Oakville Rock win third straight game, down Brooklin Redmen 7-4

Mike Poulin, here against Peterborough, continued to play well, shutting out
the Oakville Rock in the third period. Unfortunately for Brooklin, they
couldn't score after the second either as they fell 7-4. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

In a rarity, the Oakville Rock and Brooklin Redmen played a scoreless third period Monday night as the Rock prevailed 7-4. With the Rock winding up prevailing by the score after 40 minutes, their four goals in the final 4:26 of the second period--including two in the frame's final six seconds--wound up making all the difference.

Oakville scored the first three goals of the game but Brooklin responded with three in the last 4:21 of the first period to tie it up heading to the intermission. Neither team scored for the first half of the second period. Kiel Matisz broke the dry spell and the tie with his second of the game (Michael Teeter also had a pair for Brooklin) at 10:40.

Rob Hellyer connected shorthanded at 15:34 to even things back up at 4-4. Glen Bryan became the second Rock defender to get on the scoresheet (Billy Hostrawser had scored in the first) with what would prove to be the winning goal at 17:43.

With time winding down and the final result very much in doubt, Hellyer got his second of the game with six seconds to play. Jeremy Noble took the faceoff down the floor to add the final goal with just a second to play.

Lakers sweep home and home with KW, taking 13-8 road win Sunday

The Peterborough Lakers improved to 7-2 with a 13-8 road win over the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks Sunday. Rookie Josh Currier had a hat trick and added an assist to pace the Lakers. Adam Jones had his second straight high-scoring game for Peterborough, scoring a goal and 5 assists. Shawn Evans also had  a 6-point game with 2 goals and 4 helpers.

Peterborough led 5-2 after one period and were up 10-6 after the second on the Kodiaks, who were led by Joey Cupido's hat trick and an assist. KW falls to 3-6-1 and remains tied with the Brooklin Redmen for third place in MSL.

Redmen down Excelsiors 14-8 to move into third place tie

The race for the playoffs tightened up even more as the Brooklin Redmen downed the Brampton Excelsiors 14-8 Thursday night in Brampton to move into a tie for second place. Brooklin now has seven points with the same 3-5-1 record as the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks while Brampton sits a point back at 3-5. The Oakville Rock are in last place at 2-7 but have won their last two games.

Kyle Whitlow had a hat trick and Shawn Williams 2 goals and 3 assists to lead the Redmen, who went up 3-2 after the first period and blew the game open with a 6-0 second frame. Mike Burke had 2 goals and 5 assists and Joe Resetarits a goal and 4 assists for Brampton.

Brampton came to life offensively in the third period, scoring five times. Unfortunately for the Excelsiors, Brooklin responded every time Brampton scored except for Burke's extra attacker goal with 44 seconds to play.

Brooklin had a decided edge in shots on goal, outshooting Brampton 62-48. They chased starter Tyler Carlson with their fifth goal of the second period, although he stopped 34 of the 42 shots he faced for a solid .805 save percentage. Replacement Grant Crawley wasn't able to provide the spark Brampton was hoping for, giving up 6 goals on 20 shots and taking the loss.

Lakers down Kodiaks 10-6 to solidify hold on second place

The Peterborough Lakers and KW Kodiaks battled hard Thursday after Peterborough jumped out to a 5-0 lead. They held
on to win 10-6. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Peterborough Lakers aren't used to losing a lot of games; they've dropped just over four per season for the past five summers. So a two-game losing streak is plenty to make them come out ready to play, even if the two losses were to the mighty Six Nations Chiefs. Peterborough jumped all over the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks early Thursday night, taking a 5-0 first period lead en route to a 10-6 win that reinforced their hold on second place in the MSL standings.

Adam Jones had his biggest night as a Laker, scoring 3 goals and adding 2 assists while Cory Vitarelli also had a 5-point night including 2 goals. Evan Kirk made 30 saves to improve to 4-1 on the season. Affiliated player Mat McLeod led the way for the Kodiaks with 2 goals and an assist from his transition position.

“At the beginning of the game, I had the feeling that our defence was going to shut them down. Any time you have your defence doing that, it gives your offence a bit of confidence and some more time with the ball,” Jones said. “We got a couple early and were rolling there for a bit then in the second period we had that little lull.”

That lull allowed the Kodiaks to fight their way to an even remainder of the game, although they were never able to get closer than four goals back. Three times the Lakers answered within a minute and a half of a KW goal to keep the Kodiaks at bay.

