In a Mann Cup that saw a combined seventy-eight goals in the first three games (twenty-five, twenty-nine and twenty-four respectively) the goaltenders for both the Peterborough Lakers and Langley Thunder have come under scrutiny. First, for Langley, Brodie MacDonald has been fantastic, but he was also replaced (albeit momentarily in each case) three times in those three games. Tyler Carlson was left to figure things out for the majority of the series, but it was just eight minutes into the third game where Peterborough head coach Jamie Batley pulled the plug. The Lakers rode a strong relief effort by Mike Thompson in game three to come back and win. Controversy alert: with this being said, all talk going into game four was who would start for each team in net?
While both sides played their mind games in warm ups, Langley surprised no one by running out MacDonald once more. He didn’t take many shots in warm-up, and it was Steve Fryer who led them into the crease, but MacDonald has led them this far, and he led them into game four as well. Peterborough, meanwhile, sent Kevin Croswell in net for warm-ups while Tyler Carlson sat off to the side and Mike Thompson hung out near center floor with no gear on. Croswell would end up as a scratch with Carlson backing up Thompson. It worked for the Lakers in the MSL finals (and Mann Cup) in 2010, why not the year he announces his retirement from the NLL?
The Lakers haven’t cared who’s been across from them this season. They’ve continued to assault them with shots, and deposit many of those behind the sorry souls. Such was the case again on Wednesday as Brodie MacDonald face over fifty shots (fifty four to be exact) for the fourth straight game in this Mann Cup. Twenty of those came in the opening period with three of them finding mesh thanks to Shawn Evans, Matt Giles less than a minute later, and a nifty corkscrew shot on the crease by Mark Steenhuis to end the period. Athan Iannucci was the only Thunder player to beat Thompson, while ten other shots were stopped and the score was 3-1 after one.
With twenty-three seconds to go in the period, Peterborough was called for Too Many Players. Looking for a five-on-three, Langley head coach Rod Jenson called for Mike Thompson’s equipment to be measured. Brad Self led the parade back onto the floor with a thumbs up, and the crowd celebrated the first key moment of the game going their way as in stead of a five-on-three for Langley, and Thompson being ejected, the teams would play four-on-four, and Peterborough kept their goaltender.
The second period would see just one penalty, a holding call against Mark Steenhuis, but it would be a key one. With Brett Hickey scoring his first career Mann Cup goal already in the period, Jamie Lincoln would score a short handed goal off a giveaway before Iannucci would respond with a powerplay marker to pull the Thunder back within one. Tracey Kelusky and Mark Steenhuis would score back-to-back markers to pull ahead by three and get the crowd pumping as it looked like they’d head to the room with momentum, as they did in game three. However, with twenty-two seconds to play, Mark Jackson scored on an outside shot to hand the momentum to Langley. Peterborough would call timeout and Shawn Evans would find Cory Vitarelli circling the net and he would net an easy goal with three seconds on the clock. After forty minutes, Peterborough led 7-4 to win their fourth straight period of lacrosse.
The hot hands for either side (Steenhuis and Iannucci) both scored for their respective clubs early in the third. John Grant would score, surprisingly, his first of the game to restore the wide lead. The turning point came shortly thereafter when Shawn Evans was knocked to the floor. He responded by coming up with his stick under the chin of Rob Van Beek, who took him down. With Van Beek bloodied on the floor, the Thunder bench was calling for a major penalty, but Evans escaped with just a two minute minor. Joel McCready scored on the powerplay anyway, and the goal seemed to kickstart the Thunder. Garrett Billings would score just eleven seconds later on a shot from way outside the dotted line and Langley closed within two. With Brad Self in the box for high sticking it would be Iannucci for the fourth time in the game drawing Langley within one. Despite a late onslaught from Langley, and heated play late, Thompson stood strong to hold on to the lead and clinch the victory.
Even though he went down in game two with a back injury and was in obvious discomfort stretching before the game, John Grant Jr led all runners with five points. He now sits third in scoring in the Mann Cup this year, and with his assist on Mark Steenhuis’ goal in the second passed Geordie Dean for second all time in Mann Cup scoring. Grant currently sits at 164 career Mann Cup points, thirty-five behind the 199 of all-time leader, and Peterborough teammate, John Tavares (Tavares has played nineteen extra games, including Wednesday’s matchup). To watch him warm up, it looks like his back is still an issue. On Tuesday’s day of Grant tweeted “can’t get off the couch, so glad we have a night off” with the hashtags ‘advil’, ‘tylenol’, ‘nap time’ and ‘need a massage’. If the injury from game two is still an issue, his play on the floor isn’t showing it. It’s unlikely he’ll pass his teammate for tops all time this series, but no doubt he’s more focused on two more wins.
Game five and six are guaranteed as the Mann Cup is now a best of three series. These games will be played Friday and Saturday nights, with game seven on Sunday if needed. The way this series has gone back and forth, be sure to free up Sunday evening now. Â Friday’s game is at 8pm, with the other two starting at 7pm (all times eastern).
JVI Video Productions have been webcasting all the games, and will continue to do so. To purchase pay-per-view broadcasts visit www.webcast-sports.com well before game time to be issued a password and watch the game.
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