Lakers are healthy and eager to play
Jones and Llord are able to return from injuries; trade would need to be swung with Brooklin for Matthews to stay with Peterborough after June 30
This isn’t a typical off-season for Peterborough Century 21 Lakers general manager Paul Day.
Normally one month ahead of the Major Series Lacrosse opening game Day has secured commitments from most of his players for the summer season.
Day, also the Philadelphia Wings head coach and GM, is in limbo. The NLL cancelled the rest of its regular season because of the COVID-19 pandemic but hasn’t given up on holding some sort of playoffs. The MSL is scheduled to start May 31 and the league’s board will meet online May 16 to determine when or if there will be a season.
Day said he’s kept in touch with most of his Lakers players but he’s not sought commitments from them at this stage.
He’s confident they’ll all be back if there is a season.
“We’re fortunate most of our group is so young everybody is coming back,” he said.
He expects Adam Jones and Ian Llord to return after missing last season. None of the 2019 players have said they won’t be back.
Brock Sorensen (Achilles tendon) and Thomas Hoggarth (ACL replacement) were expected to miss the season following surgery. However, Day said Sorensen’s recovery is way ahead of schedule and he was eyeing a possible return to the Toronto Rock lineup late in the season prior to its cancellation.
“He was running in February and was pretty happy about his recovery,” said Day, who hopes Sorensen can play for the Lakers.
The only other question was Mark Matthews, whose rights revert to the Brooklin Lacrosse Club on June 30 as a condition of the trade that brought him to Peterborough last summer.
“We would attempt to make a permanent trade at some point,” Day said. “But it’s not something we’re talking about right now.”
If the season is a go, Day expects they’ll be able to get going quickly.
“I’ve talked to quite a few guys and they’re asking me about what it looks like for the summer as well as the NLL,” he said. “We’re all just waiting for governments to talk about what is going to be open. We’re all hopeful in the NLL we can still get a playoffs in. We don’t know what that would look like or if that’s a possibility.”
The NLL is played in two countries and numerous states and provinces with different levels of social distancing, which poses challenges.
“We know our borders are closed until the end of May. Once the governments decide on that, that’s obviously a factor we’ll take into consideration. It’s such a fluid situation,” he said. “We’ll know in two to three weeks where everybody is in the world and that will help everybody make decisions on sports.”
Day senses players are eager to play and with this break will be the healthiest they’ve been in some time.
“There could be situations where they might have to work more because they’ve been unable to make money in their regular jobs or their regular jobs may need them to be committed to whatever business they’re in,” Day said. “There are so many factors but the majority of guys I’ve talked to really want to play.”
The Lakers want to be the second team to win four straight Mann Cups, joining the Peterborough teams of the 1950s. The MSL champion will host the 2020 Mann Cup.
“It’s definitely twofold. It’s not only a chance to win our fourth but to also be back home at the Memorial Centre, which is pretty important,” Day said.
“It worked out well at the Evinrude Centre, but the Memorial Centre is one of my favourite places for lacrosse; summer or winter, it doesn’t matter,” he added.
“If we don’t get a season in this summer, that momentum remains.”