Pro Lacrosse
Jamie Hanford was honored for his steady, durable standout performance with the Colorado Mammoth NLL professional lacrosse team earlier this year.
Hanford, an early Blue Wave program all-time great, then Loyola College three-time All-American, has played pro lax for a variety of teams and two leagues, including the MLL since 1999.
If Darien’s got a ‘Mr. Lacrosse’, and with fierce competition for that name, he’s it.
With the NLL Mammoth from 2003-’07 is where the face-off monster earned his all-decade distinction — known there as “Jamie (Man Cub) Hanford” for his bear-like carriage on the field.
Hanford started out going to Philadelphia sixth overall in the first round of the NLL entry draft 13 years ago. From there he prospered with a nearly 65 percent face-off win percentage while with the Mammoth.
After a three season stint with Philadelphia, and a stop with a sideways move to New Jersey for the 2002 season, he then made his way out to the mountain west.
And Hanford is still the league’s all-time face-off man with a record 2,091 draws to his name.
“It was a great honor, very special for us,” Hanford told NLL.com last month. “For me it was just great to be back with the guys I went to war with, won the championship (with). It was a very special night.”
Hanford, 36, was one of 10 players honored out in the middle of Pepsi Center stadium in Denver during half-time of a game to mark the Mammoths’ 10th anniversary season.
He finished up his career with Rochester a few years back.
“Now that I’m done playing I think what I miss most is just being around the guys,” he said to NLL.com. “It was a very special group that we had for so many years.”
