The Brooklin Redmen find themselves in an awkward position after Sunday night, losing to the Six Nations Chiefs 9-8. Fans of the powerhouse Redmen, who cruised through the regular season, expected them to cruise right through the playoffs too. However, after Sunday’s opener at the Iroquois Park Sports Centre in Whitby, the Redmen find themselves down 1-0 to the Chiefs, a team that was barely better than .500 this season.
However, the playoffs are a whole new animal, and the Chiefs, the defending Mann Cup Champions, want a chance to host the tournament in their home arena. Colin Doyle, who rose to notoriety when he donned the goal pads in last year’s Mann Cup, would love a chance to thrill the home crowd. While he didn’t play a lot in the regular season, he made his presence known in game one with two goals. Steven Keogh, Jeff Shattler, Kasey Beirnes also scored. Cody Jamieson led the Chiefs with a hat trick and three assists. Brandon Miller picked up the win in goal.
Mike Poulin took the loss for Brooklin, who were down 9-6 with five minutes to go. They were able to score two goals in the last few minutes, one with an extra attacker, but couldn’t tie it up. Kyle Aquin and Shayne Jackson led the Redmen with two goals each. Mike Triolo, Steve Priolo, Gavin Prout, and Curtis Knight had singles. The Redmen were missing scorers Dan Lintner and Derek Hopcroft. Shots were 59-51 in favour of the Chiefs.
The teams enjoyed a bolstered crowd Sunday night, as an extra 300 plus fans from the Ontario Lacrosse Festival took in the evening’s game, putting attendance at 612. The next game will go on Tuesday in Six Nations.
In the other semi-final series on Sunday, the Peterborough Lakers pounded the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks 14-4. Matt Vinc stopped 37 shots for the Lakers, who were led by Mark Steenhuis with six points. Corey Fowler led KW with two goals. That series also picks up on Tuesday, with game two set for 8:00pm in Peterborough.
