Jim Higgs (L) and Pat Differ from Quebec's 45th reunion...
Long before pixels replaced pulp, before social media told the tales of athletes past, there was a man named Pat Differ—part player, part poet, and one of the great storytellers of Canadian box lacrosse.
Born with a stick in one hand and a pen in the other (metaphorically speaking), Differ came of age during a golden yet chaotic period for Canadian lacrosse. In the 1960s and 70s, the sport was at a crossroads—torn between its Indigenous roots, its working-class heart, and its dream of going professional. Pat Differ lived through that dream. And when it started to fade, he refused to let it die.
For those who know the name, Pat Differ isn’t just a writer. He’s a keeper of the flame. His work on Crossecheck has helped breathe life back into one of the most criminally overlooked eras in Canadian sport — the turbulent, brilliant, and ultimately doomed experiment that was the National Lacrosse League of 1974–75.
And for his efforts and lifetime achievements, he’s being inducted as part of the 2025 Canadian Lacrosse Hall Of Fame……
Pat Differ with the Toronto Shooting Stars from 1972...
There are some people who live life like a straight line—predictable, expected, drawn with a ruler. His life has always been more like a lacrosse game: fast, full of contact, unexpected turns, and beautiful chaos that somehow always led to something meaningful.
Born in the shadow of the Toronto skyline, Pat grew up with a stick in his hand and stories in his head. Lacrosse came naturally. It wasn’t just a sport in his neighborhood—it was a rite of passage, a language passed down from father to son, from older brother to younger, from teammates to rivals. And Pat, with his unassuming swagger and fierce competitiveness, spoke that language fluently.
He wasn’t the biggest guy on the floor, but he played big. Differ had that rare mix of toughness and intelligence. He knew when to hit and when to hold back, when to drive to the net and when to dish it off. He read the floor like a book he’d written himself. Coaches trusted him, teammates followed him, and opponents never had an easy shift when he was out there.
From his junior days of playing lacrosse in Mississauga, and growing his game in Toronto, in 1972, Pat not only excelled in lacrosse, but in the junior ranks of hockey, being noted as one of the rising stars on the Canadian National teams of the early 70’s, becoming a true leader and inspiring the players and people that surrounded him.
Differ cut his teeth in Ontario’s Junior ranks, known for his vision on the floor, a sharp lacrosse IQ, and a voice that never stayed quiet for long. By the mid-70s, he was a fixture on senior teams in the Ontario Lacrosse Association, a gritty and determined forward who understood the geometry of the box game like a chess master. He wasn’t the flashiest player on the floor, but he was the glue—setting picks, moving the ball, and creating space for snipers to shine.
Though he never made headlines like Paul Suggate or Gaylord Powless, Differ was there when history was being made. He played in the same arenas, laced up against the same legends, and heard the same echoes of empty bleachers and packed hopes.
Drafted in the fourth round of the 1974 NLL Draft by the Syracuse Stingers, but was one of team’s standout players, scoring 64 goals and 103 assists, for 167 points total, leading Syracuse in total points, good for fifth overall in the league.
Although Syracuse finished last in the league in 1974, Differ and his teammates saw something looming on the horizon.
It was November 1974 when the Syracuse Stingers packed their gear and headed north. After a solid season in Syracuse, Pat found himself waking up in Quebec City under a new banner: the Quebec Caribous. Alongside talented veteran Dave Durante and fearless captain Jim Higgs, Differ embraced his role as assistant captain—ready to help transform a middling squad into something special.
The 1975 Quebec Caribous...
Their debut season was brutal. Through August, they limped through the standings, flirting with elimination. But quietly, a bond was forming in training sessions and team talks in the dim confines of Le Colisée. Differ’s leadership began to show: calm under pressure, always directing teammates and reading the chaos of box lacrosse with uncanny instincts.
Then, like flipping a switch, everything changed. Starting late August, the Caribous ripped off six of their final seven regular‑season games, clawing into fourth place and into the playoffs. Differ had exploded with offense—totaling 58 goals and 91 assists for 149 regular‑season points, and added 10 more points in postseason play. His scoring touch and aggressive defense became the backbone of the team’s resurgence.
