Landon Kells

Landon Kells
Built for the Crease — Calm, Competitive and Never Afraid of the Next Shot

Position: Goaltender
Hometown: Fergus, Ontario
MSL Team: Oakville Rock
NLL Team: Las Vegas Desert Dogs

Life on an Island

There may be no position in lacrosse quite like goaltender.

When a forward makes a mistake, there are teammates behind him.

When a defender gets beaten, there's still a goaltender waiting.

When the goalie makes a mistake?

Everyone in the building knows.

Landon Kells has spent most of his life becoming comfortable with that reality.
From Fergus, Ontario, through junior lacrosse, international competition, a Mann Cup championship, and eventually into starting roles in both Major Series Lacrosse and the National Lacrosse League, Kells has developed into one of Canada's most accomplished young goaltenders.

He's athletic.

He's competitive.

But perhaps most importantly, he possesses something every great goaltender needs.

The ability to forget.

The last shot is over.

The next one is coming.

Growing Up in Fergus

Kells grew up in Fergus, Ontario, where his journey toward becoming an elite box lacrosse goaltender began.

Like most young goalies, his development wasn't simply about learning how to stop the ball.

It was about learning the position.

Angles.

Patience.

Reading shooters.

Communicating with defenders.

Understanding when to challenge and when to remain deep in the crease.

And, perhaps most difficult of all, learning how to respond after allowing a goal.

Those lessons eventually carried Kells into the Ontario junior ranks, where his career began accelerating quickly.

Climbing the Junior Ranks

Kells was selected 12th overall in the 2017 Ontario Junior A Midget Draft.

His development over the next few seasons was remarkable.

In 2018, he captured a Founders Cup, giving him his first taste of a Canadian national championship.

Then came 2019.

It would become one of the defining years of his young career.

Kells represented Canada at the IIJL World Junior Lacrosse Championship, helping his country capture the gold medal.

His performance earned him First Team All-World honours, and he was named Player of the Game in the championship final.

For a young goaltender, international competition provides a unique test.
Different shooters.

Different styles.

Different pressure.

Kells passed it.

But 2019 wasn't finished with him yet.

A Mann Cup at 18

Later that summer, Kells joined the Peterborough Lakers.

Think about the environment he was entering.
Major Series Lacrosse dressing rooms are filled with NLL stars, international players and veterans who have spent years competing for championships.

Kells was still a teenager.

And Peterborough was chasing the Mann Cup.
The Lakers captured the 2019 Mann Cup, giving Kells a Senior A Canadian championship at only 18 years old.

For a young goaltender, simply being around that environment was invaluable.

He was able to watch how veteran players prepared.

How championship teams handled pressure.
How the intensity changed when the Mann Cup arrived.

Before most players his age had even finished junior lacrosse, Landon Kells already knew what a championship Senior A dressing room looked like.

National Lacrosse League

The Calgary Roughnecks selected Kells 46th overall in the 2019 NLL Entry Draft.

Breaking into the NLL as a young goaltender is notoriously difficult.

Professional shooters release the ball faster.
They disguise their shots better.

They move the ball quicker.

And mistakes are punished immediately.

Kells spent the beginning of his professional career learning that environment with Calgary before another opportunity arrived.

The expansion Las Vegas Desert Dogs selected him from the Roughnecks.

Suddenly, Kells wasn't simply developing behind established professionals.

He was being asked to play.

A lot.

Becoming an NLL Starter

During Las Vegas' inaugural 2022-23 season, Kells took control of the crease.

He appeared in 17 games and played more than 863 minutes, recording:

528 saves
.765 save percentage
11.25 goals-against average
Five victories

It was his first true opportunity to demonstrate what he could do as an NLL starter.

The following season, his workload became even greater.

Kells played more than 1,050 minutes and made 704 saves, posting a .767 save percentage.

Through the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, Kells had appeared in 89 regular-season games, making 2,180 saves.

He's already experienced the highs and lows that come with being a professional starting goaltender.

And he's still only 25.

For a position where experience matters enormously, that's significant.

Major Series Lacrosse

Kells' summer career has included an important chapter with the Peterborough Lakers, the organization where he first experienced Mann Cup success.

But in March 2025, his MSL career changed dramatically.

Peterborough acquired veteran goaltender Nick Rose from the Oakville Rock.

Going the other way was Landon Kells, along with a first-round draft pick.

