Box lacrosse, also known as boxla, box, or indoor lacrosse, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. Box lacrosse is traditionally played on an ice hockey rink once the ice has been removed or covered. The playing area is called a box, in contrast to the open playing field of field lacrosse. Box lacrosse is played between two teams of five players and one goalie each. The object of the game is to use a lacrosse stick to catch, carry, and pass the ball in an effort to score by shooting a solid rubber lacrosse ball into the opponent's goal.
The game originated in the 1930s in Canada, where it is more popular than field lacrosse.
While there are 62 total members of World Lacrosse, only fifteen have competed in international box lacrosse competition. Only Canada, the Haudenosaunee Nationals and the United States have finished in the top three places at the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships. The most prestigious domestic competition is the National Lacrosse League.
History
right|thumb|Ball players, a colour [[lithography|lithograph by George Catlin, illustrates various Native Americans playing lacrosse.]]
Lacrosse is a traditional indigenous people's game and was first encountered by Europeans when French Jesuit missionaries in the St. Lawrence Valley witnessed the game in the 1630s. Lacrosse for centuries was seen as a key element of cultural identity and spiritual healing to the people of Turtle Island. It originated as a field game and was adopted first by Canadian, American, and English athletes as a field game, eventually settling on a 10 v 10 format.
Box lacrosse is a modern version of the game that was invented in Canada during the 1920s and 1930s. The roots of indoor lacrosse are obscure, but its invention has been attributed to one Paddy Brennan, a field lacrosse player and referee from Montreal, who, being annoyed by the constant slowing of play from balls going out of bounds in the field game, experimented with indoor games at the Mount Royal Arena during the early 1920s.
Joseph Cattarinich and Leo Dandurand, owners of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens in the 1920s, led the participating ice hockey arena owners to introduce the new sport. The form was also adopted as the primary version of the game played on Native American reservations in the US and Canada by Iroquois and other Native peoples. It is the only sport in which the American indigenous people are sanctioned to compete internationally, participating as the Iroquois Nationals. However, many field lacrosse enthusiasts viewed the new version of the sport with negativity.
The first professional box lacrosse games were held in 1931. That summer, the arena owners formed the International Lacrosse League, featuring four teams: the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Maroons, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Cornwall Colts. The league lasted only two seasons. In the wake of the original International Lacrosse League opened the American Box Lacrosse League featuring six teams: two in New York City, and one each in Brooklyn, Toronto, Boston, and Baltimore. The league played to small crowds on outdoor fields such as Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, before closing midway through its inaugural season. Lacrosse was officially declared Canada's National Summer Sport with the passage of the National Sports Act (Bill C-212) on May 12, 1994.
The first box lacrosse match conducted in Australia came about as part of a fund raising appeal for the Queen Victoria Hospital, Melbourne. The Victorian Lacrosse Association was approached by the appeal committee to stage a lacrosse match as part of a multi sport carnival at the Plaza (Wattle Path Palais) ballroom at St Kilda on 1 July 1931. After a lightning six-a-side (outdoor) tournament format was successfully carried out a few weeks prior, it was decided to play six-a-side for this exhibition game between MCC and a composite team from other clubs, with players wearing rubber shoes and using a softer ball for the match. Newspaper articles at the time suggest that the sport may have even been created in Australia, with P. J. Lally of the famous Canadian lacrosse stick manufacturing company requesting a copy of the rules of the game from the VLA Secretary. By 1933, box lacrosse matches were being played in Adelaide, Brisbane, and Perth. This new version of the game however did not overtake the traditional version of lacrosse in popularity in Australia as happened in Canada.
