The Six Nations River Rats are a vastly talented team who just keep on winning.
This men’s Sr. lacrosse team, which originated in August 2018, has made a bold statement by winning four golds and one silver in six total tournaments played.
“The highlights are always the places we get to visit and the great people we meet in each location,” River Rats founder/player Holdon Vyse said. “The trophies are nice as well.”
Vyse also had high praise for the Six Nations fans as he stated, “The support from the community has been great. At the beginning nobody really knew about us until we started getting some steam behind the name. I guess we have you (media) to thank for a lot of the publicity.”
Looking to make a statement the River Rats, who are a tournament only team, went undefeated in winning their first gold back at the Sin City Box Classic which was held from January 24-27, 2019 in Las Vegas.
In keeping the momentum going, Six Nations also celebrated a silver about a month later in a Montreal tournament.
Continuing to build a solid fanbase the Six Nations community was treated to some high calibre lacrosse when from October 25-27 the River Rats captured bronze at the Six Nations River Rats Lacrosse Charity Tournament which was held at the ILA.
“The highlight was the whole thing,” River Rats player Danny Vyse said at the time. “It was a good practice/ tournament showcase. Great to see what our team had and the other teams and what we need to work on.”
Along with tournaments, other highlights included competing in the Shootout For Soldiers Benefit Game, which was held May 3, 2019, and drew a healthy amount of Six Nations family and fans to Onondaga where it was taking place.
“We decided to create the team after I was invited to play for a team from the U.S.,” Holden Vyse said. “We just figured we have a load of talent here within our family and close friends so we asked around to the players and everyone was on board.”
Another big achievement originated in Nashville when on September 8, 2019, the River Rats made lacrosse history when they defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers 6-2, to become the first team to win the inaugural Nashville Invitational.
“It’s always nice to win and with this being the first time this tournament has been won makes it even more special,” Holdon Vyse said.
Meanwhile the River Rats also thrilled the Six Nations community by bringing home gold at the Ohio Origins Cup and the Sticking it to Cancer tournament which was held in Raleigh North Carolina.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic played havoc on the River Rats as future tournaments were cancelled.
“The pandemic really put a halt to a lot of tournaments including ours,” Holdon Vyse said. “The U.S. tournaments are as of right now still a go but I think we are staying home to keep our guys and their families safe.”
Since playing that first tournament in Las Vegas the River Rats have given the Six Nations lacrosse fans reason to feel that pride of another Six Nations lacrosse team doing so well against the competition.
