Thomas Hoggarth

Thomas Hoggarth
From Transition to Top-Six Forward — Doing Whatever It Takes to Win

Position: Forward
Shoots: Right
Hometown: Lakefield, Ontario
MSL Team: Peterborough Lakers
NLL Team: Halifax Thunderbirds

Whatever the Game Requires

Sometimes the position beside a player's name doesn't tell you very much about the player.
Thomas Hoggarth is listed as a forward today.
But that isn't where his story began.

Earlier in his career, Hoggarth was known as a transition player—a big, athletic right-hander capable of defending, picking up loose balls and pushing the pace the other way.

Then his game evolved.

The transition player became an offensive player.
The offensive player became a 60-point scorer in the National Lacrosse League.

And throughout it all, one thing remained consistent.

Thomas Hoggarth has been willing to do whatever his team needs.

It's a quality that has helped him build a decade-long professional career.

It's also helped him win four Mann Cups with the Peterborough Lakers.

Lakefield Roots

Hoggarth comes from Lakefield, Ontario, just outside Peterborough.

That makes his connection to the Lakers particularly meaningful.

For players growing up around Peterborough, the Lakers aren't simply another Major Series Lacrosse team.

They're part of the community.

Generations of players have grown up watching Thursday-night lacrosse before eventually getting an opportunity to wear the Lakers jersey themselves.

Hoggarth became one of them.

But before becoming an established Senior Laker, he had to work his way through the junior game.

Peterborough Junior A

Hoggarth spent much of his junior career with the Peterborough Jr. A Lakers.

At that stage, his game looked quite different from the player MSL and NLL fans recognize today.

He was valued for his size, speed, physicality and ability to play defense before creating opportunities in transition.

The offensive numbers were modest.

But the tools were there.

And gradually, another side of Hoggarth's game began to emerge.

A Run With Orangeville

In 2016, Hoggarth joined the Orangeville Northmen for their run toward the Minto Cup.
Orangeville reached the national championship final.

For Hoggarth, it was an opportunity to play meaningful games surrounded by elite junior talent while experiencing the pressure of competing for one of Canadian lacrosse's most important trophies.

He didn't leave with the Minto Cup.

But he left with experience that would become useful very quickly.

Because the next stage of his career was already beginning.

National Lacrosse League

Hoggarth was selected 20th overall in the second round of the 2015 NLL Entry Draft by the Georgia Swarm.

His professional opportunity eventually came with the Vancouver Stealth.

And initially, the role was familiar.

Transition.

During his rookie season in 2016, Hoggarth appeared in eight games, scoring five goals and adding two assists while collecting 15 loose balls.

He continued developing with Vancouver before eventually joining the Buffalo Bandits.

That's where his career changed.

The Breakout

During the 2018-19 season, Buffalo gave Hoggarth an opportunity to become a full-time offensive player.

He responded with the best season of his career to that point.

29 goals
32 assists
61 points

in 17 games.

Think about the transformation.

A player who entered the league largely known for transition had become a 60-point NLL forward.

He finished third on Buffalo in goals and fourth in points while helping the Bandits advance to the NLL Finals.

That season proved something important.
Hoggarth wasn't simply versatile enough to survive at different positions.

He was talented enough to excel at them.

The Professional Journey

Professional lacrosse rarely follows a straight line.

Hoggarth's certainly hasn't.

His NLL career has included stops with:

Vancouver Stealth
Buffalo Bandits
Rochester Knighthawks
Calgary Roughnecks
Halifax Thunderbirds

Each stop required another adjustment.

New teammates.

New systems.

Different offensive roles.

But Hoggarth continued finding ways to contribute.

In Rochester, coaches praised his ability to play either offense or defense if required.

During the 2022-23 season, he scored 30 goals and added 24 assists for 54 points.

Then came Halifax.

Another Career Year

Hoggarth joined the Halifax Thunderbirds ahead of the 2024-25 season.

At 29 years old, with years of professional lacrosse already behind him, he could easily have been viewed simply as another veteran addition.

Instead, he produced the best statistical season of his NLL career.

Hoggarth scored:
31 goals and finished with 62 points.

Both were career highs.
He added another nine goals and 14 points in three playoff games.

Halifax clearly liked what it saw.