The Canadian Lacrosse Association began sponsoring box lacrosse. In 1932, the Mann Cup, the most prestigious lacrosse trophy in Canada, was contended for under box lacrosse rules for the first time. Previously, the national senior men's lacrosse championship, awarded since 1901, was competed for under field lacrosse rules. The Mann Cup is an annual tournament that presents the champion of the Western Lacrosse Association and Major Series Lacrosse in a best of seven national championship. A few years later, in 1937, the Minto Cup, which had been the professional trophy in the 1910s and 20s, began being awarded under box lacrosse rules to the junior men's champions. Currently the Canadian Lacrosse Association oversees the Mann Cup, the Minto Cup, the Presidents Cup (Senior B national championship) the Founders Cup (Junior B national championship) all under box lacrosse rules.
Briefly in 1939, a professional box lacrosse league started up in California, called the Pacific Coast Lacrosse Association. This four team league also folded shortly after opening. Professional box lacrosse did not return to the United States again until 1968 when the Portland Adanacs and Detroit Olympics franchises played in the National Lacrosse Association, a circuit that folded after one summer season.
thumb|[[National Lacrosse League action during an All-Star Game in 2005]]
A new professional indoor lacrosse league was created in the 1970s with the formation of the original National Lacrosse League. This league opened in 1974 with teams in Montreal, Toronto, Rochester, Syracuse, Philadelphia, and Maryland. For the 1975 season, Rochester moved to Boston, Syracuse moved to Quebec City, and Toronto moved to Long Island. Thus, by its second year, the original NLL was playing in all major league arenas: the Colisée de Québec, the Montreal Forum, the Boston Garden, Nassau Coliseum, the Spectrum, and the Capital Centre. When the two wealthier '75 NLL franchises, Philadelphia and Maryland, finished out of the playoffs, and with Montreal losing access to the fabled Montreal Forum in the upcoming season due to the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, the league folded after two seasons due to financial uncertainty.
The rebirth of professional box lacrosse in the United States came on March 13, 1986, with the formation of the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League, which was incorporated by Russ Cline and Chris Fritz. The league originated with four teams: the Philadelphia Wings, New Jersey Saints, Washington Wave, and Baltimore Thunder, and unlike box lacrosse generally, was played during the winter. was formed in 2017, with all teams in Ontario. It signed an agreement with the NLL to serve as its official minor league. Expansion has seen it grow to 12 teams in both Ontario and BC,
On June 29, 2022, a group of lacrosse fans announced a new league called the Professional Box Lacrosse Association. The league spokesperson identified nine teams which will be in cities in the United States. It barely lasted a single season, ceasing operations just a few weeks after games began.
Rules
Players, equipment and officials
thumbnail|left|[[Windsor Clippers (OJBLL) runner in 2014.]]
During play, a team consists of six players: a goaltender and five "runners". A runner is any non-goalkeeper position player, including forwards, transition players, and defenders. Runners usually specialize in one of these roles and substitute off the field when the ball moves from one end to the other. When the sport originated teams played with six runners. However, in 1953 the sixth runner, a position called rover, was eliminated. The goalkeeper can be replaced by another runner, often when a delayed penalty has been called on the other team or at the end of games by teams that are behind to help score goals. In the NLL, wooden sticks are not allowed.
In some box leagues, especially the NLL, the five "runners" wear helmets specifically designed for box lacrosse. These helmets consist of a hockey helmet with a box lacrosse face mask attached instead of a hockey cage.
During a typical game the number of officials can range from one to three, depending on the league and level of play. In most games there are at least two referees: a lead official and a trail official. In NLL games there are three officials per game.
Even as box lacrosse grows in the United States, the American goalkeeper is a rarity. The skills required to be a successful field lacrosse goaltender and a successful box lacrosse goaltender are very different and do not lend well to one another.
Defenders
A defender is a player position whose primary responsibility is to prevent the opposing team from scoring. Unlike in field lacrosse where some defensive players carry longer sticks, all box lacrosse defenders play with a maximum long stick.
Transition
A transition player is a player whose responsibility is primarily to play during defensive situations with an offensive mindset. The goal of this player is to create fast breaks and scoring opportunities.
