The medal matches take place today in the President’s Cup, and the gold medal game match is between the Saint Catharines Saints and Kahnawake Mohawks.To clinch their seeds in the championship game, both the Mohawks and Saints needed to win. The Mohawks defeated the now third place Caughnawaga Indians 13-8 while the Saints topped the Calgary Mountaineers 10-6.
The Indians and Mountaineers play today for the Bronze medal, but the big match is between the Mohawks and Saints. The last time the teams played the host team Mohawks took an 8-6 victory. In that game Mohawks goaltender Derek Collins made 35 saves and Caleb Wiles picked up four points to lead the ‘Hawks.
The Saints own first place at 6-1 with their only loss being to Kahnawake. The Mohawks and Indians are both 5-2, but the Mohawks defeated the Indians and take the second seed. The match earlier today determined that seeding.
The Mohawks are laden with NLL stars such as leading point getter Callum Crawford of the Minnesota Swarm and Luke Wiles of the Buffalo Bandits. Dean Hill also leads the tournament in penalty minutes and he is a member of the Vancouver Stealth. They have used three goaltenders; veteran Derek Collins, former Mann Cup MVP Mike Thompson and Bluecloud Lahache.
However, the Saints own the top goalie Jake Henhawk who has a stifling goals against average of 5.41, and his backup Scott Komer has posted a 6.98 in his two games. Henhawk played yesterday but it is likely he plays again as the team’s number one ‘tender.
Chris Attwood of the Saints put up 40 points thus far to lead the entire tournament and he is their offensive leader. Crawford is the leader for the Mohawks with 25 points. Who will reign supreme tomorrow? Will it be the powerhouse from Ontario or the hosts from Quebec? Will NLL stars lead their teams or local heroes?
