Oakville doubles Cobourg 10-5 in Kokiaks' first game in their new home

Bradley Kri and AJ Masson battle for a faceoff in the Kodiaks first game since moving to Cobourg. (Photo: Anna Taylor)

The Cobourg Kodiaks got off to a great start in their new home and gave the home crowd of over 1,000 fans something to cheer about Sunday afternoon at the Cobourg Community Centre.

Unfortunately for the team and their fans, they weren't able to sustain their momentum and fell 10-5 to the Oakville Rock in the 2016 Major Series Lacrosse season opener.

Eric Guiltinan broke away and scored the season’s first goal just under three minutes into the game. Rance Vigneux was sharp between the pipes for Cobourg, allowing the Kodiaks to weather some pressure from the Rock until Matt Crough, playing his first game with the team, took a pass from Jacob Ruest and tucked it home from in close to make it 2-0 near the midway point of the first period.

Jeremy Noble finally got the visitors on the board when he rifled home an outside shot on the power play at 12:55. That was all the scoring in the first frame.

Oakville finally solved Vigneux more regularly in the second as Wes Berg scored three of his first four goals in the first half of the frame and Jason Noble added a transition goal. Cobourg coach Jamie Dubrick pulled Vigneux when Brenden Thenhaus buried a sidearm rip from deep to make it 6-2.

Excelsiors send Buque to Redmen for pair of lefties

Michael Teeter is heading to Brampton in today's MSL trade with Brooklin.
(Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Brampton Excelsiors and Brooklin Redmen have completed a trade just prior to the 2016 MSL season. Brooklin receives goalie Alex Buque, a graduate of the Whitby Warriors who is currently playing his third season with the WLA's New Westminster Salmonbellies. He helped lead the Warriors to a Minto Cup championship in 2013 and provides the Redmen with options down the road. Brooklin also gets Brampton's first-round pick in the 2018 MSL draft. 

In return, Brampton receives lefty forwards Mike Teeter and Kyle Aquin. Teeter was the CLax offensive player of the year in 2015 then scored 17 goals and 31 assists for 48 points in 17 games with  Brooklin last summer. 

Aquin has 54 points, including 32 goals, in 28 career MSL games spread over five seasons. His biggest season was 2014 with Brooklin when he played 10 games and posted 10 goals and 13 assists. 

Six Nations Chiefs looking to return to top of MSL in 2016

Courtesy Six Nations Chiefs

The Six Nations Pro-Fit Chiefs are looking at a bit of redemption.

After having to watch the Peterborough Lakers celebrate the Major Series Lacrosse championship at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena last season, the Chiefs have been champing at the bit to get back to the top of the league.

The biggest changes have been off the floor, with Steve Detrich being named the Chiefs new general manager and John Tavares the new offensive coordinator. 

On the floor, the Chiefs have had to say goodbye to Jeff Shattler and Colin Boucher. 

Shattler, enjoyed two great season with Six Nations and quickly became a fan favourite. But this season, he is back in the Western Lacrosse Association with the defending champion Victoria Shamrocks.

Boucher played three seasons with the Chiefs and will now be a rival with the Oakville Rock.

Also gone for the season are Colin Doyle and Brandon Miller.

With four big holes to fill, the Chiefs brain trust went to work, building within their own.

Jordan Durstan, Leo Storous and Warren Hill are the fresh faces in the Chiefs lineup. All three players are familiar to Six Nations lacrosse fans, all playing at one time for the junior A Arrows.

Hill will be the backup to starting goalie Dillon Ward. The former Arrows and junior B Rebels goalie won a Presidents Cup with the Chiefs' senior B affiliate Six Nations Rivermen last season.

Storous was one of the rocks on the Arrows back end for their back-to-back Minto Cup championships. Named the Ontario Lacrosse Association's junior A Defensive Player of the Year, Storous will bring plenty of additional toughness to an already nasty defence.

Youthful tandem to lead Six Nations Chiefs in net

Dillon Ward will be the main man between the pipes for the Six Nations
Chiefs this summer. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

Courtesy Six Nations Chiefs

With the 2016 Major Series Lacrosse season quickly approaching, the Six Nations Pro-Fit Chiefs are shaping up its lineup.