Attack
An attack is a player position on the field whose responsibility is primarily offensive. Typically, an Attack is dominant throwing with one hand or the other, and will primarily play on that side of the floor. Some players, known as creasemen, do not focus on one side or the other. These players instead focus their offensive attention near the crease area in front of the goaltender. The NLL plays on artificial turf placed on top of the ice.
Duration and tie-breaking methods
A traditional game played under the rules of the Canadian Lacrosse Association consists of three periods of 20 minutes each (similar to ice hockey), with the teams changing ends each period. The NLL plays four 15-minute quarters rather than three periods.
Ball in and out of play
upright=1.36|right|thumbnail|Referee placing the ball while opponents line up for a face-off.
Each period, and after each goal scored, play is restarted with a face-off. If a ball travels over the boards and outside of the playing area, play is restarted by possession being awarded to the opposing team to that which last touched the ball.
Penalties
For most penalties, the offending player is sent to the penalty box and his team has to play without him and with one less player for a short amount of time. Most penalties last for two minutes unless a major penalty has been assessed. The team that has taken the penalty is said to be playing shorthanded while the other team is on the power play.
A two-minute minor penalty is often called for lesser infractions such as slashing, tripping, elbowing, roughing, too many players, illegal equipment, holding, or interference. Five-minute major penalties are called for especially violent instances of most minor infractions that result in intentional injury to an opponent, as well as for fighting. Players are released from the penalty box when either the penalty time expires, or the opposition scores a goal (or three goals for the instance of a major penalty).
International competition
Box lacrosse is the most popular version of the sport in the Czech Republic. It is also played to a marginal degree in Australia, primarily by players who have played field lacrosse. Club level box lacrosse leagues in the United States have increased the number of players exposed to the sport, including the: Baltimore Indoor Lacrosse League, the Philadelphia Box Lacrosse Association, and the Metro Area Box Lacrosse League.
The first world championship of box lacrosse, "The Nations in 1980", was staged in several arenas in British Columbia, Canada in July 1980 involving teams representing the United States, Australia, Canada East, Canada West and the Iroquois Nationals. Canada West (Coquitlam Adanacs)
The 2015 WILC was hosted by the Onondaga Nation in the United States which marks the first time an international sporting event has been held on indigenous land. Thirteen teams competed in the championship: Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, England, Finland, Germany, Iroquois Nationals, Ireland, Israel, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States.
Canada, Iroquois Nationals and the United States have won gold, silver, and bronze respectively in each of the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships held. Canada has yet to lose an international game in box lacrosse.
Other international tournaments have been played. Annually, the European Lacrosse Federation holds the Aleš Hřebeský Memorial tournament in Prague. This is the largest European box lacrosse tournament.
The North American Invitational is an annual tournament played in New York State featuring international teams. The 2026 Traditions Cup was the inaugural running of a new invitational tournament run by the NAI. Club24Heat, from the Kahnawà:ke Reserve, won the men's division. Israel won the women's division, and the Snake Island Muskies won the junior competition.
Women
Historically, box lacrosse has been exclusively a men's sport. Women who played the sport of lacrosse typically played the women's field lacrosse version. Recently, Ontario, Alberta, Nova Scotia and British Columbia have established girls' and women's box lacrosse leagues. The first Women's World Championships was held in 2024 alongside the Men's tournament in Utica, New York. The United States defeated Canada in the final.
During the 2003 NLL season, goaltender Ginny Capicchioni appeared in two preseason and one regular season games to become the only woman to make an appearance in the NLL.
Women's Box Lacrosse (News and Articles)
See also
- Lacrosse in Canada
- Major Indoor Lacrosse League/National Lacrosse League (1997–present)
- Major Series Lacrosse (1887–present)
- Sports in Canada
- Western Lacrosse Association (1932–present)
- IBLA -USA
- Hudson Valley Box Lacrosse League / Rockland County, New York
- Professional Box Lacrosse Association (2022–2023)
- NABLL- North American Box Lacrosse League- USA (2021–present)