Chiefs down Redmen 8-5 to improve to 8-1

It wasn't easy, but the Six Nations Chiefs stretched their winning streak to eight games with an 8-5 win over the Brooklin Redmen in Whitby Wednesday. Mike Poulin was sensational in net for the Redmen but couldn't deliver a win under an onslaught of 59 shots from the Chiefs.

Seven different players scored for Six Nations with Craig Point the only Chief to get a pair of goals. Shawn Williams scored twice and added an assist to lead Brooklin.

Brooklin is right back in action Thursday, heading to Brampton to face the Excelsiors. Six Nations' next game is next Tuesday at home when Brooklin comes to town.

Chiefs acquire Brodie Merrill and Andrew Watt

Brodie Merrill (right, checking Scott Evans) is siting up in Sr A lacrosse for the first time since 2010.
(Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Six Nations Chiefs may finally have put the finishing touches on their 2015 roster, acquiring transition players Andrew Watt and Brodie Merrill from the KW Kodiaks and Oakville Rock, respectively.

The Chiefs completed the deal for Watt late Tuesday afternoon, allowing him to dress for their 11-9 win over the Peterborough Lakers. In return, they sent KW second and third round picks in the 2018 MSL draft and other considerations.

While Watt is a solid addition to the back end, though, the coup de grace is the acquisition of Merrill, still a star player as evidenced by his nomination as one of three finalists for this year's National Lacrosse League transition player of the year award. Six Nations sent tough guy Tory Gardner and a player to be named in 2016 to the Kodiaks in the three-team deal that netted them Merrill.

To Oakville, Six Nations gives a pair of players to be named in 2016 plus other considerations. The Rock also receive a first-round draft pick from KW that the Kodiaks had gotten from Six Nations in an earlier trade. 

Merrill will debut with the Chiefs Wednesday night in Whitby when they face the Brooklin Redmen. 

Oakville Rock take second straight win with 10-7 decision over Brampton

The Oakville Rock took eight games to earn their first win of the season, but they didn't wait nearly as long to get their second. Just one night after beating KW 14-8 to break their 0-7 run to start the year, the Rock downed Brampton 10-7 behind a 4-goal, 2-assist performance from Kevin Ross to improve to 2-7. And just like that, in the tight Major Series Lacrosse standings, they're three points out of third place and looking much better in the race for playoff positions.

Oakville took advantage of a sluggish Brampton start to jump on the Excelsiors and lead 5-1 after 15 minutes. Brampton tried to fight back and got a pair in the final 1:12 of the first period to draw within a pair but were never able to get closer than that.

Ross had a big night, doubling his point total for the season in his third game, and the best play of them all was an around-the-world shot that he whipped into the far corner past Tyler Carlson as he was getting too deep along the side of the crease for a regular shot. “Yeah, that was the last resort desperation shot and I just kind of threw it and it went in,” Ross said. “It's nothing that I think I'd want to try to repeat too often but it was a fun game when things like that are working.”

Rock and Kodiaks make another trade: Critch to Oakville, Adams and Corbett to KW

Jordan Critch had a great year with the Southwest Cyclops. Now he's headed
from the KW Kodiaks to the Oakville Rock in an MSL trade.
(Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Oakville Rock and Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks have made another trade. The Rock have sent forwards Shayne Adams and Patrick Corbett to the Kodiaks in exchange for lefty forward/transition player Jordan Critch. Oakville also gets back its 3rd round pick in the 2016 MSL draft, which KW had received in an earlier deal. 

Adams is a 24-year-old lefty who had a solid junior career with the St. Catharines Athletics and scored 40 points as a rookie with Oakville last year. He has 5 goals and 6 assists in seven games this summer. Corbett, 23, a righty from the Burlington Chiefs Jr A program, had 23 points in 14 games with Oakville as a rookie last year. He was also a fairly regular faceoff man for the Rock.

Critch has 7 points in five games for KW this year after totalling 63 over the last two seasons with the Kodiaks. The 24-year-old is a three-time Minto Cup champion with the Orangeville Northmen and had an excellent rookie season in CLax in 2015, scoring 6 goals and 20 assists for 26 points in seven games. 

Chiefs move to top of IL Indoor MSL Power Rankings

Ryan Benesch helped the Chiefs surpass the Lakers in the IL Indoor power rankings. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

Inside Lacrosse Indoor has posted its weekly Power Rankings for Major Series Lacrosse as part of its MSL Notebook, and the Six Nations Chiefs have risen to the top after downing the Peterborough Lakers 12-8 last Thursday.

Peterborough falls to #2 while the Brampton Excelsiors climb into the top three. Check out the article at this link for IL Indoor's latest coverage of MSL and the full rankings.

