|coauthors=Zita McKenna|accessdate=2007-05-28] [cite web|url=http://www.tsn.ca/tsn/news_story.asp?id=157181|title=Tavares breaks NLL scoring record|work=TSN.com|date=March 4, 2006|accessdate=2007-05-28]

On Saturday January 20, 2008, Tavares scored his 597th career goal in a win over the New York Titans, passing Gary Gait and becoming the NLL's all-time leader in goals scored. [cite web|url=http://nll.com/article.php?id=3246|title=Tavares Breaks Goal Scoring Record|work=NLL.com|date=January 19, 2008|accessdate=2008-01-20] May 17, 2008 Tavares won his fourth championship and first since 1996. The Bandits beat the Lumberjax in the championship game with the help of two Tavares goals.

OLA/WLA

Tavares is a six-time member of a Mann Cup champion team, winning in 1992 and 1993 with the Brampton Excelsiors, 1994 through 1996 with the Six Nations Chiefs (both of the Major Series Lacrosse), and in 2002 with the Victoria Shamrocks of the Western Lacrosse Association. He is a three-time winner, in 1992, 1993, and 1996, of the Mike Kelly Memorial Trophy as most valuable player in the Mann Cup competition.cite web|url=http://bible-of-lacrosse.com/newstats/manncup.txt|title=Historical Stats of the Mann Cup|work=Bible-of-Lacrosse.com|date=|accessdate=2007-08-15] Tavares also won the Major Series Lacrosse scoring title eight times, and the MSL's Most Valuable Player award three times. [cite web|url=http://bible-of-lacrosse.com/newstats/players.txt|title=Player Profiles: John Tavares Stats|work=Bible-of-Lacrosse.com|date=|accessdate=2007-08-17]

NLL accomplishments

Career totals

As of 2007 season.
* Games Played, Buffalo Bandits: 194
* Career Assists, NLL: 648
* Career Points, NLL: 1239
* Tavares is the first player in NLL history to have 500 goals and 500 assists.

NLL awards

Weekly and monthly awards, as of 2007 season.
* Player of the Week (1994-2001) 8 times
* Overall Player of the Week (2002-) 11 times
* Offensive Player of the Week (2002-) 9 times
* Player of the Month 9 times

NLL milestones - points

* No. 1: Jan. 4, 1992, assist to Rich Kilgour vs. New York in first game.
* 100: March 20, 1993, goal vs. Detroit's Paul Mootz in 16th game.
* 200: Jan. 20, 1996, goal vs. Baltimore's J.J. Pearl in 34th game.
* 300: Feb. 7, 1997, assist to Darris Kilgour vs. Baltimore in 46th game.
* 400: Jan. 8, 1999, goal vs. Philadelphia's Dallas Eliuk in 62nd game.
* 500: Feb. 18, 2000, goal vs. Rochester's Pat O'Toole in 78th game.
* 600: Feb. 10, 2001, goal vs. Washington's Devin Dalep in 91st game.
* 700: Feb. 1, 2002, assist to Chris Driscoll vs. Montreal in 107th game.
* 800: Feb. 8, 2003, assist to Mike Accursi vs. Toronto in 122nd game.
* 900: Feb. 14, 2004, goal vs. Anaheim's Matt Disher in 139th game.
* 1,000: Feb. 19, 2005, assist to Delby Powless vs. Rochester in 154th game.
* 1,091: Feb. 18, 2006, assist to Cory Bomberry vs. Minnesota in 169th game. (Ties Gary Gait's then-existing NLL Career Points Record)
* 1,092: March 4, 2006, assist to Mark Steenhuis vs. Minnesota in 170th game. (New NLL Career Points Record)

tatistics

NLL career

OLA/WLA/MLS career

References

External links

* [http://bandits.com/jt-countdown.cfm John Tavares Countdown to History]
* [http://www.bandits.com/playerprofile.cfm?id=114&type=history Historical Performances]
* [http://www.plpa.com/spotlight/week2.html Professional Lacrosse Players Association John Tavares Interview] (from 1999)

Persondata
NAME=Tavares, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Lacrosse player
DATE OF BIRTH=September 4, 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH=Toronto, Ontario
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=