Sweeting played tough to keep Dickson in check

‘I played him hard. You have to be physical with him’

Friend became foe when Curtis Dickson squared off against his old Peterborough Century 21 Lakers for the Mann Cup.

Many wondered who the Lakers had who could contain one of the game’s most dynamic players. It was a team effort but Bryce Sweeting in particular was matched up one-on-one and the two did battle.

The Lakers defence beat on Dickson pretty good and he didn’t expect any less.

“It’s nothing I’m not used to,” Dickson said. “I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years now. I guess you could say it was another day at the office. I knew what to expect.”

He and Sweeting exchanged some slashes on more than one occasion. So will he remove Sweeting from his Christmas card list?

“Sweets was never on my list,” Dickson said, with a laugh.

“No. That’s his role and he plays it well. He’s a good player and feisty. That’s their back-end. They’re all role players and they play their roles well.”

Sweeting said he was only doing his job.

“Curtis is an amazing player, one of the best one-on-one,” Sweeting said.

“I played him hard. You have to be physical with him and try to take his space away and force him to areas he doesn’t want to go and give up the shots Kirky and Vino want.

“He’s a great competitor and a friend,” Sweeting said. “When we’re on the floor that friendship goes away.”

Sweeting witnessed the Lakers win the Mann Cup in 2004 when he was 10 years old.

“Growing up watching them do it in ’04 as a kid it’s been a dream of mine to come here and do it in front of family and friends. I had some family out west last year but to do it here at home is something special.”

Dickson didn’t envision losing four straight games.

“It’s tough when you get to this point in the season and you lose,” he said.

“That’s a heck of a lacrosse team over there. Obviously, I know best, I was there last year. Hat’s off to them. Any time you get the sweep you obviously deserve to win. It’s one of those seasons that is going to sting for a bit. We’ll look back and be proud of what we accomplished. We expect to be back in this position next year as well and possibly battling this team again.”