Lakers up for a challenge
Peterborough heads into another MSL final against rival Six Nations to get to Mann Cup
The Brooklin Redmen had the defence and goaltending to give the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers a significant challenge in their MSL semifinal.
What they might have lacked was the dynamic offence Peterborough possessed.
The Six Nations Chiefs, who have won the Mann Cup three of the past four years, have similar defence and goaltending to Brooklin but they also bring the offence.
“Brooklin is a good team, hats off to them, it was a great series, but Six Nations is a different animal,” said Lakers sophomore Jake Withers. “On their front end they have so many stars you have to worry about. On the back-end, they are a lot more physical and really make our offence pay. We’re going to keep on doing what we do; work hard and make sure everyone worries about their own job and we’ll be fine.”
The Lakers and Chiefs have met in the MSL final the past three years with all three going seven games. Six Nations won last year and in 2014 while Peterborough prevailed in 2015. On Tuesday night at Iroquois Lacrosse Arena round four will begin.
“Six Nations is our rival and we wouldn’t want it any other way,” said Withers.
The series will return to Peterborough, who possess home floor advantage, for games two and three on Thursday and Sunday, Aug. 27.
“It’s going to be a dogfight,” said Shawn Evans. “Lacrosse is a game of runs and who is going to work harder. We’re going to have to be ready to work and play 60 minutes.”
Evans led the MSL in regular season scoring and continues to do so in the playoffs with 32 points in six games. Ryan Benesch leads Six Nations and is second overall in the playoffs with 25 points in seven games.
“We’re familiar with each other,” said Lakers captain Robert Hope. “We didn’t play them as much this year as we have the last four years but we understand their players. It’s going to be a difficult series. We know that. We have to make sure we’re ready for Game 1 because we know they’re going to be ready. They’re battled tested and have been through it and have won. They’re the champs and we have to knock off the champs.”
Hope said it was a total team effort that allowed them to pull together in the decisive fifth and sixth games against Brooklin. It will take that similar kind of teamwork against Six Nations.
“The Mann Cup is very difficult to win and the OLA championship is very tough to win. It can’t be just one player or a group of a couple of guys. It has to be the whole 25-man unit we carry on this team. Each and every guy,” he said.
While it sounds like playoff cliche, Hope says the secret to success really does come down to taking it a game at a time, a shift at a time.
“We’re just making sure we don’t look too far ahead and that we do the right things early on in games. Hopefully we’ll be successful in that shift and that five minutes and that period and just build through that game. Then we’ll look to the next game after that,” he said.