Team Canada once again came out on top over the Iroquois Nationals in the battle of the indoor lacrosse powerhouses, this time in a 12-11 thriller in front of 7,000 fans at the Bell Centre in Montreal,QC.
Canada jumped out to a early 4-1 lead with goals from Stephan Leblanc(2), Jordan McIntosh, and Ryan Benesch. A highlight reel coast to coast rush to crease dive goal by Tom Montour helped bring Iroquois back within two goals. The Edmonton Rush’s Jeremy Thompson would cut the Canadian lead to 4-3 after an individual effort off of the following face-off. Iroquois would knot the game up at four after Calgary Roughneck’s Jeff Shattler ripped a shot from the top past Canada’s netminder Matt Vinc.
The two teams traded goals in the second quarter ending the first half at a 7-7 tie.
The third frame was all Canada as they outshot Iroquois 14-3 while also netting the quarters two lone goals, both coming from Leblanc and giving Canada a 9-7 lead heading into the final quarter.
Team Captain Dan Dawson flipped a pass to Stony Brook grad Kevin Crowley who then took the ball to the rack and buried the ball past Iroquois netminder Angus Goodleaf to open the fourth quarter. Dawson once again was involved in the offense, this time grabbing a beautiful pass from Leblanc and finding the back of the net to give Canada a 11-7 lead. After 27 minutes of no scoring, Roger Vyse danced through the Canadian defense and blast an over hand shot by Vinc.
Canada would let Iroquois back in the game with a 5-on-3 powerplay, cutting the lead to 11-10.
Jordan Hall would score the eventual game winner with just 2:05 remaining, streaking through the middle and quick-sticking a beautiful pass from Crowley to give the Canadians a 12-10 lead. An individual by Vaughn Harris with 59 seconds remaining would cut Canada’s lead to 12-10.
Rochester Knighthawk netminder Vinc shut the door on any Iroquois hope of forcing overtime as he made multiple saves in the final minute of play to secure the victory for Canada.
Toronto Rock’s Leblanc lead the way for Canada netting four goals while adding an assist. Closely behind was Oakville,ON native Dawson who found the back of the cage two times and added three helpers. Fellow Oakville native McIntosh also chipped in a pair of goals while grabbing two assists.
Shattler led the way for Iroquois with six points(2G,4A) while Vaugh Harris, Roger Vyse and Johnny Powless each netted a pair of goals. Onondoga Community College All-Time Leading scorer Randy Staats added a goal and two assists.
