Chiefs open playoffs with 9-6 win over Excelsiors

Randy Staats, here against Brooklin, scored 4 goals to lead Six Nations to a
9-6 win over Brampton in their playoff opener. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

Randy Staats scored 4 goals, including a hat trick in the first period, to power the Six Nations Chiefs to a 9-6 win over the Brampton Excelsiors in the first game of their Major Series Lacrosse semifinal series Tuesday night.

Stephen Keogh for Six Nations and Chris Corbeil for Brampton exchanged goals in the first half of the first period, then Staats took over with three straight goals to make the score 4-1 after 20 minutes.

Joe Resetarits, who led the Excels with 3 goals and 2 assists, opened second period scoring at 7:17 and closed it with a goal three seconds from the buzzer. In between, though, Staats scored again then Jeff Shattler produced his own natural hat trick, and the Chiefs were up 8-3 following 40 minutes.

Brampton, as has been their wont, didn't give up. They outscored Six Nations 3-1 in the third to pull closer, but the hole was too deep to dig out all the way.

Game 2 goes Thursday night in Brampton.

Preview of Six Nations Chiefs / Brampton Excelsiors semifinals

Not surprisingly, both Stephen Stamp of IL Indoor and Mike Mackley of In Lacrosse We Trust are picking the first seeded Six Nations Chiefs (15-3 regular season) to beat the fourth seeded Brampton Excelsiors (7-11) in the Major Series Lacrosse semifinals.

Both suggest the games might be tighter than the standings might suggest. Read Stamp's analysis here and Mackley's here.

Lakers down Rock 7-5 in opener of semifinals

Curtis Dickson, here against KW, had a hat trick to lead Peterborough to a
7-5 win in the MSL playoff opener. (Photo: Kendall Taylor)

The Peterborough Lakers beat the Oakville Rock all four times the teams met in the 2015 MSL regular season, so the second-place Lakers are clearly favourites in the semifinal series between the teams. Three of the four games were tight battles, though, so it's hardly a surprise that Game 1 of the series was hard-fought and close again.

Peterborough got the first two goals of the game, from the sticks of Cory Vitarelli and Curtis Dickson, by the 11:11 mark of a first period that featured tight defence from both teams. It took the Rock a while to respond and when they did, it came from an unusual source. Defender Alex Crepinsek, who has just six regular-season goals in two seasons with Oakville, stayed up for an offensive shift and bouried a shot past Matt Vinc.

Rookie of the year candidate Dan Lomas evened things up with a minute to play in the first and the teams went to the intermission tied 2-2. The second period was even more tightly played. Crepinsek struck again, scoring a shorthanded marker that gave the Rock their first lead at 14:45. Shawn Evans matched Crepinsek's feat with a shorty of his own a couple of minutes later and the second intermission saw another tie at 3-3.

Lakers/Rock semifinal series previews

The Peterborough Lakers and Oakville Rock square off Sunday night at 7 pm in Peterborough for Game 1 of their MSL semifinals. IL Indoor's Stephen Stamp and In Lacrosse We Trust's Mike Mackley provided their insights on the first round matchup on their respective web sites.

Both are leaning towards the second-place Lakers ousting the third-place Rock. You can read Stamp's analysis here and Mackley's here.

Steenhuis may be returning to Lakers sooner than expected

Mark Steenhuis is close to a return with the Peterborough Lakers.
(Photo: Tim Prothero)

On the evening when one of their stars was busy chasing the league scoring title en route to a 12-4 win over the KW Kodiaks, the Peterborough Lakers received more good news. Shawn Evans scored 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists) to pull within one of Dhane Smith for the Major Series Lacrosse lead. Even better for the Lakers, he could soon be rejoined on the Lakers right side by Mark Steenhuis, who was believed to have been lost for the year to a knee injury early in the season.

Peterborough GM Paul Day said Thursday that Steenhuis is likely to take warmup with the team this Sunday when they open the semifinals at home against the Oakville Rock. Day said the doctor let them know three or four weeks ago that the injury did not involve an ACL tear, as originally feared, and that it is healing well. Now Steenuis is close to returning. 

"It's a positive sign that we're probably going to see him at some point in the playoffs. We're expecting him to play in the playoffs, we just don't know when, but it could be sooner than later," Day said. 

Steenuis led the league in scoring in 2014 with 43 goals and 40 assists. His 83 points were 26 more than second-place Shayne Jackson of the Brooklin Redmen. But this summer he appeared in just four games (8g, 6a, 14pts) before being hurt. 

"The more athletes we get the better," Day said of adding the highly athletic Steenhuis to the roster. "Obviously, it's pretty tough to check him, Curtis Dickson and Shawn Evans. It's a good combination and I think it just makes us that much better all around the floor."

Lakers dump Kodiaks 12-4 to finish regular season on winning note

Shawn Evans had 6 goals and 5 assists to lead the Lakers to a 12-4 win over
KW in the season finale and within a point of Dhane Smith for the scoring
title. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Peterborough Lakers entered Thursday night's game against the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks with second place already clinched and just awaiting the result of the night's other game to determine their first-round playoff opponent (it turned out to be Oakville).

So, without another tangible goal to shoot for in the game, the Lakers dedicated much of their effort to helping Shawn Evans try to earn the league's scoring title. He started the game 12 points behind Six Nations' Dhane Smith (90-78). When Evans started the game with 4 goals and an assist in the first 12:17, the fans and his teammates got caught up in the chase.

"I looked at it but it didn't even really cross my mind. But I think my teammates were really talking about it and after I got a couple early in the game there was a chance for it," Evans said. "It wasn't for a lack of effort because they were all feeding me the ball at the end of the game, but it wasn't mean to be. I had a few chances, I had a breakaway at the end, but overall we got the win but we've got to be ready to go for playoffs."

Oakville earns first MSL playoff berth with 11-7 win over Brampton

The Oakville Rock knew they needed a win Thursday night to ensure themselves of a position in the 2015 Major Series Lacrosse playoffs, which would be the first time they would have earned a playoff berth (they appeared in the playoffs when all six teams qualified but never won a game). They also knew that the Brampton Excelsiors had played a hard game Wednesday in the hot box that is Whitby's Iroquois Park--losing 6-3--and that they were without their MVP, forward Joe Resetarits.

So the Rock put on a big push to start the third period of their game in Brampton (another very hot arena) and rode a 4-goal run to an 11-7 win and third place in the MSL standings. Brampton falls to fourth because while they were tied with Oakville at 14 points they lost the season series to the Rock 3-1.

Stephan Leblanc took charge in the game, scoring 4 goals and 4 assists including a goal and a pair of assists in the critical third-period run. Brett Hickey showed that he's getting back to full health after a high ankle sprain by potting 2 goals and adding 3 assists. Nick Rose made 57 goals as the Excelsiors out shot them 64-53.

Oakville opens the playoffs Sunday night at 7 pm with Game 1 of their best of seven semifinal against Lakers at the Peterborough Memorial Centre. Brampton, meanwhile, falls to fourth place and heads to Six Nations next Tuesday for the first game of their semi against the first-place Chiefs.