It was an emotional series with more than enough distractions. But despite racist comments from a few BC fans, an attempt to stop Six Nations Chiefs’ fans from supporting their team with traditional drums, and two desperation equipment calls that ejected both Chiefs goaltenders, the Chiefs sucked it up and defeated the Victoria Shamrocks 11-7, Wednesday night in Game #5 to take a 3-2 strangle hold on the 2013 Mann Cup.
Cody Jamieson broke loose with a nine-point game (3G, 6A) to power the Chiefs offense.
Neither starting goaltender, Evan Kirk nor back up Brandon Miller were in the Six Nations net for the last 11 minutes of the game. Instead, their captain and star forward,
Colin Doyle volunteered to strap on the pads after both Kirk and Miller were given game suspensions for illegal equipment violations.
Doyle stepped up when Miller was ejected and performed surprisingly well, turning aside six of the nine shots he was forced to handle to secure the win.
Fortunately for the Chiefs, Doyle’s absenteeism on the front line of the Chief’s offense was more than covered as Jamieson, Steve Keogh and Alex Kedoh Hill aptly stepped into the breach to carry the load.
Jamieson scored first at 7:05 assisted by Hill and Craig Point, but the Chiefs were caught with too many men on the floor. Shamrock’s star of the series, Jeff Shattler made them pay with the tying goal at 14:06.
Six Nations Chiefs head coach Rich Kilgour says that reported racist comments against his team by a small number of Victoria fans during the game only inspired his guys to play harder.
“I didn’t personally hear any of the comments,” said Kilgour. “Some of my players did and I believe them.”
The allegations were confirmed by several Shamrock fans tweets which shows that most of the BC fans were disgusted by the embarrassing show of classless behavior.
“You can’t fight ignorance,” said Kilgour. “Their best player, Jeff Shattler, is Native.
“Too much beer is no excuse. But we were not going to let 5 or 10 guys ruin our experience.”
For the first time in Mann Cup history, both the starting goalie (Evan Kirk) and the back up (Brandon Miller) were ejected from the same game – both for equipment violations.
The CLA allows an 11 inch shin pad width at the knee and both goalies were measured at 11 1/2 inches.
It was also the first time star forward Colin Doyle ever put on the pads in competitive lacrosse game. Apparently he played goal at an old timers event once, but never in a competitive game or even a practice.
“We knew they were desperate and we made sure our guys were legal before the game,” said Kilgour after the game. “But as the game goes on the kneepads flange out a bit.
Something should be done about that rule. Measure them before the game or something.”
He thinks the move may have backfired on the Shamrocks as his players, especially his defense, really turned it up to protect Dolyle.
The Six Nations Chiefs went on to win the Mann Cup the next night, after demoralizing the Shamrocks who did everything to upset the flow of the Chiefs the night before.
By Jim Windle
VICTORIA, BC
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