The first order of business is between the pipes.

With an injury to Brandon Miller, the Chiefs will rely on Dillon Ward and Warren Hill to be its last line of defence.

Miller will miss the 2016 season and undergo surgery for a lower body injury in July.

"We will miss BMills and everything he brought to the table for our organization," Chiefs president Duane Jacobs said. "B is a great person, great leader and a big time goaltender. He was our anchor for two consecutive Mann Cups and will go down as one of the greatest Chiefs goalies of all time.

Oakville acquires Jamie Batson from Cobourg for second rounder

Jamie Batson, here playing for the Kodiaks, heads to Oakville.
(Photo: Tim Prothero

The Oakville Rock have added some depth to their defence by acquiring another Toronto Rock player for their lineup. Oakville traded a second round pick in the 2018 MSL draft to the Cobourg Kodiaks for Jamie Batson, who had spent the last four years in KW.

Batson was picked up by Toronto partway through this season and played six games with the team, the most he has played in parts of four seasons in the NLL. He played 61 regular season and 13 playoff games with the Kodiaks.

His MSL career totals are 7 goals and 11 assists for 18 points with 30 penalty minutes. The 31-year-old is originally from Brantford.

Redmen send Triolo, Dunn and draft picks to Kodiaks for Mitch Wilde

The Brooklin Redmen are getting set for their 50^th anniversary season in Major Series Lacrosse and will be hitting the floor at Iroquois Park for training camp in a week. The dates are May 24, 26 and 30.

Just two days later, they will open their home schedule against the Brampton Excelsiors, with whom they battled for the final playoff berth last year.

Mitch Wilde will be in the lineup for Broolin this summer, although he'll be hoping he isn't available until after the Champions Cup as his Buffalo Bandits are still chasing an NLL championship right now.

The transition player was acquired by Brooklin on Tuesday from the Cobourg Kodiaks. In return, the Kodiaks receive a pair of transition players in Mike Triolo and Dustin Dunn as well as a second-round pick in the 2017 MSL draft and a third-rounder in 2018.

Full MSL 2016 schedule

Oakville Rock add trio of defenders for 2016 season

Challen Rogers (right) will be joining the Oakville Rock after a
standout career with the Jr A Coquitlam Adanacs. (Photo: Ward
Laforme Jr)

The Oakville Rock made big strides in 2015, but a slow start meant they had to battle just to make the playoffs. The team returns much of its roster from last year and is hoping the infusion of three high-profile defenders can push them higher up the Major Series Lacrosse standings and help them compete for their first Mann Cup. 

Oakville native Dan MacRae is an elite National Lacrosse League defender with the Calgary Roughnecks. He spent his first senior season in MSL with the Brampton Excelsiors but has played with the Victoria Shamrocks in the WLA four of the seasons since then, including winning a Mann Cup last summer.

Bradley Kri took a few years to establish himself as a regular starter in the NLL but played a strong role for the Toronto Rock in 2016, particularly in the faceoff circle. 

Perhaps the biggest news is that Challen Rogers is joining the Rock. The Coquitlam Adanacs Jr A grad is a strong candidate for the first overall pick in this fall's NLL Entry Draft. The trio only bolster what was already looking like a bright future for the Rock. 

Below is Oakville's press release outlining the makeup of their roster for this summer.

Grant considering return to Lakers

John Grant Jr (far right) is considering a return to the Peterborough Lakers this summer. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

You can take the boy out of the Boro, but you can't take the Boro out of the boy. John Grant Jr is apparently considering a return to the Peterborough Lakers after not playing with his hometown team in 2015.

Living and working in Denver, where he plays for the National Lacrosse League's Mammoth in the winter and Major League Lacrosse's Outlaws and where his wife Raygen is a realtor, made it difficult for Grant to get home for MSL games last year. In a story run in the Peterborough Examiner, though, Grant says he may just be returning to the team.

The story talks about Grant possibly playing with Curtis Dickson, who played college field lacrosse with the Delaware Blue Hens after Grant and is back with the Lakers after helping them reach the Mann Cup last year.