With the Six Nations Chiefs repeating as the Mann Cup champions, the Victoria Shamrocks did everything they could but just couldn’t hold off the depth of the roster the Chiefs came with. Although most people expected this series to only go five games, to win two in enemy territory for the Shamrocks and put a scare in the champs isn’t something to take lightly.
As what was the case for most of the games the Chiefs opened the scoring with Jeff Shattler scoring near the midway point of the first period to get the Chiefs off to the start they wanted and although the Shamrocks answered two minutes later off a Derek Lowe shot, but the momentum was clearly in Six Nations favor getting the next four with Colin Boucher and Kasey Beirnes late in the second then in the mid third Colin Doyle and Johnny Powless put their mark on the goal column to keep momentum.
Less than a minute after the Powless goal Corey Small continued his strong play getting his only goal of the night. Then Cody Jamison got into the games goal sheet short handed getting one back for the Chiefs. Greg Harnett got a goal moving the ball well with Ryan Dilks, but, with 9 seconds to play in the second frame Craig Point kept his hot stick going scoring what seemed to be a back breaking goal.
With all the momentum clearly on the Chiefs side, Jeff Shattler, got a lucky bounce off the side of his stick on a pass from Colin Doyle to get the period going for the home side while both sides were playing four on four after Sid Smith of Six Nations took a slashing call, the Rocks tried to have a repeat of last year calling a goalie measurement on Brandon Miller which came back to hurt the ‘Rocks who ended up with a delay of game penalty with Miller’s pads being legal, which lead to alot of open floor and the chance for Shattler. Less than a minute later Beirnes put the nail in the coffin and although Wardle got a late one for the Rocks it was too little too late and the Chiefs repeated as champs.
For his strong play the entire series Brandon Miller received the Mann Cup MVP and was very deserving. He seemed to get better as the series went on and after the Shamrocks took a 2-1 series lead, he seemed to turn it up another notch and became a wall the Shamrocks just couldn’t seem to solve as much as they needed to.
In Game four Matt Flindell took a huge shot directly off his head and although he finished that game he didn’t dress for any other. He is still suffering from concussion symptoms and the Shamrocks missed his spectacular play that had been consistent all series.
Even with the addition of Dhane Smith during the regular season, the experienced and more physical play of the Chiefs seemed to be consistent all series with the Shamrocks continually having no results ultimately leading to the series win.
The Chiefs team in general along with goalie Brandon Miller’s play also seemed to get better as the series went on and adding NLL and Minto Cup champ (as well as Minto Cup MVP) Johnny Powless late in the series really put the Shamrocks defence on their heels and they just didn’t have an answer for the depth of skill the Chiefs roster had.
Johenny Powless and Cody Jamison play together in the NLL and that chemistry was clear as they moved the ball and opened up seams that the Shamrocks just couldn’t find answers to as well as Colin Doyle bringing his big game experience really made it a tough match all series long.
The Chiefs also shut down the potent offensive play of Shamrock stars Scott Ranger and Rhys Duch who were held to single assists each in the final game, and it seemed the lack of experience in Cody Hagedorn and the wealth of skill that was the Six Nations offence really made the difference in the team repeating as national champs.
