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| Dhane Smith had 8 points for Six Nations, but Matt Vinc made enough saves to lead the Peterborough Lakers to a 13-10 win Thursday night, forcing a seventh and deciding game in the MSL finals. (Photo: Tim Prothero) |
The Peterborough Lakers had been in
this situation before. It showed in the way they responded Thursday
night in Game 6 of the Major Series Lacrosse championship series,
winning 13-10 to force a Game 7 Monday night in Six Nations. You can
watch the game live via JVI
Sports Network.
Peterborough was down 3-2 after
playing, as Head Coach Mike Hasen said, their worst game of
the series in Game 5. Then, as had happened in every game in the
series, Six Nations scored the opening goal Thursday when Johnny
Powless tucked a shot home 43 seconds in.
The Lakers never let the Chiefs get
more than a one-goal lead, though, and left the first period tied
5-5. The teams traded goals in the second with Cory Vitarelli
getting the Lakers on the board 29 seconds in then Jeff Shattler
answering at 8:26.
Then it became the Curtis Dickson
show. Twice Dickson battled through a series of checks to fight his
way to the net and score. Two other times he reared back and fired
low shots that skipped into the net. His 4 goals in the second were
part of a 6-2 period that sent the Lakers to the third with a
four-goal lead.
After last year's seventh game, when
the Chiefs scored the last seven goals including a 6-0 third, to stun
Peterborough and take the MSL title, the Lakers and their nearly
3,500 fans weren't taking anything for granted. Adam Jones
scored twice in the third to make sure the Lakers held on for the win
despite a tremendous outing from Dhane Smith, who had 4 goals
and 4 assists for the Chiefs to lead all scorers.
“It's a do or die game. We haven't
faced one of those yet this year and we knew we had to come out
strong and come out fast,” Dickson said. “We've let them carry
the momentum early in games this series, especially the last few
games, so we knew we had to come out quick. They got the first one
there but we weathered the storm and got ourselves on a couple of
runs. In the past three games, we've scored and let them come down
and score. We were able to get up a couple of goals and I think that
was the big difference.”
One notable difference in the Lakers
approach Thursday was a commitment to pushing the pace in transition.
Goalie Matt Vinc and the defenders were looking to push the
ball up the floor any chance they got. It led to three transition
goals in the first period and helped take some of the pressure off
the offence, which had been struggling.
“They have a big, strong defence and
when they get out there and get settled they do a pretty good job.
Our offence has battled hard all series long and we thought maybe
we'd give them a bit of a break and push the pace a little bit and
that would alleviate some of the matchups,” said Brad Self,
who helped make the strategy work with a goal and an assist. “If
we're running the floor some of their guys maybe have to key on us a
little bit and give our offensive guys a bit of space.”
The offence took advantage, especially
Dickson. “That's unbelievable, isn't it?” Self said with an
appreciative laugh. “When he decides he's getting to the net I'm
not sure there's anybody in the world that's going to stop him. He's
been unbelievable for us all year long. He did just that again
tonight.”
The other key factor for the Lakers was
the play of Vinc, who had given up 25 goals in his previous two games
in the series, both losses. Vinc struggled a bit in the first period
but was excellent from there on, making a number of big saves that
allowed the Lakers to maintain and then build on their lead.
“We gave up a couple of shots early
and that's not the way we wanted to start, but I think we settled in.
I think the big difference today was how well our offence responded<'
Vinc said. “Curtis Dickson got us going. The momentum's a little
contagious. You just try as a goalie to make one save at a time and
we were lucky to come away with a good team win.”
Chiefs Head Coach Rich Kilgour
said he wasn't surprised by the effort Peterborough brought Thursday
or by the fact that the series is headed to Game 7. Now, it's just
come out ready for whatever happens on Monday. “Stick to the game
plan. You've got to be ready for anything,” Kilgour said. “Who
knows, maybe we'll have one of those 10-8 periods again like we had
in Game 2. It could be a 2-1 game with the way these goalies can play
and the defence can. You've got to be ready for anything, mentally
prepared for anything.”
Neither team has forgotten what
happened in last year's Game 7. The Lakers led 5-2 through three
quarters of the second period and 5-3 heading into the third. Then
the Chiefs romped in the third, blanking the Lakers 6-0 and heading
off to win their second consecutive Mann Cup. “That might as well
be 10 years ago,” Kilgour said, although he acknowledged that he
talked to his team about drawing on the experience of last year.
“Monday's all that matters. That's what we've got to start focusing
on. I like drawing on stuff in the past where I've been successful, I
know I can do it. That's what I told them, we were in this exact same
position last year. We lost a tough Game 6, buck up and be ready for
Game 7. That's all you can do at this point.”
Across the arena, outside the Lakers
dressing room, Vinc didn't shy away from a question about last year's
collapse. “That weighed heavily, especially when you watch them and
see how successful they were in the Mann Cup. We were one period away
from being there,” Vinc said. “Our goal at the beginning of the
year is to get to the Mann Cup. We have one game. We've just got to
be better. We've got to play 60 minutes. I don't think we played 60
minutes last year and hopefully we'll come in with a solid effort.”
There's not much more you can ask for,
Vinc said. “It's two really good teams, great coaches. You look up
and down the rosters and there's a lot of NLL all-stars out there.
Put in this atmosphere and you can't really beat it. It's a fun time
of year to be playing, and Game 7, that's what sports are all about
is coming out there and seeing what team's going to have the best
effort on the biggest night.”
That night will be next Monday at 8 pm
at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena. The whole season comes down to one
game, and it should be a dandy.
