Kodiaks hold on to beat Chiefs 9-8, Redmen come back to down Excelsiors 9-7

The Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks took an early lead then battened down the hatches and weathered the storm that was the Six Nations Chiefs comeback to take a 9-8 win in Major Series Lacrosse play Saturday at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena. The Kodiaks scored twice in the first 1:01, led 4-2 after a period and were up 8-3 after two periods. Then Mike Woods broke away alone and tucked the ball past the feet of Brennor Jacobs for what would prove to be the only goal they'd get on the Chiefs backup goalie, who replaced Evan Kirk after KW's eighth goal. Luckily for the Kodiaks, that one third-period goal would be the only one they'd need. Six Nations came back to get the final five goals of the game but weren't able to find the equalizer.

In last night's other game, Brooklin staged a successful comeback to beat the Brampton Excelsiors 9-7. The Redmen trailed 7-5 after Mike Burke opened the third period with a goal for Brampton, but they rebounded with the final 4 goals of the game, including an empty netter, to improve their league-leading record to 10-1. Junior callup Austin Shanks led the Redmen with 2 goals and 1 assist, the same stat line produced by his former Whitby Warriors teammate and current Brooklin rookie Curtis Knight. Kyle Perreira had a hat trick for the Excelsiors and Burke led all scorers with his goal and 3 assists.

Brooklin downs Peterborough 11-9 to extend lead atop MSL standings, Chiefs keep pace with 7-4 win over Brampton

The Brooklin Redmen rode a four-goal run in the third period to an 11-9 win over the Peterborough Lakers, maintaining their lead over the Six Nations Chiefs at four points while pulling eight points ahead of the Lakers in third. Shawn Williams had yet another 5-assist game--his fourth along with one 6-assist game in seven contests this season--to lead the Redmen to the win. Curtis Knight, Shayne Jackson, Dan Lintner and Mark Cockerton all scored twice for Brooklin. Adam Jones had a hat trick for Peterborough, Mark Steenhuis 2 goals and 3 assists and Shawn Evans 4 assists.

In Brampton, Six Nations got a hat trick from Kasey Beirnes and 5 assists from Cody Jamieson to beat the Excelsiors 7-4. The Chiefs led 3-1 after the first period and 5-2 after the second en route to their seventh win of the season against five losses.

Peterborough jumped out to a 3-0 lead that could have been more, thoroughly controlling play and outshooting the Redmen, but Zach Higgins was excellent in the Brooklin net and the Redmen responded well to Peterborough pushes. Four times in the game Brooklin scored within a minute of a Peterborough goal, including after the third Lakers marker. That goal by Cockerton at the exact mid-point of the first period took a bit of the wind out of the 3,170 fans at the arena and started the Redmen on their way back into the game.

Pair of deadline deals bolster Redmen and Chiefs defences

Mike Poulin heads from KW to Brooklin, where he will try to help the
Redmen reach the Mann Cup for the first time since 2000.
(Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Brooklin Redmen and Six Nations Chiefs both made trade deadline deals to strengthen their defences. Brooklin picked up former Major Series Lacrosse MVP Mike Poulin from the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks while the Chiefs grabbed Patrick Merrill from the Brampton Excelsiors.

The Poulin involved several players. Brooklin also received Mike Teeter. Going the other way is a haul made up of Joel Matthews, Mike Melnychenko and Steve Fryer. As part of the trade, Poulin retains the right to go back to KW next summer at the trade deadline. If he chooses to do so, then Fryer will return to the Redmen along with a second-round draft pick in 2015. Merrill goes to the Chiefs in exchange for second- and third-round draft picks in 2017 and other considerations. He hadn't played in Brampton for the past couple of seasons.

Lakers overcome slow start to down Rock 11-6

Mark Steenhuis leads all MSL scorers with 23 goals and 21
assists for 44 points. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Peterborough Lakers were shut out for the first period Monday night, but they made up for it with 5 goals in the second period and another 6 goals in the third to take an 11-6 win over the Rock in Oakville. John Grant Jr. and Mark Steenhuis each scored 3 goals and 3 assists to lead the Lakers, who  finally climbed back to .500 (5-5) after forfeiting three wins from the beginning of the season. Mike Mawdsley had a pair of goals to lead the Rock.

