 |
| The Six Nations Chiefs enter the new MSL season as defending Mann Cup champions, but they'll have plenty of competition for this year's Ontario title and the chance to try to make it three in a row. (Photo: Tim Prothero) |
Welcome
to the 2015 season!
The
Major Series Lacrosse league has been preparing for the opening of
the 2015 season with many management changes. The 2015 draft of
Junior players has taken place and the schedule has been set up for
an 18-game draw.
The
2014 season was the closest and most competitive in recent years. It
wasn’t until the last game was played that positions two through
five were decided.
The
Canadian Mann Cup championship was won by Six Nations which just beat
out Oakville Rock for the final playoff position in Ontario. In
preparing for the 2015 season, which will be even more competitive
than last year, teams have made some changes to hopefully improve
their standing.
The
Brampton Excelsiors hired Paul Stewart of the Brooklin Redmen to be
their head coach in the coming season. Paul has worked with Brooklin
the past two seasons when they ended up in first place and their
coaching staff was picked as coaches of the year. Brampton will be a
young team, having added several Junior stars to their lineup.
Oakville
Rock has several organizational changes due to the tragic passing of
Terry Sanderson in the off-season. His position as general manager
has been taken over by Josh Sanderson (Terry’s son) who is still
one of the best lacrosse players in the world. Oakville narrowly
missed the final playoff spot last year. Eight of their losing games
were decided by one or two goals and they just kept getting better.
Without question they will be challenging every team in the coming
season.
The
Brooklin Redmen, led once again by Wayne Colley and reinforced with new assistant coaches Brad MacArthur and Gil Nieuwendyk, will
once again be a team to beat. Shawn Williams is returning and will
provide leadership for the Redmen.
The
Peterborough Lakers had a devastating off-season with complete
changes in their executive and management of the team. Ted Higgins
has worked vigorously to fill in the gaps left to him. He has
announced that Paul Day is taking over the position of general
manager previous held by Joe Sullivan. Paul is well known in lacrosse
circles as a successful coach and manager at all levels. The Lakers
are loaded with outstanding lacrosse players led by Shawn Evans, John
Grant and goaltender Matt Vinc. Paul Day’s announcement of his
coaching staff appointments led by Mike Hasen who only seems to know
how to win championships along with new assistants Mike Accursi and
Tracy Kelusky finishes off a wonderful rebuilding job by Higgins.
Kitchener-Waterloo
had its best season in 2014 fielding a young, fast vigorous team. They
have added seven new players that they obtained in the 2015 draft.
They will only be stronger coming out of the gate and will improve as
the season moves along. Steve Dietrich will continue as the general
manager and coach.
Duane
Jacobs of the Six Nations Chiefs, who have won the Canadian
championship Mann Cup the last two seasons, is returning as the
general manager along with his head coach, Rich Kilgour. They will be
a strong team again as they make their play to become a three-time
national champion.
There
will be no sure games during the season as every team that goes on
the floor will be capable of winning the game. The fans will be
treated to the most competitive lacrosse that the game has seen in
years.
