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Cody Jamieson fought through swarming Shamrocks defence to have a
9-point night as the Chiefs won Game 5 11-7 to take a 3-2 lead in the
2013 Mann Cup. (Photo: Kevin Light)
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Colin Doyle has done a lot of
things in his long and illustrious lacrosse career, but until
Wednesday night playing goalie in the Mann Cup was not one of them.
That all changed when both Brandon Miller and Evan Kirk
were ejected for having shin pads a little too wide in the third
period of Game 5. Doyle made six saves on nine shots and even earned
an assist while playing net as the Six Nations Chiefs held on for an
11-7 win to take a 3-2 lead over the Victoria Shamrocks in the best
of seven Canadian senior lacrosse championship series.
Lost to an extent amid the weirdness of
Doyle having to go in and play net was another huge night from Cody
Jamieson, who had 3 goals and 6 assists to lead all scorers.
Stephen Keogh was also instrumental in the Chiefs win. He
scored 3 goals, all of them huge ones in the third period.
The Chiefs led 3-2 after the first
period thanks to a Johnny Powless goal with 27 seconds to
play. Powless then got the first goal of the second period, but it
wasn't until the 9:32 mark as both goaltenders, Miller and Matt
Vinc, were outstanding. Another late-period goal gave Six Nations
a 7-4 lead heading into the second intermission. This time it was
Doyle connecting with less than a second to go when he took a pass
from Jamieson, who was cutting across the top of the zone to where he
had scored the previous goal exactly two minutes earlier, and tucked
a shot between the post and Vinc's foot.
When the teams returned for the third
period, Victoria asked for a measurement on Miller before play even
began. While Six Nations was shorthanded for the ensuing illegal
equipment penalty, Keogh fought his way through a pair of defenders
and buried a shorthanded goal to extend the lead. Just 14 seconds
after that penalty expired, Tom Montour snagged the ball from a
rebound off the back boards and put home the goal that seemed to put
the game out of reach at 9-4.
After they couldn't score for the next
half dozen minutes, Victoria went back to the goalie measurement ploy
and it worked for them again. Kirk's shin pads were also found to be
a bit too wide and he was tossed from the game. While Kirk was off
being measured, Doyle had run down into the Chiefs dressing room to
start putting on Miller's equipment.
“It's a just in case thing,” Doyle
said of starting to don the gear while Kirk was still in the
measurement room. “My understanding was that we only had five
minutes to get another goalie ready. I figured I'll go and get the
stuff on and if he comes back clean, then I'll take it off. If he's
in trouble, then I've got to get ready to go, I've got to talk to the
man short, what are we doing. So I just went back and got it on and
as it turned out we had a bit more time but I didn't know that at the
time.”
Mitch Jones, Rhys Duch and Jeff
Shattler all scored on Doyle in a two and a half minute stretch
starting during the power play for Kirk's illegal equipment call. It
looked like the Shamrocks had a chance to get back into the game,
having drawn within 2 goals at 9-7 with Doyle in the net and seven
minutes to play.
The Chiefs' defence stepped up in a big
way, though, taking away shooting opportunities and even blocking a
number of shots with their bodies. Rory Smith in particular looked
like a hockey defenceman going down to block shots. Doyle heaped
praise upon the defence for their effort. He also singled out Keogh,
who took the offence on his shoulders and made a pair of enormous
plays.
He drove to the net and got off a shot
that hit Victoria goalie Matt Vinc, hit the post, bounced on
the concrete near the goal line but went away from the net, then
bounced and spun back into the goal before bouncing back outside the
line. The ball was clearly over the goal line, though, and stretched
the Six Nations lead to three.
Just over a minute later, Doyle looked
to be in trouble after he made a save but all the Chiefs near him
were covered tightly by Victoria players. Johnny Powless raced
back into his own zone and fought off a check to grab a bounce pass
from Doyle, who knew he couldn't really throw accurate passes with
the goalie stick. Powless threw the ball to Keogh over by the boards
in the offensive zone and Keogh went to work again. He fought his way
through a couple of defenders, lowered his shoulder to bull his way
towards the net, stepped back and skipped a low shot past Vinc to
make the lead 11-7.
Asked if the win gives his team
momentum heading into Game 6, Doyle said “I like to think we have
the momentum, but again if you come out and lay an egg in the first
period on Friday that momentum is gone really quickly. We've got to
keep our wits about us, come out hard and keep to our work ethic and
come out ready to play on Friday.”
As for what he thinks of his stint
between the pipes, Doyle said, “When this thing's all over and I
have a chance to look back at it I think I'll be like, man, that was
neat. Right now, I'm just beside myself. I'll look back at that very
fondly. Especially if we're lucky enough to go on and win this, I'll
be very proud of that effort. But I can't compliment the guys enough
for what they did.”
For more coverage of Game 5 and the
Mann Cup as a whole, go
to IL Indoor and the Mann
Cup web site. Game 6 goes Friday night at 7pm PT/10pm ET.
