Lakers win Game 5 to stay alive in MSL finals

Cory Vitarelli's hat trick helped the Lakers take Game 5 and force Game 6 in Six Nations. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Peterborough Lakers won Game 5 of the MSL finals 9-6 in Peterborough to force a sixth game. The Six Nations Chiefs now lead the best of seven series 3-2 with Game 6 back in Six Nations Friday night. Shawn Evans led the way for the Lakers with 4 goals and 3 assists, including a pair of shorthanded goals that helped Peterborough take a 6-1 lead in the second period.

The Chiefs got a pair of goals each from Cody Jamieson and Stephen Keogh to battle back within two goals with a minute and a half to play. Evans finished things off with an empty net marker with 10 seconds left.

Evans said he and his teammates had plenty of incentive to win the game. "We needed to play. If we lose, we're done and it's golf season. We don't want that. We want to keep playing lacrosse," Evans said. "I don't like to lose and I don't like to give up just like that and give them a 4-1 series win. We needed to step it up and play to win and we played to win all 60 minutes of that game. The outcome showed it."


It took a full team effort to secure the win, Evans said. "You count on the defence stepping up when you need it. You count on the goaltender to make those big saves at key times. And our offence put up nine goals, better than we did the last three games. We all did our part, we just have to continue that on."

Now the Chiefs will go home and try to close out the series and earn another trip to the Mann Cup in front of their own fans. Their coach Rich Kilgour says they would have liked to finish the series in Game 5 but he wasn't surprised by the effort the Lakers came up with in the game. "We're up 3-2 going home. We've still got two kicks at this even if that goes sour," Kilgour said. "We're in a good spot but that's all we're in. We showed in the first period we might have taken it over tonight but they answered the bell. They've got some Mann Cups on their fingers over there. We knew they weren't going to lay down."

Lakers defensive coach Bobby Keast said his group knew they needed a big effort and they prepared to produce one. "We had a little defensive meeting before the game tonight and we watched game tape on the way home last night. The guys were dialled in and focused and we knew what we needed to do to accomplish that. I think we have enough veterans that while being down 3-1 is not where you want to be it's not a place we're scared of."

Game 6 Friday night will be available via PPV webcast produced by JVI Video. Click on the Webcast Sports link in the right-hand column of this site to watch the game.