From an outside view, the 2015 National Lacrosse League final had everything; two of the top four all-time scorers, a six foot five 24-year-old 50-goal scorer, the first three-game playoff series in 17 years of NLL playoffs, the first all-Canadian NLL final, and the first championship trophy hoisted in Rexall Place since the 1990 Edmonton Oilers.

With just over a minute to play, Edmonton Rush attacker Matthew Dinsdale fired a shot past Toronto Rock goaltender Brandon Miller to take a 11-10 game two lead and clinch the Rush's first Champion's Cup in their ten year history.

But for the teams involved, something was missing.

On November 27th 2014, 36 days before their season opener, the Toronto Rock were struck with tragic news. After falling sick on a family vacation, general manager Terry Sanderson passed away.

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Sanderson had served as either general manager or coach of the Rock for eight seasons since 2004 and other various positions in the NLL since 2000. 

More important than any of the jobs he held throughout the years was his role as a father. Terry's son Josh is the fourth leading point scorer in NLL history and, with second all-time leading scorer and usual Rock-captain Colin Doyle out for the season, he filled the role as the 2015 Toronto Rock captain.

Josh led the Rock to a first-place finish scoring 19 goals and an NLL-record 83 assists over 18 games and the franchise's ninth finals in his first season without his father.

Terry was the sole member of this year's NLL Hall of Fame induction class and was also awarded GM of the year.

For the victorious Edmonton Rush, it was a dreadfully similar story.

Sixteen month before the 2015 season opened, Edmonton Rush head coach and general manager Derek Keenan's wife Wendy was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer and one day before the Rush's opener versus the Bandits in Buffalo that cancer took her away.

Wendy was also the sister of Hockey Hall of Famer Joe Nieuwendyk and Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Famer Gil Nieuwendyk.  

The Rush started the season 0-2 without their coach after going 16-2 in 2014. After settling his daughter and son back into a routine Keenan returned to the team for their third game and lead them to a 17-4 record the rest of the season all the way to the cup. 

Rush captain Chris Corbeil shared a special message with coach Keenan after they claimed their first NLL championship.

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While both teams dealt with awful situations, they refused to be defined by tragedy.