Shamrocks Sign Lefties Gautier, Pusch from Alberta

The Victoria Shamrocks are pleased to announce the additions of Mathieu Gautier and Ronin Pusch for the upcoming 2024 Western Lacrosse Association season.

Gautier, 21, and Pusch, 22, are lifelong friends from Edmonton who have been lacrosse teammates since the U8 level. They were key members of the Edmonton Miners in Junior A and they are currently teammates with Panther City Lacrosse Club in the National Lacrosse League.

With the Junior A Miners, Gautier and Pusch competed in the last two Minto Cup tournaments and they came within a game of winning the whole thing in 2022 in Brampton, Ontario. Gautier led the tournament that year in points, was named to the tournament All-Star team together with new Shamrock teammates Bennett Smith and Casey Wilson and was awarded the Jim Bishop Memorial Award for leadership, sportsmanship and outstanding play in the Minto Cup.

They were both selected in the 2022 NLL Entry Draft by Panther City. Gautier, a left-handed offensive player, was selected in the first round, 9th overall and Pusch, a left-handed defensive player, was selected in the second round, 30th overall. Both are currently playing in their second season with the club. Gautier has 65 points in 30 games so far in his NLL career while Pusch has played fewer games but has put up some good numbers of his own in other important areas with over 50 loose balls recovered and a 45% success rate on more than 150 draws taken against the best in the game.

The Shamrocks acquired the highly sought after pair on transfer agreements with the Senior B clubs in Alberta who drafted them earlier this year, Gautier from the Edmonton Miners and Pusch from the Beaumont Outlaws.

“We’re really pleased to keep the story of them playing together going,” said Shamrocks general manager Chris Welch. “They’re both top players in their own right who are going to help us in different ways. Mathieu brings a lot of skill on offense but what is really special about him is his grit and determination, I know our fans are going to absolutely love the level of compete he has in his game. Ronin is a solid shutdown defender who will really help to stabilize our young back end. He’s also strong in pushing the ball up the floor in transition and as an added bonus he’s experienced on draws and that will help fill a need for us.”

Season tickets remain on sale and single game tickets will be going on sale on April 12th. For all ticket information, schedule, and more visit VictoriaShamrocks.com - the best seats in the house are the ones that belong to you, starting from $149 for a full season adult ticket.