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| The Peterborough Lakers and Six Nations Chiefs will meet for the MSL title after wrapping up their semifinal series Monday night. (Photo: Tim Prothero) |
The MSL finals matchup is set. The
Peterborough Lakers and Six Nations Chiefs finished off their
semifinal series in five games each Monday night. Peterborough
dominated the KW Kodiaks to take a 12-2 lead then cruised to a 13-9
win behind a spectacular performance from John Grant Jr. The
Lakers star scored 7 goals, most of them in breathtaking fashion, and
added 3 assists. Mark Steenhuis' big night was overshadowed by
Grant's brilliance; Steenhuis scored 3 goals and 5 assists.
Peterborough took a 3-2 lead after the first period then ran up a 6-0
second to take total control of the game. They added three more to
open the third before taking their foot off the pedal and giving up 7
of the game's final 8 goals. Mitch Wilde led KW with a hat
trick and 2 assists. Corey Fowler and Ryan Benesch each
scored twice and added 3 assists.
In Whitby, Six Nations got the last two
goals of the game from Cody Jamieson to pull out a game that
went back and forth in a series of runs. Jamieson, who had 4 goals
and 3 assists total, potted the winner with just 22 seconds left in
the game. Jeff Shattler added 2 goals and 4 assists. Curtis
Knight led the Redmen with 3 goals and 4 assists; Shawn
Williams added 2 goals and 5 assists.
The MSL finals will start Thursday
night in Peterborough at 8pm. The rest of the schedule has not yet
been finalized.
“I felt awful, had a terrible
warmup,” Grant said of his big game. “The first one went in it
wasn't where I was aiming, it kind of gets the monkey off your back.
I was able to get to areas of the floor where I feel successful and I
got there more often than not. Fortunately I was able to put a couple
of fun ones in and everyone leaves happy, I guess.”
The important thing about the win,
Grant added, was that it gets the Lakers more ready to play the
Chiefs. “I think offensively we had the ball moving more than we
have all season, at least that I've been here. It made it a lot
easier for us to get into those positions because it wasn't just one
guy trying to break through three,” Grant said. “If we move the
ball like that I think it'll give us a much better opportunity on
Thursday. We're feeling better than we did early in the series. Now
it's time to put it all together against the Nations.”
