SIX NATIONS – The Six Nations Rivermen are 9-0 after Sunday’s 10-9 thriller at the Gaylord Powless Arena against the Owen Sound North Stars.
The North Stars have given the Rivermen fits this young season losing one goal games to the league leaders both times they have met. On May 13th, the Rivermen outlasted the Stars 9-8 at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.
The game also marked the debut of Alex Kedoh Hill in a Rivermen jersey and it seemed to fit very well as Hill recorded four goals and three assists in his debut performance.
“It’s good to come home and play for my hometown crowd,” said Hill following the game.
Last NLL season Hill wore a Buffalo Bandits uniform and collected 12 goals and 20 assists before the Bandits were eliminated.
He graduated the Six Nations Arrows of the Jr. A in 2011 with 46 goals and 71 assists for 117 points in 22 regular season games as well as 14 goals and 26 assists for 40 points in the playoffs.
Why the Rivermen? “I’m proud to be here. I’m proud to be living here at Six Nations. With the Rivermen, as you could see tonight, it’s the players around me. It’s easy to play off of these guys. They are high intensity and high I.Q. and hopefully we can just keep on going.”
Being under 30-years of age, Hill’s NLL rights remain with last year’s team, Buffalo. But he is free to play the off-season wherever he wants, and coach Stu Hill is glad it is with the Rivermen.
“We are always looking to improve,” says coach Stu Montour, who led the Rivermen to the 2015 Presidents Cup. He sees Kedoh Hill’s arrival as another big step towards his goal of returning the President’s Cup to Six Nations.
The North Stars were down 1-0 seconds into the game after team captain Mike Miller, unassisted. Owen Sound did what they needed to do by scoring quickly, not allowing the Rivermen to gain momentum. Kyle Childerhose made it 1-1 at 2:49 and Drew Quinlan gave the Stars the 2-1 lead at the 16 minute mark.
Thirteen goals were split between the Rivermen and the North Stars with Six Nations taking the extra goal to draw even at 8-8 with one period left to go in regulation time. Hill, opened the period with back-to-back goals and added a third to close second frame. He also opened the third period with his fourth tally of the game.
The Stars would not relent and the third period became intense. It took a miscue by the Stars and an empty netter scored by Dauton Miller to put the game away on another “W” on the Rivermen side of the ledger keeping their 9-0 winning streak alive. Scoring for the Rivermen included Kedoh Hill (4G,3A), Cory Bomberry (2G,4A), Dauton Miller (1G,4A), Mike Miller (1G,1A), Dwayne Porter (1G,1A), Greg Longboat Jr. (1G,1A), and Brock Farmer (1G).
The Rivermen will host the Brooklin Merchants at the GPA Saturday, at 7 pm in their only game of the week.
