6 August 2022
This question keeps coming up in google searches and on forums but to fully answer the question we need to point out that there were 2 different professional athletes playing different sports with the same name.
We have John Tavares who was born in 1968 and was a professional lacrosse player in the NLL, and we have John Tavares who was born in 1990 and was a professional ice hockey player in the NHL. These two men were related, the former (lacrosse player) was the latter’s uncle (ice hockey player).
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So when I see this question, I clearly see the confusion amongst the answers as people often confuse them when trying to clarify who played what.
To be specific when answering, we have to say both of them played lacrosse, but on a different level.
John Tavares, the lacrosse player obviously played lacrosse as a professional player in the National Lacrosse League while John Tavares, who became a professional ice hockey player played lacrosse when he was young. They say he was an excellent lacrosse player and became a ball boy of the same team his uncle, John Tavares played for, the Buffalo Bandits.
In this article, we will focus on the key points of John Tavares, the professional lacrosse player, as there is not too much to say about John Tavares, the ice hockey player when it comes to lacrosse other than what has already been discussed above.
Tavares is the all-time leader of the National Lacrosse League with a total of 899 goals. John also recorded 1050 assists in the league and earned up to 1949 points. Tavares was the first player to reach 500 goals and 500 assists in his career. He played 344 games, while he had 2464 loose balls.
How long did Tavares play lacrosse?
Jonh was a Buffalo Bandit player from 1992 to 2015 which makes him a one-team player for almost 24 years. Absolutely incredible.
Did John retire from lacrosse?
John retired from lacrosse in 2015 and gave some insights into his state of mind through a press conference:
Has he started coaching the younger generation of lacrosse?
Of course. Who else would be better as a head coach of his former team, the Buffalo Bandits, than John Tavares? This is something everyone who is a little bit interested in lacrosse would pick up, but probably you never heard what his other occupation is. Find out how he lives a double life from the video below:
When did he become a member of the Lacrosse Hall of Fame?
He became a member of the Hall of Fame in 2016 after an incredible career. Some people still consider him one of the best players of all time, others would argue this, but one thing is for sure. After 24 years of being a leader on the field and 3 MVP titles, there is nothing much more we could ask from John Tavares to show us when it comes to lacrosse.