Oakville led 1-0 after a first period that saw some chances but both goalies were almost unbeatable. Nick Rose turned aside everything that came his way through the first. Matt Vinc gave up just one goal in each of the first and third periods.

The Lakers pull within one win of Six Nations for second place while the Rock drop to 2-7 and sit in last place in Major Series Lacrosse. Oakville is off till next Monday when they play host to Brampton in a battle for fifth place. Peterborough plays host to Brooklin on Thursday.

Peterborough Lakers down Six Nations Chiefs 9-7 in playoff-style affair

Davide DiRuscio, here starring for the Niagara Lock Monster in CLax,
helped lead the Peterborough Lakers to a 9-7 win over Six Nations.
(Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Peterborough Lakers won the fights and they won the game Saturday night, downing the Six Nations Chiefs 9-7 in a rematch of Six Nations' 10-8 win in Peterborough Thursday. The Lakers led 4-2 after the first period in both games, but the situation was different. Thursday they had scored the first four goals then surrendered the next five as Six Nations grabbed the momentum and pulled away to the win. Saturday night the Chiefs got off to the fast start with a pair of goals but Peterborough scored four times in just over five minutes to take the momentum and kept it by getting the first two goals of the second, including one by Brad Self just 13 seconds into the frame.

Six Nations did replay, though, finally getting some balls behind Lakers goalie Davide DiRuscio, who was excellent in his first Major Series Lacrosse start. When Craig Point scored 51 seconds into the third period, the game was tied 6-6. A fight between Peterborough's Andrew Suitor and David Brock of Six Nations broke out before the ensuing faceoff. Both players landed some punches before a right from Suitor knocked Brock out and down. Brock was assisted from the floor but was reported after the game as being alright. That was the second fight of the game, as Peterborough's Nick Weiss pounded Wayne Van Every after a goal-mouth fracas in the second period.

Brampton Excelsiors beat KW Kodiaks 10-8

For the first time this season, the Brampton Excelsiors scored more than 7 goals in a game. And for the first time, they won a game on the floor. Brampton used a balanced scoring attack to down the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks 10-8, getting goals from nine different players. Brady Heseltine led their scorers with a goal and 3 assists while Ryan Learn was the lone multiple goal scorer with two. Much of KW's offence came from their defensive players: Jay Thorimbert had 2 goals, Joey Cupido a goal and 2 assists and Hayden Smith 3 assists. 

Brampton led 5-3 after the first period and used two goals in the final two minutes of the second to head to intermission with an 8-7 lead. There was no scoring for the first half of the third, then Jordan Critch connected to tie things up. Chris Corbeil scored unassisted for what proved to be the winner and Heseltine gave the Excels a bit of insurance with three minutes to play. 

Brampton officially moves to 2-4 while the Kodiaks fall to 3-5. KW's next game is Sunday night when they play host to the Oakville Rock at 6 pm. Brampton returns to action next Wednesday in Brooklin at 8 pm. 

Six Nations Chiefs down Peterborough Lakers 10-8

Randy Staats scoring the first of his three goals to help the Chiefs win 10-8. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

They're back. For the first time this season, the Six Nations Chiefs really looked like the team that won last year's Mann Cup. Ironically, the resemblance was achieved largely thanks to the contributions of two players who weren't with the team last summer. Randy Staats scored 3 goals and 3 assists and Jeff Shattler added 3 goals and 5 assists to lead the Chiefs to a 10-8 win over the Peterborough Lakers. The win moves the Chiefs to 6-4 and within two points of first-place Brooklin, although the Redmen have two games in hand. Peterborough falls to 3-5 pending their appeal of forfeiting their first four games of the season.

The Lakers got off to a fast start, running up a 4-0 lead and making it look like they may carve out a repeat of last week's 15-9 win. But Six Nations Head Coach Rich Kilgour said the Chiefs made a decision that they weren't going to fold. “Last week we just laid down and took it. We had a good talk about that on the ride home that that's not acceptable,” Kilgour said. “It was 4-nothing and they were rolling. We got together on the bench and said we can either give up right now and go start the bus or we can buckle down and get the next one and go from there. That's what kept us going last year. That last goal doesn't mean anything, let's think about the next one.”