On Sunday night the Six Nations Chiefs and Kitchener Waterloo Kodiaks kicked off the 2014 MSL season. The Chiefs were looking for a win to start their defense of the Mann Cup while the Kodiaks were looking to make a statement and knock off the champs.
The Chiefs kicked this game off in style as Tory Gardner scored two minutes into the period to give the Chief the early 1-0 lead. The two teams would remain coreless for the majority of the first period until Vaughn Harris, and Randy Staats scored to put the Chiefs in front 3-0. With just under a minute left in the first period Cody McMahon would scored to get the Kodiaks on the board and make it 3-1. Vaughn Harris would strike again for the Chiefs with 13 seconds left giving the Chiefs the 4-1 lead after one period of play.
The Chiefs continued to put pressure on the Kodiaks in the second as Randy Staats scored his second of the game to give the Chiefs the 5-1 lead. The Kodiaks would wake up in the second as Jamie Rooney and Mike Teeter scored seconds apart followed by a goal from Ryan Benesch which pulled the Kodiaks within one as the score now stood at 5-4. The Chiefs would quickly extend their lead once again as Vaughn Harris scored to complete his hat trick and make the score 6-4. The Kodiaks were not deterred as Jamie Rooney score two goals to kick off a streak of five unanswered goals to end the period for the Kodiaks as they jumped in front 9-6 after two periods of play.
In the third period the Kodiaks completely shut down the Chiefs offense as they held them scoreless. The Kodiaks would score two more goals in the period as they walked away with a 11-6 victory and their first win of the season.
The Kodiaks won this game thanks to their dominant second period as they were able they found a way to comeback and leap ahead of the Chief. Credit also has to go to Kodiaks goalie Dillon Ward as he shut the door in the third period and prevented any Chiefs comeback. The Kodiaks should be proud as they dominated the defending Mann Cup Champions and will ride this momentum into their next game against the Brooklin Redmen.
