On Saturday night, the Peterborough Lakers of Major Series Lacrosse League secured their fourth consecutive Mann Cup in a dramatic Game 7 win against the Langley Thunder at the Memorial Centre.
The great news about this good news? Eight of the 24 players on the Lakers’ roster are also members of the Rochester Knighthawks, including forwards Holden Cattoni, Thomas Hoggarth, Austin Hasen, and Turner Evans, defensemen Paul Dawson and Mitch Ogilvie and transition players Matt Gilray and Thomas Whitty.
To boot, Peterborough is coached by Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen. All around good looks going into the Knighthawks 2022-23 campaign.
A little bit about the Game 7 dramatics.
After dropping the first two games to the Thunder in the Mann Cup championship series, the Lakers completed the comeback on Saturday, winning Game 7 of the Senior ‘A’ lacrosse final 13-9. It was 9-9 entering the third quarter and there wasn’t much separation between the top two teams in the MSL until the final frame when the Lakers outscored the Thunder 4-0 to claim their fourth straight Mann Cup title and 18th overall.
Peterborough has now surpassed the New Westminster Salmonbellies with their 18th Mann Cup celebration, the most of any team since the 1932 box lacrosse era began. The Lakers also improved to 11-0 on Saturday night when hosting the Mann Cup finals.
Hoggarth added three tallies during the championship final. With the matchup tied at 9-9 heading into the final 20 minutes of play, Hoggarth fooled Thunder goaltender Frank Scigliano 2:07 into the third, then went to combine for three goals just 2:15 apart to help give the Lakers a 12-9 lead.
While Hoggarth went on to appear in four of the seven Mann Cup championship games against the Thunder, he totaled six goals and 11 assists for 17 points in the postseason. Not to overlook his regular season contribution of 39 points, which ranked him second on the team in scoring.
Cattoni, the Knighthawks’ leading scorer for the last two seasons, led the Lakers on Saturday with three goals and six assists. With just 2:40 to go, Cattoni found himself alone in the offensive zone about to be swarmed by Langley defenders. As Cattoni retrieved a pass, he launched a bouncing shot into the net for the final tally in the 13-9 finale.
Cattoni ended the 2022 campaign with Peterborough third on the team with his 35 points in 11 games on 13 goals and 22 assists.
Again, if the Mann Cup championship series is any indication as to what the Knighthawks offense can bring to the floor come the 2022-23 NLL campaign, then we’re in for a treat.
The Knighthawks embark on their third season in the National Lacrosse League on Saturday, Dec. 3 on the road against the Georgia Swarm before returning home to host the Toronto Rock on Opening Knight on Saturday, Dec. 10.
The on-sale date for all Knighthawks single-game tickets on-sale will be announced in the coming weeks. Season Tickets for the Knighthawks for the 2022-23 season are on sale now and start as low as $18 per seat per game. More information on Knighthawks season tickets can be found at www.rochesterknighthawks.com/memberships.