The game that propelled Joe Walters’s Professional Hall of Fame career

Growing up in Rochester, Joe Walters had so many fond memories of professional lacrosse.

He remembers going to the Major League Lacrosse Summer Showcase tour – before it became an official league – when it came to Frontier Field.

He remembers going to Rochester Knighthawks games and idolizing John Grant Jr., a dominant left-handed player like Walters wanted to be. The Knighthawks also featured his favorite player, Casey Powell. Walters had a poster of Powell on his bedroom wall and he’d train to play the way he played. Powell frequented Walters’ mother’s restaurant, Mamasan’s, and would give Walters sticks and other accessories.

“Casey Powell was like God,” Walters said.

When Walters was drafted first overall by the Rochester Rattlers in the 2006 MLL Draft, he said he felt some pressure. Not only were they his hometown team, but he also was playing alongside not just one but both of the players he looked up to; Grant and Powell were both on the Rattlers roster. There was even more pressure in 2008, when the Rattlers took on the back-to-back MLL champion Philadelphia Barrage in the semifinals with hopes to win their first playoff game in team history.

Since the league’s inception in 2001, Rochester had reached the playoffs four times; the team lost all four matchups, three of which were by one goal. In 2007, Walters’ second year, the team lost to the Los Angeles Riptide, 15-14, on a Michael Watson goal with one minute and 21 seconds remaining in the game. Walters had one goal and one assist that game; he believed that was the team’s opportunity to win a championship and called the loss a big let down, but he also said the team was still working on its chemistry and just needed more time.

Walters played lefty attack at the University of Maryland, but when he got drafted by the Rattlers, he said he knew he wasn’t taking Grant’s position. The coaching staff moved him to the midfield. He said there was an adjustment period to the new role, but by 2008, he said he “got that level of confidence and swagger that I typically played with.”

That comfort was on display on Rochester’s first possession in the semifinals. Off a restart, Grant sent the ball to Walters at the top of the two-point arc. The midfielder found Colin Doyle wide open on the crease to put the Rattlers up. 1-0, which Walters said was a major advantage.

“People say that it’s a game of runs, and it sure is, but I think when you score the first goal, or you score right away, it’s the confidence,” he said. “I always felt if I get involved right away – it doesn’t have to be a goal – if I’m involved in a play that leads to a goal, personally, I always felt I get more into the game right away. I feel like I play my best when that happens. That’s what happened in that game.”

Rochester scored the first three goals of the game, but the Barrage clawed back to keep it close; the Rattlers led 6-5 after the first quarter. A close game was expected, though, especially considering the Barrage offense featured Matt Striebel (a member of the 2022 Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame), Roy Colsey and Ryan Boyle (members of the 2023 Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame).

Walters put Rochester on his back in the second quarter though, scoring four of the team’s five goals.

His third goal came with 2:52 remaining in the third quarter. He caught a long pass and ran with the ball down the righty wing. As soon as his defender attempted an over-the-head check Walters blew by him and put the ball past Barrage goalie Brian Dougherty.

The left-handed finish had ESPN broadcaster Quint Kessenich praising Walters’s ability to get to his strong hand.

“What makes Walters so dangerous is his ability to shoot accurately on the run,” he said. “For a guy everyone knows is one-handed – and he clearly is left-handed – it amazes me how often he can get to his strong hand.”

“[Dave Cottle] urged me to always get to my strength,” added Walters, referring to his coach while at Maryland. “If I would go right-handed and do what the defense was giving me and go to my weakness, now I am a fraction of the player I really am. Practicing and having that mindset from him made me focus and driven to always get to my strength.”

Down by one goal with 29 seconds before the end of the half, Walters used his left-hand and the help of Doyle to score the equalizer. Isolating from the top left, he carried the ball down the alley. Once he got about 10 yards away from the goal, he stepped towards the center of the field, and when his defender tried to beat him to the spot, Walters went back down the alley.

Doyle cleared out to give Walters space to dodge to the goal; Walters took all the space and took a low-angle shot that still got past Dougherty.

“It doesn’t get any slicker or smoother than this,” Kessenich said on the broadcast. “How does Joe Walters … sliver that one and slice it between the legs of Brian Dougherty?”

