Road To Your Name - Season 8, Episode 6: A conversation with Warren Hill, lacrosse goaltender with the Halifax Thunderbirds
Download MP3Yoha:te ne kahsen:na / The Road to Your Name
Season 8, Episode 6
Guest: Warren Hill, Professional Lacrosse Goaltender and Education Mentor
This episode was recorded in November 2025
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
In this episode of Yoha:te ne kahsen:na, The Road to Your Name, host Lisa VanEvery sits down with Warren Hill — professional lacrosse goaltender for the Halifax Thunderbirds and Student Mentor at the Ogwehoweh Skills & Trades Training Centre (OSTTC) in Six Nations — for a conversation about the game that shapes so much of life at Six Nations, and about the work he does helping students find their own path. Warren traces his lacrosse journey from picking up a stick "as soon as he could walk" through a lacrosse family, to playing at The Hill Academy, Onondaga Community College, and Syracuse University, to turning pro in 2016 and becoming one of the top goaltenders in the National Lacrosse League. He talks about what it takes to play the position, how the game has grown internationally, the deep cultural significance and craft of the traditional wooden lacrosse stick, and what it means to carry the responsibility of the Haudenosaunee origins of the game onto the world stage. The conversation then turns to Warren's "nine-to-fiver" as a student mentor, where he draws on his own difficult first experience with post-secondary education to help students at OSTTC — many balancing school with work, family, and other life circumstances — find support, community, and a path to their goals.
WHAT WE TALK ABOUT
- Growing up in a lacrosse family at Six Nations and picking up the game before he could walk
- The path from The Hill Academy to Onondaga Community College to Syracuse University, and turning professional in 2016
- Finding his way into goaltending as a kid, and what makes a great goaltender ("80% mental, 20% physical")
- The maturity and life skills that professional lacrosse demands, on and off the floor
- Playing for the Georgia Swarm, Rochester Knighthawks, and the Halifax Thunderbirds
- The rapid global growth of lacrosse and its path toward the Olympics
- Sharing the Haudenosaunee origins and values of the game with international teams
- The craft, cost, and cultural significance of traditional wooden lacrosse sticks, and the stick makers who keep the tradition alive
- Raising the next generation — his two sons — around the game
- His work as a Student Mentor at the Ogwehoweh Skills & Trades Training Centre (OSTTC), helping students navigate the challenges of post-secondary life
- Infusing culture, community, and support into OSTTC's programming
- Balancing life as a professional athlete and a full-time community mentor
GUEST BIO
Warren Hill is a professional lacrosse goaltender from Six Nations of the Grand River, currently playing for the Halifax Thunderbirds of the National Lacrosse League. Drafted by the Georgia Swarm in 2016 after playing at The Hill Academy, Onondaga Community College, and Syracuse University, Hill has developed into one of the premier goaltenders in the league, previously leading the NLL in save percentage and ranking among the Thunderbirds' all-time saves leaders. He has also represented the Haudenosaunee Nationals internationally, including winning a bronze medal at the U19 FIL World Lacrosse Championship, and has won multiple Mann Cup national championships with the Six Nations Chiefs. Off the floor, Warren is a Student Mentor at the Ogwehoweh Skills & Trades Training Centre (OSTTC) in Six Nations, where he supports students — many navigating the transition to post-secondary education — with the kind of guidance and understanding he wishes he'd had during his own first, difficult experience at McMaster University. He is a father of two sons who are already following in his lacrosse footsteps.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
- Halifax Thunderbirds (National Lacrosse League)
- Ogwehoweh Skills & Trades Training Centre (OSTTC), Six Nations
- Six Nations Chiefs (Senior "A" lacrosse) — Mann Cup champions
- Haudenosaunee Nationals / Iroquois Nationals
- Syracuse University Orange lacrosse
- Aboriginal Legal Services — www.aboriginallegal.ca
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Season 8, Episode 6
Guest: Warren Hill, Professional Lacrosse Goaltender and Education Mentor
This episode was recorded in November 2025
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
In this episode of Yoha:te ne kahsen:na, The Road to Your Name, host Lisa VanEvery sits down with Warren Hill — professional lacrosse goaltender for the Halifax Thunderbirds and Student Mentor at the Ogwehoweh Skills & Trades Training Centre (OSTTC) in Six Nations — for a conversation about the game that shapes so much of life at Six Nations, and about the work he does helping students find their own path. Warren traces his lacrosse journey from picking up a stick "as soon as he could walk" through a lacrosse family, to playing at The Hill Academy, Onondaga Community College, and Syracuse University, to turning pro in 2016 and becoming one of the top goaltenders in the National Lacrosse League. He talks about what it takes to play the position, how the game has grown internationally, the deep cultural significance and craft of the traditional wooden lacrosse stick, and what it means to carry the responsibility of the Haudenosaunee origins of the game onto the world stage. The conversation then turns to Warren's "nine-to-fiver" as a student mentor, where he draws on his own difficult first experience with post-secondary education to help students at OSTTC — many balancing school with work, family, and other life circumstances — find support, community, and a path to their goals.
WHAT WE TALK ABOUT
- Growing up in a lacrosse family at Six Nations and picking up the game before he could walk
- The path from The Hill Academy to Onondaga Community College to Syracuse University, and turning professional in 2016
- Finding his way into goaltending as a kid, and what makes a great goaltender ("80% mental, 20% physical")
- The maturity and life skills that professional lacrosse demands, on and off the floor
- Playing for the Georgia Swarm, Rochester Knighthawks, and the Halifax Thunderbirds
- The rapid global growth of lacrosse and its path toward the Olympics
- Sharing the Haudenosaunee origins and values of the game with international teams
- The craft, cost, and cultural significance of traditional wooden lacrosse sticks, and the stick makers who keep the tradition alive
- Raising the next generation — his two sons — around the game
- His work as a Student Mentor at the Ogwehoweh Skills & Trades Training Centre (OSTTC), helping students navigate the challenges of post-secondary life
- Infusing culture, community, and support into OSTTC's programming
- Balancing life as a professional athlete and a full-time community mentor
GUEST BIO
Warren Hill is a professional lacrosse goaltender from Six Nations of the Grand River, currently playing for the Halifax Thunderbirds of the National Lacrosse League. Drafted by the Georgia Swarm in 2016 after playing at The Hill Academy, Onondaga Community College, and Syracuse University, Hill has developed into one of the premier goaltenders in the league, previously leading the NLL in save percentage and ranking among the Thunderbirds' all-time saves leaders. He has also represented the Haudenosaunee Nationals internationally, including winning a bronze medal at the U19 FIL World Lacrosse Championship, and has won multiple Mann Cup national championships with the Six Nations Chiefs. Off the floor, Warren is a Student Mentor at the Ogwehoweh Skills & Trades Training Centre (OSTTC) in Six Nations, where he supports students — many navigating the transition to post-secondary education — with the kind of guidance and understanding he wishes he'd had during his own first, difficult experience at McMaster University. He is a father of two sons who are already following in his lacrosse footsteps.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
- Halifax Thunderbirds (National Lacrosse League)
- Ogwehoweh Skills & Trades Training Centre (OSTTC), Six Nations
- Six Nations Chiefs (Senior "A" lacrosse) — Mann Cup champions
- Haudenosaunee Nationals / Iroquois Nationals
- Syracuse University Orange lacrosse
- Aboriginal Legal Services — www.aboriginallegal.ca
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Creators and Guests
Host
Lisa VanEvery
Lisa has worked for Aboriginal Legal Services for sixteen years. She began hosting the Road To Your Name Podcast in December 2020.
