Lakers open season with a win

A youthful-looking Peterborough Century 21 Lakers lineup got the defending Mann Cup champions off to a good start Thursday night.

The Lakers kicked off their drive for a fifth straight national championship with an 11-8 Major Series Lacrosse win over the Brampton Excelsiors in their first visit to Brampton’s Memorial Arena since 2019.

Thomas Hoggarth led the attack with a hat trick and Holden Cattoni put up a pair of goals and two assists. The Lakers controlled the scoreboard the whole game, leading 10-5 before Brampton, back in the league after a season’s absence, closed the gap.

The Lakers dressed 10 veterans but also had a number of new faces in the lineup as several of their 2022 players are taking a break after the NLL season and five are competing in the pro league’s final for the Buffalo Bandits and Colorado Mammoth.

Top draft picks Matt Wright and Caleb Commandant debuted on defence while the Lakers called up four players, including Adam Churchill and Nick Webb from the senior-B Ennismore James Gang.

The Lakers also welcomed Joel Tayler (formerly Joel Matthews) back to the lineup for the first time since their 2017 Mann Cup win. Tayler scored once in his debut.

Goalie Drew Hutchison got the win as the Lakers will rely on him and Landon Kells between the pipes early in the season until Doug Buchan returns and Matt Vinc declares whether he will be back this season.

“We really liked the flow of the game,” said Lakers GM Paul Day.

“It was a really good pace. Our defensive guys stepped up the floor on changes and really put some pressure on them. Our transition game was good. Joel Tayler scored on transition and Matt Gilray had two and we had a lot more chances. Hutch was really solid in net and our offence moved the ball well.”

Shawn Evans had a goal and five assists for the Lakers, while Churchill had his first MSL goal and added two assists and Turner Evans also scored. Adding assists were Caleb Creasor, Austin Hasen, Jordan Stouros, Eric Shewell, Josh Currier, Taite Cattoni and Mitch Ogilvie.

James Whiteford led Brampton with two goals and two assists, while Henry Follows scored twice and had one assist.

The Lakers are off until Wednesday when they visit the Brooklin Lacrosse Club at Iroquois Park Sports Centre in Whitby.

Their home opener is set for the next night, Thursday, at 8, against Brampton, with a tailgate party in the parking lot before the game.