Box lacrosse 1998, the NLL entered into the Canadian market for the first time with the Ontario Raiders. Although 5 of the league's 9 teams are based in American cities, more than two-thirds of the players are Canadian. During play, a team consists of six players: a goaltender and five "runners". A runner is any non-goalkeeper position player, including forwards, transition players, and defenders. Runners usually specialize in one of these roles and substitute off the field when the ball moves from one end to the other. When the sport originated teams played with six runners. However, in 1953 the sixth runner,
Lacrosse in Canada the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Lacrosse in Canada Modern lacrosse in Canada has been a popular sport since the mid 1800s. Only field lacrosse was played until the 1930s, when box lacrosse was invented. In 1994 Parliament passed the "National Sports of Canada Act" which declared lacrosse to be "Canada's National Summer Sport", with ice hockey as the National Winter Sport. Lacrosse was played by First Nations peoples before the arrival of European colonists. The first documented description of the game was in 1637. The game was called "baggataway" and "tewaarathon", which was played by two teams with 100