NLL Insider

Steve Govett had some idea of what he was getting into, but he really was surprised by the amount of fun he had. Sure, playing lacrosse is fun. But when you get to play it professionally as a member of the Philadelphia Wings back when they were a dominate force of the Naitonal Lacrosse League, the fun factor increases exponentially. Govett’s career spanned five seasons with the Wings and he built a reputation as a tough competitor, the same kind of reputation he has today as general manager of the Colorado Mammoth. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for a trip down memory lane with Steve Govett.

1. So what was your first experience with the National Lacrosse League?

“I was at school at Radford U (southern Virginia) and David Evans was coach of the Wings at the time. He was a Burnaby guy so I had a connection. So the first game I went to in Philly was in 1990, I made that 6 or 7 hour drive up to the Spectrum and they were playing the Pittsburgh Bulls. A melee of sorts broke out and I remember the turf came up and these guys were sliding all over the ice. I said to my friend, I just have to play this game.”

2. So after you were done at Radford, you ended up with the Wings.

“I’d played with Dallas Eliuk in the WLA and Russ Heard and few other guys. Dallas recommended me to Mike French. What helped, too, is that I was marrying an American so I didn’t count against the number of Canadians on a team, which was a rule back then.”

3. So French obviously took Eliuk’s advice.

“Yeah, I was living outside of Washington D.C. at the time and I stayed with Chris Bates during tryouts. I remember going to Micketon, N.J., this tiny little soccer place. We’d have 3 or 4 practices over 2 days and the team was selected.”

4. So this wasn’t too much of a transition for you, was it?

“The biggest adjustment for me was the number of games. We played just 8. In Canada, we’d play 24 games and then have 7-game playoff series. Here, we had to go to a football mentality. Every game was so crucial and if you didn’t play great, you had to wait a whole week for another game.”

5. Last week, a former teammate of yours, Scott Gabrielsen, told us about your head-butt into the boards before a game.

“That story’s never going to die. It was my first game and I hadn’t really established myself yet. I just liked to low-five the guys and then run up to the glass. In Canada, the boards would make noise and shake and get us fired up, but in Philly, these were NHL boards. There was no give. I wanted to announce myself with authority, as they say, I just misjudged and cut myself open. Paul Gait just looked at me and said ‘Go clean yourself up.’ ”

6. Ten stitches, but you still played that game.

“Yeah, my line was supposed to start that game but I was out, so another line starts. I came back out with a bandana on my head and my future mother and father-in-law are at the game with my wife. But I had to change to No. 8 (Mark Gold’s number) because my No. 44 jersey had blood all over it. So I score my first goal on a breakaway and they flash Mark Gold’s picture on the Jumbotron because they didn’t know it was me. My family didn’t even know I was back and they missed the goal.”

7. Favorite place to play?

“Buffalo. Awesome place to play. The old Aud was always full and loud and you felt like the fans were right on you. In fact, the visiting locker room was on the concourse level and they had these elevator gates along the councourse for us to get to the floor. The fans all lined up and they threw things and were spitting on you and yelling at you. It was surreal.”

8. That had to be pretty sweet, winning the 1994 NLL title in Buffalo then.

“We were on the floor with the PR guy trying to get a team picture but the fans were so angry they were throwing things. We had to keep our helmets on but we had to get off the floor. To this day, I don’t think there’s a team picture of that championship.”

9. The celebration for the 1998 Cup was sort of interesting too, right?

“Yeah, I was retiring because of a bad knee. I remember getting shot up in the locker room at halftime but we beat Baltimore and we had a party planned after the game with the fans. On the ride from Baltimore back to Philly, I notice the top of the Cup is a bit wiggly so I tried to tighten it and it broke right there on the bus. We were using the tools from the equipment manager during that 90-minute trip and we put it together, but it was backwards.”

10. Of all the guys you played against, who did you respect the most?

“Darris Kilgour. We used to go at it every game. He was one of the greatest players to ever play the game and one of the most tenacious competitors I ever came across. He’d just as soon punch you in the mouth than score a goal and he did both equally well.”

11. Thoughts on the game today and how it compares to your day?

“It was different back then, exciting for different reasons. We had guys playing defense who were not good at defense and guys playing offense who were not good at offense because we didn’t have the transition player like we do today. We also had Americans who had no clue what they were doing, but they were gutsy guys. Today it’s a slugfest. The best offensive guys against the best defensive guys.”

Steve Govett grew up in Burnaby, British Columbia, before coming east to play college lacrosse at Radford University in Virginia, which was a Division I team at the time. He graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer before embarking on a 5-year playing career with the Philadelphia Wings. He retired with 26 goals, 23 assists and 115 penalty minutes in his 36 regular season games, but also won three league titles in his time with the Wings. After retiring as a player, the took the GM job with the Washington Power and went with the team when it relocated to Denver as the Colorado Mammoth after the 2002 season. With the Mammoth, Govett has built a team that’s a perennial contender for the championship that has consistently led the league in home attendance.

Past profiles
Gordon Purdie
Mike French
Toby Boucher
Brian Lemon
Jeff Klodzen
Scott Gabrielsen

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