Rock get off the schneid, win first of season 14-8 over KW

Nick Rose and the Oakville Rock held off KW 14-8 for their first win of the
MSL season. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The first win of the season was a long time coming for the Oakville Rock, and it wasn't in time to save Phil Sanderson's job, but the team is finally in the win column following a 14-8 victory over the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks Sunday in Waterloo.

Oakville employed five- and four-goal runs to take a 9-2 lead over the Kodiaks and held on for the win from there. Captain Stephan Leblanc was the big gunner for Oakville, scoring 3 goals and adding 5 assists. Rob Hellyer and Jeremy Noble each and 2 goals and 3 assists to help the cause. Joey Cupido and Luke Laszkiewicz had a pair of goals each to lead the Kodiaks.

The Rock won't have much time to rest on their laurels. Oakville is right back in action Monday night when they play host to the Brampton Excelsiors at 8pm at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre. If you can't get to the rink, you can watch the game live via JVI Sports Network streaming; just click on the JVI logo in this site's right hand column.

Monday and Tuesday MSL games will be webcast live

They're a pair of big games for Major Series Lacrosse teams Monday and Tuesday and both will be available to view live via JVI Sports Network webcasts. 

Monday night, the Oakville Rock will try to follow up their first win of the season Sunday over the KW Kodiaks with another two points to pull within a point of Brooklin and two of Brampton in the race for playoff positions. Brampton beat the Rock 9-5 met in Oakville on June 1.

Tuesday, the top two teams in the league play the second half of a home and home series when the Peterborough Lakers visit the Six Nations Chiefs in Hagersville. The Chiefs took the first game last Thursday, winning 12-8 in Peterborough. 

Excelsiors score last two goals to down Kodiaks 7-5

A lot of attention is directed to the two teams atop the Major Series Lacrosse standings, but in behind Six Nations there is a battle raging between three teams for the next two spots--and the final two playoff positions--that features some good lacrosse and exciting games. Brampton scored the last two goals of the game Thursday at home to take a 7-5 decision over the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks that pulls them within a point of KW for third place with a game in hand.

Dan Keane scored what proved to be the winner, and his third goal of the game, at 7:15 of the third period with assists from the two players Brampton received from KW in a recent trade--Dylan Goddard and Mike Melnychenko. First overall draft pick Tyler Ferreira added a goal and 2 assists and Tyler Carlson made 39 saves to earn the win. The game was the first of the year for Brampton defenders Kyle Rubisch and Sandy Chapman and the second for Chris Corbeil, all of whom were taking part in the NLL Champions Cup finals, and their presence provided depth and experience to the Brampton defence.

Davide DiRuscio stopped 42 of the 49 shots he faced in a losing cause. Luke Laszkiewicz was the only multiple-goal scorer for KW with a pair. Aaron Wilson had a goal and 2 assists and Corey Fowler 3 assists for the Kodiaks, who are now 3-3-1 for seven points. Brampton improved to 3-3 for six points.

Both teams face the hungry 0-7 Oakville Rock and their new head coach Matt Sawyer in their next game. The Rock travel to KW Sunday for a 6pm start then play host to Brampton Monday at 8pm.

Brampton 7, KW 5
Box score

Chiefs down Lakers 12-8 in battle for first place

Johnny Powless scored a pair of critical third-period goals to help Six Nations beat Peterborough. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

Playing without their scoring leader Shawn Evans made an obvious difference to the Peterborough Lakers, but the Six Nations Chiefs were full value for their 12-8 win in a showdown for first place in Major Series Lacrosse Thursday.

Ryan Benesch scored 5 goals and Johnny Powless had a hat trick and 2 assists as the Chiefs took over top spot with a 6-1 record while the Lakers fell to 5-1. Benesch and Six Nations' Dhane Smith now lead the league with 33 points each. Curtis Dickson is third with 28 after scoring 2 goals and 3 assists in the loss.

Dickson scored as pretty a goal as you'll see late in the second period. Ragging the ball shorthanded, he ran towards the top of the crease. With a defender above him in the slot, one ahead of him and one on his back, Dickson threw on the brakes with is back to goalie Dillon Ward. He took a quick look around, dropped his stick by his side in just his right hand and flung the ball backwards. It streaked past Ward's arm and into the far top corner of the net.

As beautiful as Dickson's goal was, though, it was a pair by Powless—including a behind the back bouncer from the low slot that snuck through Matt Vinc's legs—in the third that put the Chiefs in control. Six Nations led 8-6 after two periods but the Lakers were pressing to get back into it. Powless connected at 7:20 and again at 9:02 to extend the lead to four and make it just too hard for Peterborough to come back against the stout Chiefs' defence and solid goaltending of Ward.