Facing old rival Montreal in the Nation’s Cup finals was about more than sport—it was provincial pride. Games were brutal, seasons’ worth of tension erupted in four back‑and‑forth battles. With goalie Larry Smeltzer anchoring the defense and Travis Cook and Durante lighting up the scoring, Quebec surged to a 3‑0 lead. But Montreal pushed back hard in games 4 and 5. Differ’s leadership was quietly resolute. He rallied his teammates between games—“We can’t win four in a row in one night, but we can win one in a row four times”—and steered them through the physical, frustrating grind of a long series.
On September 29, 1975, before a roaring crowd of over 9,000 at Le Colisée, the Caribous slammed Montreal 16–10 in Game 6. Differ added a few crucial assists, working his magic in tight as defenses collapsed. The buzzer sounded, and Quebec City exploded in joy—a team that once seemed destined to fade had captured the Nations Cup.
After his playing days in the National Lacrosse League were over, Pat moved to the West Coast, continuing to play senior lacrosse for Vancouver in 1976, 1978 to 1981, with an Eastern stop to play in Brampton in 1977. Pat was also a member of the 1978 Canadian Field World Lacrosse Championship team.
After his playing days were over, he continued in lacrosse, coaching and refereeing in the WLA, being named referee-in chief for the 2023 and 2025 Mann Cup playoffs.
He also spurred and helped organize the 2019 Costa Rican box lacrosse National team, who played in the 2019 Summer Games in Canada.
Pat with John Davis of Montreal from 2019....
Pat Differ’s most lasting contribution to lacrosse wasn’t just on the floor—it was in preserving the game’s forgotten stories.
Years after his playing days, Differ became a kind of archivist—a passionate keeper of lacrosse lore. With his writing for Crossecheck.com, he began chronicling the overlooked heroes and misfit dreamers of the 1974–75 National Lacrosse League, a short-lived professional experiment that remains one of the sport’s most fascinating chapters.
His article “A Ticket to Ride: The 1975 Nations Trophy Playoffs” didn’t just recall box scores or rosters—it resurrected an era. Through his words, readers could feel the sweat on the hardwood, the sting of an uncalled slash, and the quiet heartbreak of a sport that always seemed on the cusp of breaking through.
He also wrote extensively on Team Canada’s unlikely gold medal at the 1978 World Field Lacrosse Championships—an underdog squad that outwitted more established programs on sheer will and locker room grit. Differ’s essays didn’t romanticize—they humanized. He gave lacrosse’s ghosts names, voices, and memories.
While Crossecheck.com features many writers, Differ’s voice stands out — grounded, humorous, painfully honest. His style isn’t about glorifying the past; it’s about remembering it clearly, warts and all.
He writes about the players who never got their due, like Duffy McCarthy, Bob McCready, and the rough-and-tumble rosters of the Syracuse Stingers or Maryland Arrows. He shines a light on the 1975 Quebec Caribous, a team that played like champions and folded like a tent. He recalls the way Canadian teams clawed for respect against American franchises in a league that seemed poised for greatness — until it vanished overnight. His contributions to our 2020 documentary, “Two For The Show”, were never ending, endearing and knew no limits.
In an era where sports nostalgia is often overproduced and under-researched, Pat Differ writes like a man who knows exactly what was lost.
For those who care about the soul of the sport — its texture, its history, its dignity — his contributions are priceless.
Through Crossecheck.com, Pat’s words ensure that the National Lacrosse League of the ’70s isn’t just a footnote. It’s a living chapter, recalled in real voices, real moments, and the real pain of what could have been.
Because of Pat Differ, those players aren’t forgotten. Those teams didn’t vanish. And the sport he loves — still scrappy, still overlooked, still beautiful — has a storyteller worthy of its chaos and charm.
“We didn’t think we were making history,” he once wrote. “We were just trying to win faceoffs and make rent. But someone had to remember.”
We congratulate and honor our friend on his nomination to the 2025 class of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall Of Fame. An honor truly deserved.
He reminds us that lacrosse is not just about goals or trophies. It’s about community. Memory. Identity. And above all, storytelling.
Pat Differ told those stories. And we’re lucky he did.
