PETERBOROUGH — For the first time in seven years, the Six Nations Senior ‘A’ Chiefs are Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) champions and will represent the east in the Mann Cup final.
After defeating the Cobourg Kodiaks in five games at the start of August, the Chiefs remained hungry and cinched the MSL title in four games through the best-of-seven last Wednesday.
Visiting the Peterborough Memorial Centre for the second time in the series, Austin Staats opened scoring with the first goal, two minutes in from Randy Staats. Lyle Thompson followed just 20 seconds later with a single from Brendan Bomberry. Austin Staats hammered away two more, one from Shayne Jackson and Brendan Bomberry before the end of the period. The 0-3 standing Lakers scored once before the end, making the game 4-1 for the Chiefs.
The Chiefs executed an equalizing second period, starting with a short-handed, unassisted goal by Randy Staats just 1 minute in. A few moments later, Shayne Jackson scored on a power play from Brendan Bomberry. Bryan Cole got his name n the board from Ben Mcintosh, and Austin Staats delivered his fourth goal of the game, again from his brother Randy Staats. This upped the Chiefs lead lead 8-1.
In the third period, the Lakers offered a fight, with four goals put forward before the end. But the Chiefs maintained the distance thanks to goals from Eric Fannell ed by Austin Staffs and Tim Edwards, fed by Jeremy Thompson. This secured their fourth game win to finish on top, with a comfortable score of 10-5.
Chiefs goaltending was nearly flawless between the pipes and with the win, the Chiefs swept the best-of-seven MSL final 4-0.
For his dominating performance throughout the playoffs, Austin Staats was awarded the Shooter Davis MSL Final Most Valuable Player Award at the end of the game. From 2022-2023, Staats collected 88 points; 45 in goals and 38 in assists out of just 19 games played, ranking him third in the league for points, but the highest leading scorer.
The Chiefs will move to take on the winner of the Western Lacrosse Association final between the Langley Thunder and New Westminster Salmonbellies. According to the WLA website, the two teams have played a full six games thus far and are currently tied 3-3 in their series. Their final match fell on Tuesday, August 29 at the Queen’s Park Arena in New Westminster, British Columbia, too late for reporting in this issue of Two Row Times.
