Pat Baker (lacrosse)

Pat Baker was a Canadian box lacrosse goaltender who played at both the amateur and professional levels and is regarded as one of the elite goaltenders of his era. Born on May 27, 1939, he first played lacrosse at the age of nine in Port Dalhousie, Ontario, and moved with his family to Peterborough, Ontario, soon afterward. In 1958 he won the Minto Cup as Canadian junior champion with the Brampton ABC's, then spent his senior career with the Peterborough Lakers and the Brooklin Redmen, winning the Mann Cup, the Canadian senior championship, in 1966 and 1973 and being named the most valuable player of the 1973 Mann Cup. When his Peterborough team joined the National Lacrosse Association in 1968 and turned professional, he won the league championship in 1969. He was repeatedly named the top goaltender in the Ontario Lacrosse Association and is considered a pioneer of the breakout pass. He was elected to the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1980, and he died in Peterborough on October 4, 2022, at the age of 83.