The Peterborough Lakers have been on fire. Literally. On Friday night, the Peterborough Examiner reported a small fire broke out in the roof of the Memorial Centre where the Lakers play their home games. Saturday’s game five of the MSL finals was always scheduled to be held in Six Nations, but the question was whether the Chiefs would come out firing, or if the red hot Lakers could finish off the series already leading three games to one.
Chad Culp thought he had the answer as he opened the scoring in under two minutes for the Lakers. Rhys Duch would respond for the home team, but then it was Peterborough’s turn to answer back. The Evans brothers, Shawn and Scott, sandwiched goals around a second for Culp, whose marker at 10:24 would end the night earlier for Brandon Miller. Miller surrendered three goals on just five shots giving way to Mike Poulin. Both goalies have played in tandem the majority of this season and playoffs. With the score 4-1 and roughly four minutes to play in the period, Duch netted his second to cut the Peterborough lead in half. The score would remain 4-2 Lakers heading to the break.
Coming out of the intermission, Peterborough would continue to control the play scoring two in five minutes, including a goal by Mark Steenhuis on the powerplay. Roger Vyse would get one back but it was Shawn Evans answering with a powerplay marker of his own to restore the four goal lead. A minute seventeen later, Duch would complete his hat-trick with a powerplay marker of his own, and Craig Point would follow this to bring the Chiefs back within two. Jordan MacIntosh would break up the run but Steven Keogh and Duch’s fourth ended then period, pulling Six Nations within a goal, 8-7, with twenty minutes to play.
Ill-timed penalties killed the Chiefs all night long (is there such a thing as a “good timed” penalty?) and the story was the same in the third. With Vyse sitting for cross checking, John Tavares scored with the shot clock expiring. Cody Jamieson, who missed game four with a concussion suffered early in game three, would score his first goal of the game (fourth point) seven minutes into the period, but Jamie Lincoln would answer on the ensuing faceoff possession. Lincoln’s goal pushed Peterborough out in front by two again, and try as they might down the stretch, the Chiefs would not make up the difference late.
After Miller surrendered three goals on five shots, Poulin gave up seven on twenty-three shots in a subpar performance for the Six Nations tandem. On the flip side, however, Tyler Carlson stopped thirty-three of forty-one shots to pick up the win.
The Peterborough Lakers not only win the Major Series Lacrosse title, they also clinch the right to host the Mann Cup starting on September 7th against either the Langley Thunder, or Coquitlam Adanacs (their Western Lacrosse Association final series is ongoing). The entire Mann Cup will be webcast by JVI Productions on a pay-per-view basis and can be purchased and watched at www.webcast-sports.com.
