‘Getting the sport out there’: Tyler McDonald wins Canada Games women’s box lacrosse gold

Lynden’s Tyler McDonald won the first-ever gold medal in women’s box lacrosse with Team Ontario at the 2022 Canadian Summer Games in Niagara.

McDonald and Team Ontario defeated British Columbia 2-1 in the gold medal game on August 12 – making history.

“There are no words to describe the feeling when the buzzer rang and we won,” she said. “It was very emotional.”

“For me, it wasn’t even about winning gold,” she continued. “It was about making the sport known and being noticed.”

In an interview ahead of the Games, 17-year-old McDonald said she hopes to increase interest in women’s box lacrosse, noting that there are moves to include the sport in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

“I look forward to getting the sport represented and trying to encourage other young athletes to try their hand at this sport as I have,” she said. “It’s Canada’s national sport – it should definitely be in the Olympics.”

A student at Dundas Valley Secondary School, McDonald comes from a lacrosse family as her grandfather John Roberts played professionally in the National Lacrosse League while her brother Zach plays Junior-A lacrosse at Burlington and with Paris in the Arena Lacrosse League RiverWolves was drafted – the highest minor professional league.

She currently plays for the Burlington Chiefs under-22 girls team, who recently took home a bronze medal from the Whitby provincials. While McDonald grew up with the Hamilton Bengals representing boys’ box lacrosse, they couldn’t field teams after COVID-19, so she moved to Burlington to play girls’ box lacrosse. She still plays girls’ field lacrosse in Hamilton.

After the games, McDonald said she thinks they’ve succeeded in popularizing women’s box lacrosse because she’s heard a lot about the sport from other athletes and spectators at the event. She said she hopes to be a role model for younger players and help grow the game.

“There were a lot of people looking forward to seeing lacrosse,” she said. “That means they would say to their friends, ‘You should hear about this sport of lacrosse,’ and then it kicks off and you have another kid to follow along.”

She said one of the best parts of the Games is connecting with other athletes from across Canada and learning what they go through to practice their sport.

“I would say the most important thing was definitely learning about other athletes – where they come from, what sports they do, how they got into it,” she said. “Some people have trained all their lives and others started the sport a year ago and have been able to compete at a national level.”

At the end of the games, McDonald received a traditional Haudenosaunee wood lacrosse stick from one of their coaches, Mekwan Tulpin. The racquet was handcrafted by Six Nations’ Daniel “Bo” Henhawk.

“It’s very special,” McDonald said of the racquet, noting that it evoked the spirit of the animal used in the leather, the spirit of the tree used to make the shaft, and the spirit of the player who cared for his heart and soul puts soul into the game, united . “All three of these spirits together make good medicine – because lacrosse is called the medicine game.”

While the racquet can’t be used in games, McDonald said it’s doubly special because it’s the type of racquet her grandfather used when he was playing professionally.

“It was a very good experience overall – and very exciting.”

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