In October 2025, the Thunderbirds signed Hoggarth to a three-year contract extension.
A decade after being drafted, Thomas Hoggarth wasn't hanging on to an NLL career.

He was still getting better.

Peterborough Lakers

If Halifax represents Hoggarth's professional home today, Peterborough remains his summer home.

Hoggarth has won four Mann Cups with the Peterborough Lakers.

He was named MSL Rookie of the Year in 2017.
Then, demonstrating the versatility that has defined his career, he was named the league's Top Transition Player in both 2018 and 2019.

Years later, he was playing primarily offense.

In 2024, Hoggarth produced 45 goals and 29 assists for 74 points in 20 regular-season games, finishing third in Lakers scoring.

The transition player had become one of Peterborough's primary offensive threats.
And in 2024, Lakers fans recognized something else about him.

They named him their Fan Favourite.

For a local player from Lakefield wearing a Peterborough Lakers jersey, that's a pretty meaningful honour.

International Lacrosse

Hoggarth's career has also included the opportunity to compete internationally with the Haudenosaunee Nationals.

He represented the Haudenosaunee at the 2023 World Lacrosse Championship and again at the 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championships.

At the 2024 Box Championship, the Haudenosaunee captured the bronze medal.
It's another chapter in a career that has touched virtually every level of the game.

Junior.
Major Series.
Professional.
International.

Away From Lacrosse

Hoggarth's connection to Indigenous culture extends beyond the lacrosse floor.

He studied Indigenous Environmental Science at Trent University.

It's an interesting piece of his story because Trent is also part of the Peterborough-area community that has played such a large role throughout his life.

Lakefield.
Peterborough.
Trent.
The Lakers.

For all the places professional lacrosse has taken Thomas Hoggarth, much of his story continues to circle back home.

By the Numbers

Hometown: Lakefield, Ontario
Position: Forward
Shoots: Right
Junior: Peterborough Jr. A Lakers / Orangeville Northmen
2016: Minto Cup Final — Orangeville
Education: Trent University — Indigenous Environmental Science
NLL Draft: 20th Overall, 2015 — Georgia Swarm
NLL Teams: Vancouver / Buffalo / Rochester / Calgary / Halifax
MSL Team: Peterborough Lakers
2017: MSL Rookie of the Year
2018: MSL Top Transition Player
2019: MSL Top Transition Player
Mann Cups: Four — Peterborough Lakers
2024 MSL: 45 goals / 29 assists / 74 points
2024: Peterborough Lakers Fan Favourite
International: Haudenosaunee Nationals
2024: World Box Lacrosse Championship Bronze Medal
2024-25 NLL: Career-high 31 goals / 62 points

Gary Groob's Take

Thomas Hoggarth is one of those players whose career makes more sense when you stop looking at positions and simply start looking at the player.

Transition.
Defense.
Offense.
Power forward.
Pick-and-roll guy.

Whatever you want to call him, Thomas has found a way to make it work.

That's what I appreciate about him.

I've watched plenty of players over the years who have been very good at one particular thing.  There's nothing wrong with that.

But Thomas has reinvented himself.

This is a player who won back-to-back MSL Top Transition Player awards and then, a few years later, was scoring 45 goals in a Major Series Lacrosse season.

That's not a small adjustment - That's evolution.

And when I watch him with Peterborough, the thing that stands out is how difficult he can be to handle physically.

He's 6-foot-3 and more than 200 pounds.
He can create space for somebody else with a pick, roll toward the net, catch the ball in traffic or simply use his strength to get himself into an area where the defense doesn't want him.
Not everything he does ends up on the scoresheet.

But a lot of Peterborough offense starts because somebody had to deal with Thomas Hoggarth.

There's something else I like about this story.
He's a Lakefield kid - He grew up just outside Peterborough.

And now he's won four Mann Cups wearing a Lakers jersey.

There are players who spend their entire careers chasing one Mann Cup - Thomas has four.

You have to be willing to accept different roles.
And, most importantly, you have to contribute to winning teams.

Thomas Hoggarth has done all of those things.
The young transition player became an NLL scorer.

The NLL scorer became a veteran.

And the veteran is still producing.

It means being willing to become whatever your team needs you to become.

Four Mann Cups later, I'd say that's worked out pretty well.

That's why Thomas Hoggarth belongs among the Stars of MSL.

— Gary Groob