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Johnny Powless had 3 goals and an
assist to help the Chiefs take a 3-0 lead
over Brooklin. (Photo: Tim Prothero)
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The Six Nations Chiefs are one win away
from going to the Mann Cup for the first time since 1996. They downed
the Brooklin Redmen 8-4 Friday night to take a 3-0 lead in the
best-of-seven Major Series Lacrosse championship series thanks to hat
tricks from Colin Doyle and Johnny Powless and another
excellent performance from Evan Kirk in net.
The Chiefs, as they have been wont to
do in the series, took a lead in the first period. Brooklin actually
created more chances and seemed more into the flow of the game than
they had in the first two games, but they couldn't beat Kirk and
wound up trailing 3-0 after 20 minutes. Doyle ripped home another
outside shot to get things rolling for Six Nations in the second
period and when Kasey Beirnes quick-sticked home a perfect
pass from Doyle with an extra attacker as Brooklin had a delayed
penalty coming, it was 5-0 and the Redmen were in trouble.
Brooklin pulled starting goalie Steve
Fryer and put in Zach Higgins, and the tactic seemed to
work to change the momentum of the game, kickstarting the Redmen into
producing some transition chances and putting home some of their
scoring opportunities. Kiel Matisz scored a pair of goals in
the second period, both on chances where he received a pass right on
top of the crease and buried them. Between those, Shawn Williams
scored an unassisted goal, so the score after two periods was 5-3 and
Brooklin appeared to be right in the game.
Six Nations extended the lead back to 3
goals when Cody Jamieson scored at 3:23 but Scott Campbell
got that one back immediately, receiving the ball after a scrambled
ensuing faceoff and running a perfect give and go with Williams, who
was parked in the corner. The Redmen couldn't beat Kirk again,
though, thanks largely to the exemplary work of the Chiefs defensive
corps. And, while Higgins was outstanding in the Brooklin net, Doyle
and Powless both managed to beat him to complete their hat tricks and
put the game out of reach.
Kirk said he's pleased with the way
he's playing, but attributed much of his success to the men in front
of him. “Yeah, I'm doing okay but if you look at the highlight tape
it's the D. They're making my job easy. There's a couple of inside
shots that you've got to have, but my D is making it really easy,”
Kirk said.
Now, he says, the Chiefs just need to
stick with their game plan to avoid becoming complacent with a big
lead in the series. “I think [we just need to keep doing]
everything that we've been doing,” he said. “The little things,
the little battles—the loose balls, getting good shots, playing
like a team like we have been and I think that's going to do the job
for us.”
For their part, Matisz said, Brooklin
needs to create more opportunities to score and take advantage of
them. “I don't think we're getting enough chances. We're getting to
the areas but we're not necessarily getting a catch and a shot,” he
said. “We're just not clicking on all cylinders like we were last
series. Every game we're behind 1 or 2 goals. It's a team game but
we've been a little bit selfish, trying to push things out there and
make the game come. We've got to let the game come to us.”
Matisz added that he and the rest of
the offensive group have to step up if Brooklin is to get back in the
series. “They're a great team
offensively and defensively. Our defence is doing a great job,
holding them to 8 goals. That's phenomenal. But our magic number has
got to be 10 offensively and we're producing half of that.”
There
were a pair of crowd-pleasing fights in the game. Rory
Smith stood up for Jamieson
after Steve Priolo
had thrown a couple of punches at the Chiefs' star forward, so Smith
and Priolo squared off right after the faceoff following Williams'
second-period goal. Priolo clearly won the first half of the fight,
but the two separated then came back together after Smith slid his
right arm back through the sleeve of his jersey, and Smith made
things closer by landing a few blows in the second half of the tilt.
With just two minutes left in the game, Stephen Keogh
of Six Nations tangled with Brooklin's Scott Gamble
after they'd share some pleasantries in front of the Brooklin goal.
Game
4 goes Monday night at 8 pm in Brooklin. You can catch all the
action, both goals and fists, via the Webcast Sports logo in the
right hand column of this web site.
