Holden Cattoni, a junior A Lakers standout and recent graduate, was given permission to join the Lakers for the duration of the Mann Cup from Johns Hopkins, his university in the US. Cattoni was supposedly fly out on Friday but has his flight cancelled by weather, so he arrived Sunday instead.
He was thrown right into the lineup in game three as the most sensible choice to replace Adam Jones, who is starting a new teaching job on Tuesday as kids head back to school.
Cattoni, who hails from De Winton, AB, was a phenom in junior lacrosse, scoring 300 points in 63 games over five years in both Okotoks and Peterborough.
“It’s definitely a whirlwind just stepping right in halfway through this series and not being around for the first couple of games,” Cattoni said. “It’s a little bit of a rush. I think I settled in a bit
once I dropped the first pass in the first period, I started to settle in a bit. It was really nice to get out here and play in my first Mann Cup game, it was exciting, little bit of jitters but I settled into the game nicely.”
Cattoni says that the team does not expect him to replace the scoring prowess of Adam Jones, although after a few years of senior lacrosse under his belt he’ll be even better than Jones.
“I don’t think they want me to be Adam Jones and they don’t expect that from me,” he said. “They just want me to play my game like I do back in junior and now that I’m graduating, kind of fill a role and be an auxiliary player for the big guns that we have on offense.”
Cattoni had a great start to his Mann Cup career, scoring two goals in his teams 14-8 loss.
“One of the focuses for me coming into the game was getting my touches see what I can do to help the team win. I’m not going to play a major role here like I did in junior and I’m just looking to fill a role for them and do everything I can to help the team.”
Cattoni was not surprised at the level of physicality in the game, featuring some of the best senior players in the world, guys who regularly play pro lacrosse in the NLL, where Cattoni will be one day.
“It’s rough but it’s nothing that we don’t expect,” he said. “It’s a big series and a lot’s on the line so you have to expect people to come out and give it their all.”
Other options the Lakers had to replace Jones were Scott Evans, a veteran of many Mann Cups, and Josh Currier.