A member of the 2022 Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame class, scoring on Dougherty – a three-time MLL champion and three-time Goaltender of the Year winner with over 1,000 saves to his name – was a barometer of success for players; if you could score on ‘Doc’, you added a level of confidence to your game. Walters said that playing on the same field as Dougherty elevated his own game, knowing he’d have to be at his best.

It wasn’t just Dougherty, either. The defense featured two more Professional Lacrosse Hall of Famers: Brian Spallina and Kyle Sweeney.

Scoring against the Barrage in 2008 was something Walters was an expert at; in two regular season games, he combined for 11 goals. In fact, Rochester had dominated both regular season contests by scores of 22-9 and 20-17. So even though the Barrage kept the game close throughout and even came back from a three-goal deficit at the start of the fourth quarter to tie the game, Walters wasn’t nervous because he knew the team could score against Dougherty and the tough Barrage defense.

“We knew we would score goals,” Walters said. “They’re defending champs for a reason because they’re battle-tested, they’re a tough team and that’s what they had to do … but when you beat a team a couple times, you know you can get it done. I’m sure there was definitely some uncertainty, some uncomfortableness, but that’s a credit to our squad to finish the game and weather that punch and storm.”

As dynamic as the Rattlers offense was, the team was shut out in the fourth quarter. Rochester did get the ball back in a tie game with a minute remaining, and even though Grant and Powell were on the field, Walters was the player who was given the ball with the game on the line.

He got off not just one but two solid shots, and even though both missed the net, the fact he even was the one taking those shots spoke volumes about the team’s confidence in Walters, especially in the beginning of his career.

“I scored four and three, so that means I had a good game, and that means I’m feeling confident,” he said. “I want the ball, but also, having players – and this is really important – understand it, and even if you’re one of the best players in the world like John Grant or Casey, they understand that when a guy has had a good game, you want to get him the ball. That says a lot about them that they had confidence in me, and that’s a really cool and special feeling.”

The game went into overtime, where two icons of the sport went to work for the Rattlers; Brodie Merrill caused a turnover and got the ball down to Rochester’s offense. Walters got the ball and made a bad pass to Powell, but to Walters’s amazement, Powell was still able to corral the ball (“If that’s any other player, that ball might be going out of bounds,” he said), dodge and score the game-winner.

Walters finished the game with four goals and three assists. While he wasn’t credited with an assist on Powell’s game-winner, to be involved in the play where his childhood icon played the role of hero once again was a moment Walters said he was blessed to be a part of.

The next day, the Rattlers defeated the Denver Outlaws, 16-6, to take home their first MLL championship; Walters scored two goals and handed out another two assists en route to earning the MVP of the 2008 MLL Championship Weekend.

The semifinal game against the Barrage – which featured a total of 10 future Professional Lacrosse Hall of Famers, including Walters – was the one that set the tone for the rest of his career.

“First couple of years, you’re out of college and you’re trying to fit in,” he said. “Then you have a game like that … you cement yourself in the same breath as those guys. It just adds to the swagger and confidence you have as a player.”

Ten seasons later, Walters was on the Redwoods. No longer the young guy playing with his idols, he got to experience the inverse. Rookie Ryder Garnsey – who Walters said is one of the best players now – showed Walters a picture of a poster hanging in his room in his parents’ house. He had gone to a clinic hosted by the 2006 United States National Team. He got autographs from Kyle Harrison and Walters.

Next to his name, Walters inscribed, “Dream big.” Seeing it was a full-circle moment.

Now, Walters once again puts his name alongside some of the best to play the sport. Not only does he join nine other players from that 2008 semifinal game, but he is inducted into the Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame alongside two players he teamed with over the years – Kyle Harrison (United States National Team and Redwoods) and Paul Rabil (New York Lizards) – as well as Kevin Leveille in what Walters said is another special moment of his lacrosse career.

“Being a pro lacrosse player is not easy,” he said. “You can’t just show up and have good games. You’ve got to put in the work in the off time, so knowing that those guys did that, and knowing first-hand that they did, it’s just pretty cool to again be in the same path as those guys and to be honored in the same breath is very special.”