SIX NATIONS – The defending Mann Cup Champion Six Nations Chiefs took one step closer to becoming the fourth Six Nations OLA franchise from Six Nations to take the Provincial title and compete for a National title, with a 9-7 win over the Peterborough Lakers Monday night at the ILA. The win gives the Chiefs a 3-1 stranglehold on the provincial championship, and a ticket to defend their Mann Cup Championship.
Should the Chiefs win the series, Six Nations will host this years Mann Cup Finals. If Peterborough wins, they will host.
The Chiefs began by turning a bad situation good when Billy Dee Smith took a roughing call at 2:48. But the speedy Jeff Shattler took a breaking pass from Kasey Biernes and went in alone on Matt Vinc to record the game’s first goal, shorthanded.
Lakers Andrew Suitor evened the score at 5:12 before Cody Jamieson handed the Chiefs the lead back at 12:16, followed by Craig Point and Jamieson’s second, both powerplay goals. Tom Montour closed the first frame at 15:33 to send the Chiefs to the dressing room leading by 5-1.
Roger Vyse made it 6-1 at 7:25 but John Grant closed the gap with a pair of back-to-back goals. Vyse closed the period the way he opened it, with a goal at 19:11 to put the Chiefs in charge 7-3.
A large Six Nations crowd watched the lead get chipped away in the third period as Grant, Matt Crough and Chad Culp pulled the Lakers to within one of the Chiefs at 7-6.
Craig Point stopped the bleeding at 7:08 and Kasey Biernes scored the Chiefs 9th goal at 17:30 for the 9-7 win.
“Three-one feels better than 2-1, but this is a great team we are playing and we still have to go up there Tuesday night, so we will enjoy the win a little bit tonight and start focusing on tomorrow right away,” said coach Rich Kilgour.
There was some concerned when the Lakers started to come back, but Kilgour was confident his team could turn the situation around.
“We went a little flat there,” he say. “They got a powerplay and then we went 6 on 5 (with a pulled goalie) and they are right back in it. We’ve got to be more disciplined than that and we gave them a chance. If we didn’t take so many penalties we wouldn’t have to sweat so much.”
The Chiefs play what could be the series winner in Peterborough, Tuesday night and the results will miss our deadline.
