Southside Pizzeria wins Kawartha slo-pitch title
Peterborough Century 21 Lakers' Holden Cattoni fires the ball at Six Nations Chiefs goalie Dillon Ward during Major Series Lacrosse action Aug. 30 at the Memorial Centre. The Calgary native was drafted by the Calgary Roughnecks fifth overall in the 2016 National Lacrosse League draft on Monday night.
CALGARY -- Holden Cattoni could not have hand-picked two better lacrosse role models.
“Honestly, I just wanted to be all-round like those two guys,” explained Cattoni, a ball boy back when Kaleb Toth and Tracey Kelusky starred for the Calgary Roughnecks. “They’re both great lacrosse players. On the floor, I tried to shape my game around them.
“Off the floor, you can’t get two guys that are more professional and do more for the community around them and don’t expect much in return for what they give. It’s not every day that professional athletes, especially ones that are at the peak of their game, take a liking to a young kid that looks up to them and I was fortunate that both of them did.’’
By virtue of being chosen fifth in the 2016 National Lacrosse League draft on Monday night in Oakville, Calgary’s own Cattoni will wear the same jersey as his all-time heroes. The 22-year-old comes out of the Peterborough Lakers organization and Johns Hopkins University.
For the 6-foot, 185-pound Cattoni, a graduate of West Island College, playing at the Scotiabank Saddledome was his starry-eyed ambition.
“That’s exactly the way I felt when I was growing up,” he agreed. “It’s the same as any young hockey player in Calgary wanting to play for the Flames. It’s the same feeling and that dream was realized today.”
“Shoots the ball very well on the run,” described Calgary head coach Curt Malawsky. “I think he’s built for this league in the fact that he’s a low-ball shooter and he gets it in and out of his stick real quick. He’s very unpredictable with his release and that’ll be a big asset.”
Cattoni lived with the Kelusky family the past three summers while in Peterborough, where he also diversified his game from pure sniper to role player.
Cattoni had 57 points in 14 playoff games in his final season with the Peterborough Jr. A Lakers in 2015 and had 31 points this year in his debut with the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers.
“Having Tracey coach him in the summer in Peterborough, we knew that he was going to have a couple of idiosyncrasies that would be successful in the NLL,” said Malawsky. “Hopefully he can tap into the knowledge that Tracey has passed on to him.”
“It was a big evolvement of my game,” Cattoni admitted. “In junior, I was a big goal scorer and when I got to the seniors, you have what many would consider the two best players in the NLL right now, John Grant Jr. and Shawn Evans. We have Adam Jones and other guys who are at the peak of their game.
“Goal scoring wasn’t a need of ours and I needed to adapt my game to something that could help us and ultimately win.” The following are results of the Kawartha Slo-Pitch 2016 Playoffs. Southside Pizzeria 18. Pioneers 8. Overrated 26. Lolligaggers 11. Bidgood Builders 22. MWM Mechanical 4. Monaghan Lumberjacks 19. Jays 4. Southside Pizzeria 17. Overrated 6. Bidgood Builders 8. Monaghan Lumberjacks 2. Pioneers 22. Lolligaggers 10. MWM Mechanical 7. Jays 0. Monaghan Lumberjacks 16. Pioneers 8. Overrated 19. MWM Mechanical 9. Southside Pizzeria 10. Bidgood Builders 6. Overrated 17. Monaghan Lumberjacks 14. Bidgood Builders 18. Overrated 7. Southside Pizzeria 25. Bidgood Builders 8. Regular Season & Playoff Champions: Southside Pizzeria