Wake-up call for the Lakers
Lakers hoping hometown crowd Tuesday will reinvigorate offence after one-goal performance Sunday
If the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers are going to close out the Six Nations Chiefs they’re going to have to score more than one goal.
The Chiefs held the Lakers’ usually potent offence, which scored 15 times in Game 3, to one goal in an 8-1 Game 4 win in Six Nations on Sunday night. It kept the Chiefs, who trail the Lakers 3-1, alive in the bestof-seven MSL final. At stake is the right to host the Mann Cup. Game 5 is at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Memorial Centre.
They will also have to do it without John Grant Jr. who head coach Mike Hasen confirmed will miss the game with work commitments at the high school he works at in Denver, Colo.
The top three Lakers playoff scorers, Mark Steenhuis, who leads the MSL with 31 points in 10 games, Adam Jones and Shawn Evans were all held off the scoresheet.
“We didn’t do a good job offensively of making their D work like we did previously in Game 3,” Steenhuis said.
“Every offensive set there were five to 10 to 15 passes on a 30 second shot clock. I felt like we used that to our advantage. We got them turning their heads and moving their feet. You’re essentially trying to wear them down over a 60-minute game. (Sunday) we were a little too stagnant. We were settling for outside shots way too much and not getting the ball to the net.
“When we did have our opportunities we didn’t capitalize. Their goalie played well and their defence played well. We’re not taking anything away from them. We probably hit a dozen posts. You’d like to see a few of those (go in), but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Steenhuis said it’s also a good wake-up call that a 3-0 lead doesn’t win a series.
“This thing is a long way from over and we’ve got to come with a better mindset and be willing to work. That’s what got us three wins.”
There is one factor which will help the Lakers in Game 5, said Steenhuis.
“Fortunately for us we get to go back home where the fans are behind us and it’s a great atmosphere to play in,” he said.
Chiefs coach Rich Kilgour said he’s not sure he’s ever been part of a lacrosse game where one team was limited to one goal, regular season or playoff.
“Wardo (goalie Dillon Ward) was lights out,” Kilgour said. “The D was real good, too. A lot of the shots they did get were under pressure and the only goal they did get was a quickstick power play. Our offence did a great job of transitioning back and not letting them run on us.”
He said it will take a similar effort to keep the series going.
“We’re still in a tough spot, I’m not going to lie to myself,” Kilgour said. “If we can get one up there we get to come back home on Thursday and who knows what can happen.
“We earned the right to fight another day and that’s what we plan on doing Tuesday.”
The one-goal output is not a playoff record according to Larry (Wamper) Power, author of the online resource The Bible of Lacrosse. In 1932, the Fergus Thistles blanked Mimico Mountaineers 8-0 in Game 2 of a best-of-three Ontario final. Mimico rebounded to win the deciding game 4-3 and went on to win the Mann Cup. The last time a team was limited to one goal was 1986 when the Brooklin Redmen beat Peterborough 12-1 in Game 5 of the Ontario final. Brooklin won the series 4-2. In 1949, St. Catharines beat Brampton 16-1.
NOTE: Peterborough professional wrestler Bobby Roode will drop the ball before Tuesday night’s Game 5. Roode recently joined the WWE’s NXT brand after leaving the TNA Impact Wrestling promotion earlier this year after 12 years. Roode made his in-ring television NXT debut at the NXT Takeover Brooklyn 2 event a week ago. His NXT entrance music, Glorious Domination, performed by CFO$, was No. 1 last week on the iTunes Soundtracks sales chart and in the Top 100 of the iTunes sales chart for all singles in the United Kingdom.