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Swarm Captain Andrew Suitor will be moving to Peterborough in the summer to seek a Mann Cup with the Lakers.

Just a day after his eastern rights were acquired from the Ajax Rock, transition player Andrew Suitor has confirmed that he will be playing for the Peterborough Lakers this summer. Suitor, who spent his first season in senior lacrosse with the Victoria Shamrocks, said Ajax contacted him about his preferences. “I got a phone call from Ajax, they were a class act organization,” he said. “They said a couple of teams were asking about you, where do you want to play. The first words out of my mouth were definitely Peterborough. I get to play with John Grant, Jr., I get to play with John Tavares, and my favourite lacrosse player growing up, Kyle Sorensen. I’m real excited to be there.”

Suitor said it was a tough decision to leave Victoria, where he enjoyed playing, but “as a 22-year-old to get a chance to go after a Mann Cup, that’s something I can’t pass up.” A major factor in the Orangeville product’s decision to return to the east was the chance for his family to see him play. “It’s a lot easier than my family having to take a four-and-a-half hour flight to see me play. I’ve got a little sister that I’ve gotta look out for and I’m extremely close with my dad and mum, so from now on they can see me play every game, which I’m looking forward to.”

Another enticement was the chance to “learn from one of the best transition players in the game, Mark Steenhuis. I mean, Geoff Snider’s there, how could I not? I’m just going to go in there and more than anything I’m going to learn. I’m going to try to be a sponge.” He said that he and Lakers’ GM/Head Coach Jamie Batley didn’t discuss his role, since Batley respected Suitor’s need to focus on his NLL season with Minnesota, where he was named the captain before this season, but that he’s prepared for whatever is asked of him.

With Snider fighting less than in the past and Brandon Francis, who was brought in last year to, as Batley notably put it, stop Rory Smith from “running around like a goof”, not being with the team for the playoffs last summer, that role could be expected to include dropping the gloves. Suitor says he won’t hesitate if that’s what he needs to do. “My big thing is, there are certain players, and it’s bad to say it, but they’re considered untouchables. The whole Peterborough offence is untouchables. Shawn Evans, Scott Evans, John Grant Jr., if guys want to take liberties, if it becomes my role to step in there I have no problem doing it. I’m going to do whatever I have to to help the team win. It’s my goal to win the Mann Cup and I think that’s what’s going to happen.”

Suitor said that he will be moving to Peterborough and enrolling at Trent University to complete his degree, suggesting that he plans to be a part of the Lakers future for the long term.

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