“My defence in front of me is huge. I was told I made 40 saves but a lot of them were from the outside. All the credit to my defence, they're making my job a lot easier,” Ward said, while conceding that he did play well. “When they did get inside I made a couple of big saves here and there. I thought everyone in the back end did their job and allowed the offence to take care of the ball.”

Phil Sanderson out as Oakville Rock Head Coach; Matt Sawyer takes the reins

Courtesy Oakville Rock

Oakville Rock General Manager Josh Sanderson announced Friday that the team has relieved Phil Sanderson as the team's Head Coach. The Rock have started the MSL season 0-7, but you still have to imagine it was not an easy decision for Sanderson to let his friend and cousin go.

"Obviously we haven't got off to the start we wanted," Josh Sanderson said. "As difficult as a decision as this was, I feel it's the right one for this team moving forward."

Matt Sawyer, who is currently an Assistant with the Toronto Rock in the NLL, will take over Head Coaching duties for the remainder of the 2015 season. Sawyer is familliar with a lot of the Rock's young players, who played under his watch while winning Minto Cups with the Orangeville Northmen in the Junior A circuit.

After starting the season 0-3 using a number of call-ups, the Rock have performed better with a strong nucleus of young players like, Jason and Jeremy Noble, Wes Berg, Rob Hellyer, Bryan Cole and Dan Lomas, but still haven't been able to find the win column.

The Rock will look to pick up their first win Sunday against Kitchener-Waterloo, 6PM at the Waterloo Rec.

Reilly O'Connor's late game heroics lead Brooklin Redmen to 10-9 win over Oakville Rock

Austin Shanks and Reilly O'Connor were teammates with the Whitby
Warriors last year. Wednesday night they teamed up again to lead the
Brooklin Redmen to a win over the Oakville Rock. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

A year ago, Reilly O'Connor and Austin Shanks were teaming up to score 221 points for the Whitby Warriors. Wednesday night, they got together to lead the Brooklin Redmen to a thrilling 10-9 win over the Oakville Rock in Major Series Lacrosse action at the Iroquois Park Sports Centre in Whitby.

Shanks, in only his second game as a callup from the Warriors, became the Redmen's leading goal scorer by potting 5 goals and adding 2 assists. O'Connor was the late-game hero, though. He took a pass from Michael Teeter a few metres outside the crease with his back to the net and Glen Bryan covering him and fired a backhand whip shot past Steve Fryer with 17 seconds to play.

Mike Triolo won the ensuing faceoff, allowing the Redmen to call a timeout and set up to kill off the rest of the game clock. Graeme Hossack, the second-year defender who was excellent all night for Brooklin, took the ball at the Brooklin restraining line when play was blown in and sprinted behind his own net with Jason and Jeremy Noble in hot pursuit.

The Nobles eventually cornered Hossack and forced the ball loose with six ticks left on the clock, but John Lafontaine swooped in to scoop up the loosie and run out the rest of the time.

Chiefs lose Mike McNamara for season with knee injury

Courtesy Six Nations Chiefs web site

Mike McNamara is out for the year, joining Cody Jamieson on the sidelines.
(Photo: Darryl Smart)

When Mike McNamara fell to the floor at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena against the Brooklin Redmen, he knew something wasn't right.
The gritty defencemen for the Six Nations Pro-Fit Chiefs found out this week, that he has an ACL tear. The injury will end McNamara's Major Series Lacrosse season."I've never had an injury like this," McNamara said Tuesday, as he watched his teammates take on the Brampton Excelsiors. "It's a challenge and I'm looking forward to it."McNamara saw the surgeon Wednesday, and is set to go under the knife on July 2."The appointment went well today," McNamara said. "I'm happy with how fast the process is moving along. And that's all thanks to (Chiefs doctor) Dr. John Ho."McNamara expects to be out of action for six months and is aiming at returning to the National Lacrosse League's New England Black Wolves lineup in the first few weeks of the season.The Hamilton resident was a huge part of the Chiefs since joining the team full time in 2013. During the NLL season, McNamara had career highs in goals, assists, points and loose balls.NOTES: McNamara will join Cody Jamieson in the stands this summer. Jamieson is recovering from surgery to his Achilles. It is expected that he will also be out for the MSL season.

Six Nations Chiefs need third period comeback to down Brampton Excelsiors 9-6

Dillon Ward continues to rack up wins for the Six Nations Chiefs. 

You always want to win, especially when you have a lead after two periods. But there are plenty of positives the Brampton Excelsiors can take from their 9-6 loss to the Six Nations Chiefs Tuesday night. The young Brampton squad rode Joe Resetarits' four goals to a 6-4 lead after 40 minutes. The Chiefs came back to dominate the third 5-0 for their fifth straight win.

