Redmen vs Chiefs semifinals schedule

Dates have been set for the Brooklin Redmen vs Six Nations Chiefs MSL semifinals. The series opens this Sunday at Brooklin's Iroquois Park Sports Centre at 7pm and continues at Six Nations' Iroquois Lacrosse Arena Tuesday at 8pm. The full schedule is below.

Game 1 Sunday August 3rd at 7pm at Iroquois Park
Game 2 Tuesday August 5th at 8pm at ILA
Game 3 Thursday August 7th at 8pm at Iroquois Park
Game 4 Saturday August 9th at 7pm at ILA
Game 5 Monday August 11th at 8pm* at Iroquois Park
Game 6 Tuesday August 12 at 8pm at ILA*
Game 7 Thursday August 14th at 8pm* at Iroquois Park

*= If Necessary

Brampton versus Peterborough tonight at Memorial Arena

Tonight's game (Thursday July 31) between the Brampton Excelsiors and the Peterborough Lakers will be played at Brampton's Memorial Arena, not at Century Gardens as it had been scheduled. Game time is still 8 pm.

Playoff positioning taking shape; Wednesday game will determine order of final two spots and semifinal pairings

Brandon Miller and the Six Nations Chiefs assured themselves of a post-season berth when they downed the Rock 8-7
in Oakville Monday night. The Chiefs will now face the KW Kodiaks for third Wednesday. (Photo: Darryl Smart)

The Six Nations Chiefs pulled out an 8-7 win Monday night over the Oakville Rock. As a result, the Chiefs are in the playoffs and the Rock are out of them. With Brooklin having clinched first and Peterborough locked into second, the only thing to be determined is who will finish third and who will take fourth. That will be decided Wednesday night when the Chiefs face the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks. Both teams currently sit at 9-8, so the winner will take third place and face the Lakers in the semifinals. The loser will finish fourth and face the Redmen in the semis. If they happen to tie, KW will earn third place based on a better record between the two teams this season.

Oakville led 3-1 after the first period Monday at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre and were up 5-2 past the midway point of the second. Then the Chiefs went on a four-goal run to take the lead for the first time in the game. Danny Lomas' second goal of the game for Oakville evened things up at 6-6 heading into the final 20 minutes. The Rock kept the momentum going when they got the first goal of the third, from Mike Mawdsley just 53 seconds in. That would prove to be their last goal of the night, though, as Brandon Miller shut the door from there out.

Chiefs edge Rock 7-6 to strengthen playoff positioning

By Darryl Smart

The push to the Major Series Lacrosse playoffs continued for the Six Nations Pro-Fit Chiefs.
In front of a good crowd at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena, the defending Mann Cup champs came away with a 7-6 win over the Oakville Rock.
With the Rock ahead for much of the game, Kasey Beirnes tied things up for the fifth time, seven minutes into the third period, before Cody Jamieson scored his third goal of the game with just over six minutes remaining to give the Chiefs the victory. For photos from the game CLICK HERE 
With the win, the Chiefs improve to 8-8 and sit in a two-way tie for third with the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks.
"Every game is like a playoff game now," Chiefs coach Rich Kilgour said before the game. "We thought we'd be battling for top spot at this time of year. Right now we're battling to get in."
Danny Lomas led the Rock in the first period, scoring three times. Colin Doyle and Jamieson responded for the Chiefs.
Jamieson continued to heat up in the second period, while Randy Staats added one, and St. Catharines junior A call-up Eric Fanell netted his first MSL goal.
Patrick Corbett, Rob Hellyer and Brenden Thenhaus scored for the Rock.
Brandon Miller was at times outstanding between the Chiefs pipes, stopping 32 shots, while his Toronto Rock teammate, Nick Rose was tagged with the loss in a 29-save effort.
The Chiefs' playoff push continues Monday, when they go to Oakville, before wrapping things up Wednesday at the ILA, when they host the Kodiaks. Both games are at 8 p.m.

Redmen master late-game heroics in pair of wins

Zack Higgins and the Redmen, here facing Peterborough,
won a pair of games with late goals this week.
(Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Brooklin Redmen made the most of their late opportunities, scoring goals in the last five seconds to win back-to-back games over the Oakville Rock and Six Nations Chiefs Monday and Wednesday. Against Oakville, the Redmen trailed 3-1 after the first period but rebounded to be tied 6-6 after 40 minutes. They led 8-7 but the Rock tied it up when Rob Hellyer connected with 44 seconds to play in regulation time. Brooklin got the ball with just over 30 seconds to play and called a timeout in which they pulled the goalie and drew up a play to get the ball to Kiel Matisz in the slot. They managed to get it to him and he buried a behind the back shot with just three seconds on the clock for the winner and the 9-8 final. Redmen Head Coach Wayne Colley said his team was a bit lucky to pull out the win but they're pleased to have done so. "It clinches first place overall which is one of the destinations we wanted to achieve along the way. That's only one; we've got a couple more to go," Colley said. "We played hard. In the first period we didn't play very well. Second and third we played not too bad at all so things turned around."

Kodiaks win back to back games, improve to .500

Steve Fryer, here against Oakville, won both games as KW
swept a home and home with Brampton. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks swept a home and home series with the Brampton Excelsiors Sunday and Tuesday, improving their record to 8-8 and moving into third place while eliminating the Excelsiors from the playoff race. KW won 10-5 on Sunday in Waterloo behind a pair of goals each from Ryan Benesch, Luke Laszkiewicz and Jay Thorimbert. They led 4-1 after the first period, 6-3 after the second then scored the first two goals of the third to pull away.

On Tuesday, things were much closer in Brampton. KW led just 5-4 after two periods and, while they again scored the first two goals of the third, the Excelsiors refused to go away. Brampton fought back to within a goal thanks to four third-period goals from Joe Resetarits, who also had an assist for a 5-point night. Defender and captain Chris Corbeil helped on the offensive end with two goals and an assist. Benesch led the Kodiaks again with three goals and two assists. Jamie Rooney chipped in with two and two as the Kodiaks passed the Six Nations Chiefs for third and moved closer to clinching a playoff spot. Steve Fryer earned both wins in goal for KW.

Major Series Lacrosse players win medals at world field lacrosse championships

Dillon Ward, of the KW Kodiaks, was the all-star goalie and
MVP as Canada won the world field lacrosse championships.

It was a big Saturday for 18 Major Series Lacrosse players at the World Field Lacrosse Championships in Denver. Eleven MSL player were with the Team Canada side that won the gold medal, beating the USA 8-5 with a brilliantly designed and executed game plan. Seven other MSL players were members of the Iroquois Nationals, who won their first ever medal at the worlds, beating Australia 16-5 to capture the bronze.

The MSL players who were part of Team Canada's win were Matt Vinc, Adam Jones and John Grant Jr. (Peterborough Lakers), Cam Holding (Brooklin Redmen), Dillon Ward (Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks), Dan Coates and Jesse Gamble (Six Nations Chiefs), Jeremy Noble, Jason Noble and Jordan MacIntosh (Oakville Rock) and Kyle Rubisch (Brampton Excelsiors). Ward was named the tournament's all-star goalie and the Most Valuable Player.

The Iroquois players, all coming from the Six Nations Chiefs, were Craig Point, Roger Vyse, Cody Jamieson, Vaughan Harris, Sid Smith, Jeff Shattler and Randy Staats.