Welcome to #BestOfLax2022. Help us celebrate the past year of lacrosse by voting in 15 polls spread over 15 weekdays in December. All voting will be conducted on Twitter (@usalacrossemag), and fans will have 24 hours to let their voices be heard.
For more information — including upcoming categories, rules and more — check out our introductory post to #BestOfLax2022.
It’s the first of two final awards in #BestofLax2022, and you can bet we saved the best for last.
Today, fans can vote for the Best Men’s Player of 2022, one of the toughest categories to decide upon. Do you vote for one of the two professional MVPs who are nominated? How about the 2022 Tewaaraton Award winner? Or the all-time Division I points king?
The choice is yours.
Here are the nominees for Best Men’s Player. Tomorrow, fans will vote for Best Women’s Player.
— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) December 22, 2022
For the larger-than-life men’s star who stood above them all in 2022. VOTE in our #BestofLax2022 poll to decide the final men's winner of the year.
NOMINEES: https://t.co/5WOA32SQ9y
BEST MEN'S PLAYER
For the larger-than-life men’s star who stood above them all in 2022.
TREVOR BAPTISTE
The Premier Lacrosse League’s Jim Brown MVP, Baptiste put together one of the best faceoff seasons in league history. In nine games, the Atlas specialist won 153 of 219 faceoffs (70 percent) with 83 ground balls. He also scored four one-point goals, one two-point goal and dished out four assists, all while turning the ball over just four times. He twice posted faceoff winning percentages above 80 percent (83 percent against the Cannons on June 11 and 86 percent against the Archers on June 25), and he never posted an individual game below 63 percent.
LOGAN WISNAUSKAS
Wisnauskas, the 2022 Tewaaraton Award winner, etched his name into Maryland history in more ways than one. He, of course, was the critical offensive piece during a season in which the Terps went undefeated and won a national championship. He also finished with 103 points, the most by a Terp in a single season. His big campaign also put him atop the all-time goals (205) and points (340) lists.
DHANE SMITH
Smith won his second NLL MVP after leading the Buffalo Bandits to the NLL Finals. He set an NLL record with 94 assists spread over 18 games, and he contributed 135 points in total. Smith was just three points shy of breaking the league’s all-time single-season record, a mark he set in 2016. That year, he earned his first and only other MVP award. Smith is now one of five players in league history to win multiple MVP awards.
CHRIS GRAY
Gray became the Division I men’s career points leader in 2022, passing Albany’s Lyle Thompson with 401. Needing five points to tie and six to pass Thompson, Gray made history on a question mark dodge with 7:23 left in the fourth quarter of a 19-11 loss to Duke. Gray played in 71 career games, just one more than Thompson.