Still, it's a far sight better than the 19-5 drubbing the Excelsiors suffered at Six Nations' hands last week and it shows that the club is growing.

Dhane Smith and Craig Point had hat tricks to lead the Six Nations offence, which was held under 13 goals for the first time in four games.

“Going into the third with the lead, it was disappointing that we couldn't close out the game, but for a young team that is one of the most difficult things to learn,” said Brampton head coach Paul Stewart. “With their depth and composure it really showed why they are the two-time defending champions. Obviously we need to get better and learn how to deliver the knockout when we have teams on the ropes but overall I think it was good for our room because we left feeling like if we play our game we can compete with anyone in this league.”

Both teams get back in action Thursday night. Six Nations will travel to Peterborough for a first-place showdown with the Lakers while Brampton will play host to the Oakville Rock.  

Lakers receive bad news: Mark Steenhuis out for season with knee injury

Press release from Peterborough Century 21 Lakers

The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers and star player Mark Steenhuis received big blows from the medical team Tuesday when they were told he has a partial tear of the MCL and ACL and will be out for a minimum of six months, which means the rest of this season.

It was not clear whether the injury would require surgery because in some cases the ACL and MCL repairs themselves. For the present the plan is to rest and let the MCL and ACL repair themselves but the doctor will advise him of the best plan.

Steenhuis of St. Catharines, the Lakers leading scorer and fan favourite last season, was injured in Thursday’s game against Oakville when another Lakers’ player hit him.

Steenhuis has won two Mann Cups with the Lakers. Last season in 17 regular season games he had 43 goals and 40 assists leading the team with 83 points.

Lakers take early lead and hold on to beat Rock 9-6

Shawn Evans had 5 assists as Peterborough downed Oakville 9-6.
(Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Peterborough Lakers looked dominant in the second period, outscoring the Oakville Rock 5-1 to extend their lead to 8-2, but Oakville fought back hard to make a game of it in MSL play Monday night at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre.

Two goals from Curtis Dickson and a hat trick by Cory Vitarelli combined with solid team defence and sharp goaltending from Matt Vinc allowed the Lakers to sprint out to an 8-1 lead by the midpoint of the second period.

The Lakers offence appeared to take its foot off the gas pedal, though, and neither team was able to score for an 11-minute stretch. Wes Berg buried a classic overhand shot with 28 seconds to play in the second period and Oakville entered the final 20 minutes with some momentum.

They built on it when Jeremy Noble and Rob Hellyer connected within the first three and a half minutes of the third and Oakville was clearly getting the best of the territorial advantage. Vinc and the Lakers D were able to keep them from creeping closer than 8-4 for the next 10 minutes, though.

Lakers and Chiefs tight at the top of IL Indoor's MSL Power Rankings

The Six Nations Chiefs are rising in the 2015 MSL season, but haven't quite
reached the summit of IL Indoor's Power Rankings. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

Box lacrosse's leading website, IL Indoor, has published its weekly power rankings for Major Series Lacrosse and it's a tossup at the top between the 4-0 Peterborough Lakers and the 4-1 Six Nations Chiefs. Any questions about who's number 1 should be answered this Thursday when the teams face off at the Memorial Centre.

"The showdown is coming," the piece begins. "The Peterborough Lakers are 4-0 with a +26 goal differential. The Six Nations Chiefs are 4-1 with a +37 goal differential. Each team has another game before they meet head to head this Thursday in Peterborough, but all signs point to that matchup being a battle for first place as we reach the one-third point of the 2015 Major Series Lacrosse season."

Follow this link to read the entire article. 

Brooklin and Kitchener-Waterloo take turns scoring late goals to forge 8-8 tie

Michael Teeter, here shooting against Peterborough, forced overtime with his
second goal of the game in Brooklin's 8-8 tie with KW. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Brooklin Redmen forced overtime when Michael Teeter scored with nine seconds to play in the third period to tie the game 7-7, then the KW Kodiaks returned the favour when Jordan Critch finished off a hat trick with four seconds left in overtime as the teams tied 8-8 in MSL action Sunday evening.

The teams traded goals early in the game with Kyle Whitlow opening things for Brooklin at 1:20 and Luke Laszkiewicz replying for KW at 2:02. Critch scored a pair before the end of the period to send the Kodiaks to the first intermission leading 3-1.

Brooklin evened things up with the first two goals of the second period and the teams went back and forth with a pair each the rest of the way to make it 5-5 after 40 minutes.

