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By Devon Tredinnick
Take it from Austin Madronic – lacrosse can take a person anywhere.
The 24-year-old National Lacrosse League player has lived in many cities – Victoria, Saskatchewan, Montreal, Harvard, MA and New York are just a few of them – but he’ll soon be returning to Ottawa with the chance to make it feel like home.
His current New York Riptide NLL club on Long Island announced last week that it would be relocating to the nation’s capital to play out of the Canadian Tire Centre.
“My initial reaction was obviously, ‘cool, but can’t focus on that right now,’” recalled the second-year NLL pro whose team is currently in ninth place with a 5-6 record. “That’s next year. We’re in a really tight playoff race here. Going into the second half of the season, we need to kind of get that out of our minds and just focus on this year right now.”
Madronic has played in nine of New York’s 11 games, scoring two goals and nine assists. It’s Madronic’s first year with the Riptide after being traded before the season from the Saskatchewan Rush, who drafted him sixth overall in fall 2022.
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Madronic noted that this year will be his last chance to win a championship in New York, making it his main focus. Still, there’s plenty to look forward to.
“Ton of opportunity in Ottawa,” underlined Madronic, whose team will be renamed the Black Bears. “Really excited to continue to grow the game in that area, that fan base.”
Madronic added there’s been talk of what life will look like once the team moves. From what he’s heard, it seems much of his routine won’t change much.
“For the most part, our schedule is going to remain the same,” indicated the Harvard University grad who joined GF Data in New York City as a research manager in 2022. “We practice on Wednesdays – that’s going to stay the same. We’re going to be working with the same staff and everything like that. So, the ownership group has really done a great job of making this transition easy on us.”
The move to Ottawa also lines up well with Madronic’s personal life.
“I actually got engaged earlier this year,” he explained. “Both my parents are in the Canadian military and they actually just found out this week that they’re going to be moving to Ottawa.”
It’s a great chance to bring his family closer together, added Madronic, who spent his high school summers in Stittsville while attending Culver Military Academy in Indiana.
During that time, he trained with the Ottawa Capitals lacrosse program, which was co-founded by NLL superstar Callum Crawford (who sits top-10 all-time in NLL goals, assists and points).
Madronic emphasized his passion for growing the sport, especially with youth. He said he’s got plenty of ideas that come to mind for the new market, whether it’s running camps or collaborating with different local lacrosse teams.
“I think lacrosse has been talked about now for a long time as the fastest-growing game in North America. It’s spreading like wildfire throughout the United States and has been continuing to grow in Canada at a youth level,” said Madronic, who started playing lacrosse in Victoria, B.C. at age 3. “I think this only helps an area that has been well deserving of a team for a long time now.”
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Lacrosse joining the Olympics for the L.A. 2028 Games is another sign of that growth. It’ll be a new six-on-six field lacrosse version of the sport, which Madronic has never played.
“From everything I’ve seen, it seems really fun and interesting, high-paced – all the great qualities that both field and box lacrosse bring,” said Madronic, who played 10-on-10 NCAA field lacrosse while with the Harvard Crimson.
Madronic added that internationally, the game’s been growing too, pointing out how much success Japan has had. It gives him hope for a bigger future for the sport. Whether that be 15, 50 or 100 years from now, he doesn’t know. But he’s got hope.
And above all else, Madronic said he wants to make sure kids keep having fun playing.
“You see it in a bunch of different sports like hockey in Canada – the pressure that we ourselves and parents put on youth sports. Realize that this is a game and just to have fun with it,” he underlined. “If you think about it that way, then all of the extra work that you’re doing on your own, and the time that it takes to get to an elite level – it’s not work, it’s fun.”
Ottawa talent abounds in NLL & Ottawa-bound franchise
Though many games are played in front of crowds of up to 10,000, NLL players remain a pretty tight-knit group, Madronic noted, and most are Canadian.
There is already a very strong Ottawa flavour to the team in New York.
Will Johnston is the backup goalkeeper and Corson Kealey made his debut for the Riptide two days after the move was announced.
Curtis Conley, Justin Tkachuk and Jacob Gasperetti are also listed on the team’s roster, though they haven’t yet appeared in a game this year.
Madronic narrowly missed getting to team up with Crawford, who played for the Riptide in 2022 and 2023 before moving on to Panther City in Fort Worth, TX.
Madronic said it’s been pretty surreal to play with and against some legends of the sport, and a bit of an eye-opener too.
“I’ve learned that there’s a ton of room to grow and keep getting better and just learn from these guys that are veterans in the league,” he signalled.
