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| John Grant, Jr. may or may not be playing for Peterborough this summer. Andrew Suitor (hugging Grant) is out for sure with a knee injury. The Lakers will attempt to defend their 2012 Mann Cup championship |
The Peterborough Lakers held a press
conference to announce players that will be returning from and
joining the 2012 Mann Cup champions Wednesday at the Peterborough
Memorial Centre. While much of the core of the team is back, someone
who may or may not be available will garner plenty of attention as
well. John Grant, Jr. is in the process of obtaining his U.S.
Citizenship and is uncertain whether he'll be able to cross the
border regularly to play. Head Coach and GM Jamie Batley said,
though, that if Grant is able to travel freely he will suit up for a
limited number of games, similar to the way he has in the past
because of his commitments to Major League Lacrosse and other
lacrosse work in the States.
Whether Grant can play or not, though,
there are plenty of players returning, led by a trio of brothers who
grew up in the Peterborough minor lacrosse system and are excited to
continue playing for their home town. Scott and Brad Self
and Shawn Evans were on hand at the press conference. Scott
Evans is also committed to playing this summer, as are Kyle
and Brock Sorensen.
“When you've got three sets of
brothers playing it's showing a lot of skill that we're learning here
and that's coming out of Peterborough,” said Shawn Evans. “It's
big for the city of Peterborough and it's big for us that we get to
continue to play with our friends and teammates that we played with
all the way up.”
Batley echoes Evans' sentiment, saying
the team has an internal mandate to have a core of local players. “We
want to have a Peterborough base, a Peterborough foundation,” he
said.
Other local products who'll be playing
this summer are Tracey Kelusky, Cory Vitarelli and
Kevin Croswell. They'll be joined by returning players Mark
Steenhuis, Jordan MacIntosh, Andrew Watt, Tyler
Carlson and newly signed goaltender Kurtis Wagar.
Several players will be missing from
last year. The team's defender of the year, Mac Allen, and
Andrew Suitor are both out for the season because of knee
injuries. Darryl Gibson has retired, Mat Giles is
focusing on his role as head coach of the Jr A Lakers and Kyle
Laverty is not returning.
With Grant uncertain, there is a
question mark at lefty forward. John Tavares is committed to
playing the season if he is healthy, but that is uncertain given the
physical troubles he had in last year's playoffs and Mann Cup and
some ongoing issues this year with the Buffalo Bandits of the NLL.
Chad Culp is currently on Buffalo's injured list but Batley
says Culp's doctor has told him he think he'll be able to play this
summer.
With Allen and Suitor out, there are
some gaps in the defensive zone. Those are compounded because Darryl
Gibson has retired and two other players aren't yet certain of
their availability. Chris White is getting married in August
and Mike Hobbins in living in the Durham region and working in
Greater Toronto, so he's not sure if he'll be able to make a
commitment to the team.
Batley said he wants to incorporate
some other local products in the back end. “That's where I believe
that Mark Farthing, Pete Rennie and Eric Bissell
can help to fill defensive deficiencies.” All three are having
strong years in the Canadian Lacrosse League. Farthing, in
particular, is considered a leading candidate for CLax's transition
player of the year award.
Having Brock Sorensen this summer will
also help to cushion the blow from the missing players. Sorensen was
the second overall pick in the NLL draft by the Minnesota Swarm and
is returning to the dominating form that earned him that high ranking
after missing the entire summer of 2012 after blowing out his knee.
The Lakers will also have graduating
junior Robert Hope, a rangy and athletic defender considered
an early- to mid-round NLL prospect, available to help on the
defensive end, along with fellow Jr Lakers grad Matt Crough, a
talented righty forward.
Peterborough plays host to the first
game of the MSL season when traditional rival Brampton Excelsiors
visit on May 23.