Six Nations and Peterborough win fourth games of the season

The Six Nations Chiefs continued to dominate the competition, dumping the Brampton Excelsiors 19-5 Thursday night to improve to 4-1. In their last three games, the Chiefs have scored 51 goals and allowed nine. Ryan Benesch led the way Thursday with 5 goals and 4 assists while six other players scored at least four points.

Dillon Ward stopped 45 shots to earn his third win since joining Six Nations in a trade with Kitchener-Waterloo. Benesch leads the lead in scoring with a perfectly symmetrical 13 goals and 13 assists while Dhane Smith is tied for second with Shawn Evans at 22 points.

Evans led the Peterborough Lakers to their fourth straight win to start the season, scoring 2 goals and 3 assists in their 8-5 win over the Oakville Rock, who fall to 0-5. Matt Vinc made his first appearance of the season for Peterborough after Evan Kirk had allowed just seven goals in their last two games. Vinc made 38 saves to earn the win.

Lakers add to defence by acquiring Mike Kirk from KW for pair of draft picks

The Peterborough Lakers have added to an already strong defence by getting Mike Kirk from the KW Kodiaks in exchange for second and third round picks in the 2018 MSL draft. Kirk had been sent to KW earlier in the day from the Brampton Excelsiors.

Peterborough has allowed just seven goals combined in their last two games, thanks in large part to Kirk's brother Evan, who has been in net for all three Lakers wins to open the season.

Mike Kirk has played for Lakers head coach Mike Hasen with the NLL's Rochester Knighthawks, serving as an alternate captain and winning three Champions Cups. He has also won three Mann Cups with Brampton.

Brampton and KW pull off trade: Kirk to Kodiaks, Goddard and Melnychenko to Excelsiors

Mike Melnychenko is on the move again. Here with Brooklin, Melnychenko
now moves from KW to Brampton after today's trade. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Brampton Excelsiors have given the left side of their offence a boost with the addition of Mike Melnychenko and Dylan Goddard. In exchange, Brampton has sent veteran defender Mike Kirk to the KW Kodiaks.

Melnychenko joined the Kodiaks last year and got into only five games, scoring a pair of goals, as he dealt with a foot/ankle injury. This year he has 4 goals and 6 assists in four games. Goddard has played twice this year and scored 2 goals and 3 assists. He split last summer between KW and the Sr B St. Catharines Saints, scoring 17 points in 10 games with the Kodiaks and 40 points in 12 games in St Kitts. Goddard also posted 8 goals and 16 assists for 24 points with the Durham Turfdogs in CLax this winter.

Orangeville native Kirk has spent his entire Sr A career with Brampton, appearing in 139 games since 2005 and winning three Mann Cups with the team.

Lakers down Redmen to move to 3-0 on the season

Evan Kirk was lights out for the Lakers, allowing just 3 goals on 51 shots.
(Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Peterborough Lakers have been garnering attention with their offensive prowess early in the MSL season, but Wednesday night they put on a defensive clinic in an 8-3 win over the Brooklin Redmen. The star of the show was goalie Evan Kirk, who made 48 saves and generally looked almost unbeatable between the pipes.

Mark Steenhuis had a hat trick and Shawn Evans had 2 goals and 4 assists as the Lakers improved to 3-0. Kyle Whitlow led the Redmen; he was involved in every Brooklin tally with 2 goals and an assist.

The first period was low-scoring for both clubs as only Whitlow at 1:18 and Evans on a power play at 14:42 were able to find the back of the net.

Adam Jones, playing his first game of the season after missing last week with a throat infection, cut down the slot and tucked home a Curtis Dickson pass for a power play marker just 30 seconds into the second frame to put Peterborough on top. Scott Self broke away and put a shot through Mike Poulin's legs to extend the lead and Peterborough added a pair from Steenhuis to take a 5-1 lead. Whitlow's second of the game closed the gap a bit before the period ended.

Dickson, Williams and Belanger earn MSL 3 Stars from IL Indoor

Curtis Dickson had quite a first week with Peterborough, scoring 9 goals and being named IL Indoor's MSL 1st Star.
(Photo: Kendall Taylor)

IL Indoor has published its first MSL 3 Stars of the 2015 season, and the blazing start by Curtis Dickson to his Peterborough Lakers tenure has earned him top honours. Dickson was named the first star while Brooklin's Shawn Williams is the second star and Brampton's Tye Belanger the third star.

See the full article here.

