Josh Byrne (born April 15, 1994) is a
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
professional
lacrosse
Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...
player for the
Buffalo Bandits of the
National Lacrosse League
The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league comprises 14 teams8 in the United States and 6 in Canada. The NLL is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
...
and
Six Nations Chiefs of
Major Series Lacrosse. He has won a championship with each team, with the Chaos in 2021, and with the Bandits in 2023, 2024 and 2025. He won the 2024
NLL MVP award and was also named the Finals MVP.
Early life
Born in
New Westminster, British Columbia to an
Irish father and
Trinidadian mother, Byrne attended
New Westminster Secondary School and played junior lacrosse for his hometown
New Westminster Salmonbellies of the
BC Junior A Lacrosse League. Byrne played collegiately at
ASA College and
Nassau Community College. From 2016 to 2017, he played at
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a Private university, private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, includ ...
, where he scored 71 goals and tallied 111 points in 29 games.
Professional career
Byrne was taken first overall in the 2016
Western Lacrosse Association draft by the
Burnaby Lakers. In 16 career regular season games with Burnaby, he tallied 12 goals and 33 assists.
Byrne was drafted first overall in the
2017 NLL Entry Draft by the
Buffalo Bandits.
With the Bandits, Byrne reached the NLL Cup Finals in
2019 and
2022
The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
, and won the
NLL Cup in
2023, 2024, and 2025.
In the field game, Byrne was drafted 19th overall by the
Chesapeake Bayhawks in the 2017
Major League Lacrosse draft. He played for Chesapeake in 2017 and 2018. Upon the foundation of the
Premier Lacrosse League in 2019, Byrne joined
Chaos Lacrosse Club, where he helped his team to PLL Championship game appearances in
2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
and
2022
The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
, and the league championship in
2021.
In April 2022, Byrne decided to leave Chaos and the PLL, opting instead to play for Six Nations in MSL, following several Bandits and Chaos teammates who opted to play box instead of PLL, the dismissal of Chaos head coach Andy Towers, and physical and mental health concerns.
Personal life
Byrne hosts a podcast, ''The Dhane and Josh Show'', with Bandits and Chaos teammate
Dhane Smith.
Both Byrne and Smith, who are
Black Canadians, have supported the
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...
movement.
Statistics
NLL
MLL
PLL
Awards and achievements
References
External links
NLL stats at nllstats.comNLL and PLL stats at statscrew.comPremier Lacrosse League bio
1996 births
Living people
Lacrosse people from British Columbia
Sportspeople from New Westminster
Buffalo Bandits players
Chesapeake Bayhawks players
Premier Lacrosse League players
Hofstra Pride men's lacrosse players
Black Canadian sportsmen
Burnaby Lakers players
World Games gold medalists for Canada
World Games medalists in lacrosse
Medalists at the 2022 World Games
Canadian sportspeople of Irish descent
Canadian sportspeople of Trinidad and Tobago descent
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