Cattoni, Currier go early
Peterborough Lakers players drafted fifth, sixth in NLL draft by Rochester, Calgary
Back to back for the Lakers. A pair players from the Peterborough Lakers organization went fifth and sixth in the first round of Monday night’s National Lacrosse League Entry Draft at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre, among four total players from the area who were selected.
Holden Cattoni was the first pick from the area, going fifth overall to his hometown Calgary Roughnecks. Josh Currier going next was a bit of a surprise when the Rochester Knighthawks took him.
Then the New England Black Wolves, whose offensive coach is Lakers offensive coach Tracey Kelusky, chose Kyle Trolley of the Ennismore James Gang 29th and Jr A Lakers captain Dan Michel 38th.
The Cattoni story is well-known. He was a ball boy for the Calgary Roughnecks when Kelusky was starring for the team, so it was only natural that Cattoni came to the Jr Lakers team that Kelusky was helping to coach when looking for a higher level of competition for his final two years of junior lacrosse.
Cattoni exploded with 57 points in 14 playoff games in his final junior season of 2015. He followed that up with 31 points in his first year with the senior team. That was a good total for a rookie, but even more impressive was Cattoni’s growth as an off-ball player. Lefty forward Cattoni expects to play a hybrid of those roles for the Roughnecks.
“Score goals and contribute to the scoring of the team, but also work for the other guys around me and be a big part of the offence but not the big feature, which is fine by me,” Cattoni said of what he thinks will be asked of him. “I was excited about all the Peterborough guys in the draft,” Cattoni said of the players from his adopted home. “Definitely exciting to see two of us go back to back.”
As for getting to play for Peterborough in the summers and Calgary in the winters? “Two great organizations that I’m excited to be a part of.”
Currier was also excited, and surprised, to hear the Knighthawks — where Lakers head coach Mike Hasen is head coach and Lakers GM Paul Day is an assistant — call his name after Cattoni’s.
“I said, You didn’t want to give me any hints about that and they just laughed it off ” Currier, a righty forward, said with a smile.
Currier had a breakout summer with the Lakers, finishing third on the team in goals with 23 and totalling 45 points, fourth on the squad. He expects that Rochester will want him to do more of the same and he showed quiet confidence about it.
“I think they want me to score some goals for them. Bigger nets, smaller sticks, I think I can do that,” said Currier, whose younger brother and Lakers teammate Zach is already considered a likely first rounder in next year’s NLL draft.
Trolley is former Jr. A Laker whose speed and stick skills made him a constant threat to score in transition. He will join a New England team with Kelusky on the bench along with fellow Hall of Famer Jim Veltman and head coach Glenn Clark. And he’ll be joined by Michel, with whom he was teammates in Peterborough in 2012 and ‘13.
Michel, a three-year Laker captain, is a grinder with talent in the mold of Chad Culp, another player familiar to Peterborough fans and who is also a new teammate with the Black Wolves.
One other player with a connection to the Lakers was taken when Brine Rice, a former Jr. A firstround draft pick who only suited up with the team for 16 total games over the last three years, was also taken by Rochester.