Mann Cup banner raising at home opener
Lakers aiming to defend MSL championship
The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers will start their 2018 home schedule by raising their 2017 Mann Cup championship banner.
Their only goal this season is to win another banner to raise next spring. They host the Brampton Excelsiors at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Memorial Centre.
Winning has become the way of life for the Lakers since 2004 when they snapped a 20-year drought of national titles. Since 2004, the Lakers have won six Mann Cup titles, eight Major Series Lacrosse titles and been to the league final 13 of 14 seasons.
“Each and every year our goal is to win and it still is,” said Lakers captain Robert Hope.
“All the guys in the room are very confident. We have winners in that room. We have some guys who weren’t able to play last year because of injuries and some new guys but, as a collective whole, everyone is in it to win it. We want to bring the Mann Cup back to Peterborough.
“That’s just the culture that Peterborough and the city and the coaches and every player who has come through these doors has created.”
Lakers head coach Mike Hasen wants last year’s players to enjoy the banner raising and then turn the page to a new season.
“I told our guys you earned the opportunity of having everyone stop and watch us raise that banner,” said Hasen. “We have to make sure it only lasts for that moment of the banner raising because everyone wants to beat us.”
The Lakers have already lost as many regular seasons games this year as they did all last season, one. They dropped their opener on the road to the Oakville Rock 8-7 on Monday. The Lakers were missing almost half their team to NLL commitments, injury or other reasons.
“Monday was a good example that if we take things for granted and don’t do things the right way teams are going to play better than us and (Oakville) did Monday. We want to win games now. As early as it is, they are important for where we want to get to,” Hasen said.
The Lakers lost Curtis Dickson, who returned home to B.C. after three years with Peterborough, Brad Self, who moved to Colorado, Joel Matthews, Dylan Evans and Mark Farthing.
To help offset the loss of Dickson they traded for NLL star Corey Small showing their commitment to retaining their title.
“That’s the reason we got Corey and sent two really god young players down the road to Cobourg,” said Lakers GM Paul Day.
“Winning is always our goal here but the great thing about our league is it’s always getting better. I think we’re better than we were last year. We lost a couple of key parts but our depth is better. We expect to be better in August than we are now.
“Adding Corey Small, getting Cory Vitarelli, Nick Weiss and Chad Tutton back are some big pieces we really missed last year which helps our depth.”
They also add some good young players like Cam Milligan, Jake Fox, Jordan Stouros, among others, to an already potent lineup. Scoring champion Shawn Evans is back to lead the offence with Small, Adam Jones, Kyle Buchanan, Holden Cattoni, Josh Currier, Turner Evans and Vitarelli who returns after missing 2017 to hernia surgery.
The Lakers have some of the best loose ball players in lacrosse with Zach Currier, who led the NLL by a wide margin, Hope and Jake Withers who ranked third and fourth in the NLL. Withers also set an NLL rookie record for faceoff wins.
With young, agile defenders like Matt Gilray, Thomas Hoggarth, Tutton, Weiss joining veterans like Hope. Brock Sorensen, Mark Steenhuis, Ian Llord and Andrew Suitor, the team will be solid on the back-end and in transition.
Goalies Evan Kirk and Matt Vinc are two of the best exhibited by leading their respective teams to the NLL final.
“We played a fast game last year and we want to do the same thing,” Hasen said. “We want to start on the offensive side as soon as we get the ball.”
LAKERS SCHEDULE
Thursday, May 31 vs Brampton Tuesday, June 5 @ Six Nations Thursday, June 7 vs Six Nations Sunday, June 10 @ Cobourg Thursday, June 14 vs Brooklin Thursday, June 21 vs Brampton Wednesday, June 27 @ Brooklin Thursday, June 28 vs Cobourg Thursday, July 5 vs Brooklin Sunday, July 8 @ Cobourg Thursday, July 12 vs Oakville Wednesday, July 18 @ Brooklin Thursday, July 19 vs Cobourg Tuesday, July 24 @ Six Nations Thursday, July 26 vs Six Nations