Kodiaks take 14-11 overtime thriller from Rock

David Joyce (right) and the KW Kodiaks bounced back from a lopsided loss
to Peterborough to earn a 14-11 overtime win over Oakville Monday.
(Photo: Kendall Taylor)

Kedoh Hill had lots of time to sit and think about what he'd done and what he wanted to do if he got a chance. The Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks forward had three goals in KW's crucial early-season contest with Oakville Monday at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre when he was pushed down by the Rock's Jason Noble while heading to the net with about seven minutes to play in the third period.

Frustrated that a possession call wasn't made, Hill got off the floor and slashed Noble, drawing a minor penalty. He exacerbated the situation by chirping as he went to the penalty box, drawing a 10-minute misconduct. That meant he had to sit and watch as Oakville scored the last two goals of regulation time, including a Stephan Leblanc power play marker on his penalty, to tie the game 10-10 and force overtime.

Six minutes elapsed in the extra frame before anyone got on the board, Rob Hellyer giving the Rock their first lead since the first period. Derek Searle sent Dylan Goddard up the floor with a breakout pass that Goddard turned into a gorgeous twisting run through three Rock players to bury the game tying goal 27 seconds later.

Then Hill, finally released from the penalty box, went to work. He put home another pair of goals, one of them shorthanded, to lead KW to a 14-11 win that improves the Kodiaks to 3-2 while handing Oakville their fourth straight loss to open the season.

Wilson returns to Kodiaks in deal with Lakers

Aaron Wilson is going home. After spending the 2014 season with the Peterborough Lakers, Wilson is going back to the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks. The Lakers have traded Wilson to KW for a fifth round pick in the 2016 MSL draft.

In an oddity, the result will be Wilson playing on both teams with the player for whom he was traded, Davide DiRuscio. The Lakers sent the goalie to KW for this season in return for getting Wilson last year. Now that Wilson is going back to the Kodiaks the two will continue to be teammates.

Wilson scored 22 goals and 24 assists for Peterborough last summer, making him their second-leading goal scorer and third in points. He was third in the league with 80 points in 2013 for KW.

MSL 2015 webcasting debuts with KW @ Oakville Monday night

JVI Sports Network will begin webcasting Major Series Lacrosse games Monday night with the KW Kodiaks at Oakville Rock game at 8 pm from the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre.

The Rock have gotten off to a slow start but should have some reinforcements in place Monday with the Toronto Rock's season ending last Friday. Oakville GM Josh Sanderson said they probably won't have all of the Toronto players back in the lineup Monday but are hoping to have some of them ready to go.

A schedule of games to be webcast will appear on the right side of this site. The league has launched a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign hoping to enable regular season and playoff games to be streamed as free webcasts. If you enjoy watching MSL action, make sure to go to the campaign site and make a contribution.

Lakers pound Kodiaks in inaugural Clash Cup in Cobourg

Evan Kirk allowed only four goals to help the Lakers dominate the Kodiaks
15-4 in the Clash Cup in Cobourg. (Photo: Ken St. Thomas)

What was officially a home game for the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks turned into a big win for the Peterborough Lakers. Playing the first Clash Cup as the culmination of a minor lacrosse tournament in Cobourg hosted by the burgeoning Northumberland Nemesis association, the Lakers dumped the Kodiaks 15-4 behind 6 goals from Curtis Dickson.

The crowd of 1,629 certainly seemed to be primarily in the Lakers' corner. That's not too surprising given that Cobourg is about 45 minutes from Peterborough and Lakers' stars Shawn Evans and Brad Self have been heavily involved with the Nemesis through their Nationwide Lacrosse company.

Evans got the biggest cheer from the crowd when the starting lineups were announced and he played a major role for the Lakers offence, as usual. Scoring details are currently unavailable but Evans scored a goal and is believed to have had 4 assists. Cory Vitarelli also scored 4 times for the Lakers.

Luke Laszkiewicz and Kedoh Hill were the key figures for KW's offence and produced many of their points, with Laszkeiwicz scoring twice and Hill assisting on three of their goals.

MSL launches crowdfunding campaign to make webcasts available to all

Major Series Lacrosse has launched a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to make its games available as free webcasts. Rather than go with pay per view webcasts, the league has decided to forge a new approach to making its games available to people who want to see them. If the campaign reaches its goal of $34,500, it will enable the league to have JVI Sports Network stream the vast majority of its regular season and playoff games as free webcasts.

The goal should be easily reachable as the word gets out. For example, if the majority of the Peterborough Lakers 2,300-plus season ticket holders donated $20 each, that would provide all the donations needed to meet the goal. And that's just one team's fan base, albeit the largest in the league. And it would give them the chance to watch the team they love play on the road as well as at home.