For Oakville, the move represented an investment in the future.

For Kells, it represented something else.
Opportunity.

The chance to take ownership of an MSL crease.

And he's done exactly that.

Becoming Oakville's Last Line of Defence

With Oakville, Kells has been asked to face some of the most dangerous offensive players in the world.

That's simply life in Major Series Lacrosse.

One night it's Six Nations.

Another it's Peterborough.

Then Cobourg, Brooklin or Brampton.

There are no easy nights.

During the 2026 season, we've seen Kells stand tall even when Oakville has been under enormous pressure.

Against the undefeated Six Nations Chiefs, Oakville went toe-to-toe with the league leaders for forty minutes.

The game was tied 3-3 heading into the third period.

A major reason was Kells.

Six Nations steadily increased the pressure and territorial advantage, but Kells repeatedly turned aside quality opportunities and gave his team an opportunity to stay in the game.

That's the job.

A goaltender can't control how many shots his team allows.

He can't control whether the offense scores.

He can only control the next shot.

And Kells has demonstrated the ability to keep his team within striking distance.

The Mental Side

Statistics can tell us how many saves a goalie makes.

They can't tell us what happens between those saves.

Goaltending is as much psychological as physical.

A goalie might make ten consecutive saves and then allow one he'd like back.

What happens next?

That's often what separates good goaltenders from great ones.

Kells has spoken about the enormous adjustment young goaltenders face moving from junior lacrosse to the National Lacrosse League.
The equipment changes.

The sticks change.

The shooters certainly change.

But the biggest adjustment might simply be learning that at the professional level, every player is capable of scoring.

There is nowhere to hide.

For Kells, those lessons started early.

And they're part of the reason why, despite still being relatively young for his position, he already possesses years of professional experience.

Championships Along the Way

Kells' career already includes championships at multiple levels.

2018 — Founders Cup
2019 — IIJL World Junior Championship Gold Medal
2019 — Mann Cup

That's an impressive collection for any player.
It's particularly impressive when much of it was accomplished before Kells had even begun his professional career.

Those experiences matter.

Because championship lacrosse teaches lessons that regular-season games simply can't.

Pressure feels different.

Possessions matter more.

And for the person standing alone in the crease, every shot feels just a little bigger.

By the Numbers

Hometown: Fergus, Ontario
Position: Goaltender
College: Conestoga College
2018: Founders Cup Champion
2019: IIJL World Junior Champion — Canada
2019: First Team All-World
2019: Mann Cup Champion — Peterborough Lakers
NLL Draft: 46th Overall, 2019 — Calgary Roughnecks
NLL Teams: Calgary Roughnecks / Las Vegas Desert Dogs
MSL Teams: Peterborough Lakers / Oakville Rock
NLL through 2025-26: 89 games / 2,180 saves
MSL Team: Oakville Rock

Gary Groob's Take

I've always believed you learn something about a goaltender by watching what happens after he gets scored on.

Anybody can look confident when they're stopping everything.

I want to see the next shot.

That's one of the things I've come to appreciate about Landon Kells.

He competes.

I've watched nights where Oakville has been under tremendous pressure and Landon has simply continued battling. Shot after shot, possession after possession, he gives his team an opportunity.

The Six Nations game this season really stood out to me.

Oakville was facing an undefeated Chiefs team loaded with some of the best offensive players in lacrosse.

After forty minutes, the game was tied 3-3.
Landon was a major reason why.

Eventually Six Nations broke the game open, but that doesn't erase what happened during those first forty minutes. Sometimes a goaltender's job is simply to keep the door closed long enough for his team to find a way.

And Landon did that.

What I sometimes forget is how young he still is.

He's 25.

Yet he's already won a Founders Cup, represented Canada and won gold at the World Juniors, been named First Team All-World, won a Mann Cup, and spent five seasons facing NLL shooters.

That's a lot of experience packed into a relatively short career.

And goaltenders tend to get better with experience.

They learn shooters.

They learn tendencies.

They learn patience.

Most importantly, they learn themselves.

That's why I think the next chapter of Landon Kells' career could be the most interesting one.

Oakville has given him the crease.

Now we're getting the opportunity to watch him make it his own.

For a goaltender, there may be no greater vote of confidence than that.

And it's why Landon Kells belongs among the Stars of MSL.

— Gary Groob