There are incentives for those who choose to donate a bit more. Anyone who donates $50 or more--often less than the cost for two people to travel to one of their team's away games--can get a pair of tickets to a regular season game at the MSL arena of their choosing (bring some friends to your local arena or go see them play somewhere else). All six clubs have bought in to the arrangement to thank fans for their contributions. A $100 donation will net the donor four tickets to a regular season game at any arena.

That way you can get the best of both worlds: live in-arena action for a team close to you and free streaming for games farther away. To help make the campaign a success so you can see all the MSL lacrosse you want, go to the campaign page and make your donation.

DONATE HERE

Brampton Excelsiors defy expectations with 2-0 start despite missing eight regulars

Heading into the 2015 Major Series Lacrosse Season, the Brampton Excelsiors were generally not considered to be ready to compete with much of the league. It's early yet, but two games into the season and without almost half of their regular lineup available, Brampton is making people sit up and take notice that they don't intend to be doormats.

The Excelsiors opened their season with a 9-5 win over the Oakville Rock and followed that up with an 11-8 win over the Brooklin Redmen Wednesday night in Whitby. Both Oakville and Brooklin were missing several players who are still finishing their NLL seasons, are injured or otherwise unavailable so far. But while Brampton is succeeding with an enthusiastic and athletic young lineup, they stand to improve as much as anyone when all their players return.

Rookie transition player Connor Sellars led a balanced attack against Brooklin with a pair of goals and an assist (he actually had a second assist but wasn't credited with it). He's the type of player Brampton is building with: young, local and ready to work hard to earn playing time and win games.

Twelve different players have scored goals and 17 have scored points, while Mike Burke leads the club in scoring with just six points on a goal and five helpers. Everyone is contributing. The fact than another transition player, Jayson Crawford, leads the team in goals with three gives you an idea that they like to run.

Kodiaks involved in trades with Chiefs and Lakers: Benesch to Six Nations, Llord and Glaves to Peterborough

Ryan Benesch had 5 points in his Six Nations Chiefs debut, helping them to
beat the Oakville Rock 19-2. 

The Six Nations Chiefs filled the hole in their roster left by Cody Jamieson's injury by acquiring Ryan Benesch fron the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks Tuesday. Benesch joined the Chiefs in time to help Six Nations beat Oakville 19-2.

In return, KW received Ian Llord, Rory Glaves, Kedoh Hill, Scott Defrancesco and a player to be named in 2016. The Kodiaks then shipped Llord and Glaves to Peterborough in return for Andrew Watt, David Joyce and a player to be named in 2016.

Benesch led the National Lacrosse League's Buffalo Bandits, where Chiefs head coach Rich Kilgour is an assistant, in scoring this year. The 2007 MSL rookie of the year has finished in the top 10 of MSL scoring four times and the top 10 of WLA scoring once.

Llord and Glaves bolster a Lakers defence that had been thinned by injuries to Andrew Suitor and Kyle Sorensen and the retirement over the last couple of years of Darryl Gibson and Chris White.

Hill had a breakout NLL season this winter after sitting out both the pro league and MSL last summer to focus on other things. He was the MSL rookie of the year in 2012 when he broke into the league with 21 goals and 14 assists then helped the Chiefs win the Mann Cup in 2013.

Watt won a Mann Cup with the Lakers in 2012 after coming over from Six Nations in a trade. He spent the first four years of his MSL career with his hometown Kodiaks. Defrancesco is a lefty forward who once scored 51 goals in Jr A with Mississauga and was third in CLax with 32 goals in the league's inaugural year in 2012. Joyce is a New Westminster, BC native who has played two seasons in the WLA with the Maple Ridge Burrards.

Excelsiors kick off their season with 9-5 win over Oakville

Jayson Crawford, here after scoring the overtime winner in the Creators Cup,
had a pair of goals to help lead Brampton to a 9-5 win over Oakville in their
MSL season opener. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Brampton Excelsiors will have to rely on their young guns if they are going to be successful this summer in Major Series Lacrosse. So far, so good as they won their season opener behind a pair of goals each from Dan Keane and Jayson Crawford Monday night. Tyler Fereira, the first overall pick in the MSL draft this year, added three points on a goal and two assists as Brampton beat the Oakville Rock 9-5.

Tye Belanger was solid in the Brampton net to hand Oakville their second loss in as many games to open the season. Brendan Thenhaus was the only member of the Rock to score multiple goals with a pair. Oakville is still missing about a third of their lineup as players are competing in the National Lacrosse League championship series.

Scoring got underway quickly as Shayne Adams got Oakville on the board just 32 seconds in. Brady Heseltine evened things up 41 seconds later and Mike Mawdsley, obtained in a trade with Oakville during the off-season, put Brampton ahead for the first time at 3:48.