SIX NATIONS 10 VICTORIA 4
Series tied 1-1
The holders were heard from Saturday night.
The defending champion Six Nations Chiefs evened the best-of-seven Mann Cup national Senior A lacrosse championship series 1-1 with a 10-4 victory over the Victoria Shamrocks at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena on the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve in Hagersville, Ont., where all games in the series are being played.
Victoria won the first game 9-8 on Friday night but the Chiefs, the champions of Ontario’s Major Series Lacrosse, were quick out of the blocks in the second game and scored the first three goals.
The Western Lacrosse Association champion Shamrocks pulled it to within 3-2, but Six Nations took control in the second period and extended their advantage to 7-3. Lyle Thompson’s and Eli McLaughlin’s hat-tricks led the Chiefs. Mathieu Gautier, Cole Pickup, Jesse King and Marshal King, the latter with his seventh goal of the series, replied for Victoria.
The Shamrocks are making their 22nd appearance in the Mann Cup and are after their 10th national championship and first since 2015, which also represents the last time a WLA team won it. The Shamrocks have won the WLA’s last three Mann Cups in 2015, 2005 and 2003 but are fighting history.
Victoria’s last appearance was in 2019 in a 4-1 games loss to the Peterborough Lakers at The Q Centre. Ontario teams have been commanding and have won 15 of 16 Mann Cups since 2006, including Six Nations 4-1 last year at Queen’s Park Arena in New Westminster against the Salmonbellies. There was no competition in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic. To make the Shamrocks’ task even more daunting is the fact that no WLA team has won the Mann Cup on the road since the Salmonbellies in 1986 at Whitby, Ont., which is nearly four decades ago for those counting.
The Chiefs have won seven Mann Cup championships. Victoria’s nine Mann Cups are fourth all-time behind the New Westminster’s 24, Peterborough’s 18 and Brampton’s 11. Nanaimo won its lone championship in 1956.
The third, fourth and fifth games of the 2024 series are on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 5 p.m. PT. If required, the sixth game will be on Friday and seventh game next Saturday.
The Shamrocks are playing the series under protest and appeal due to having two pick-up players from the Salmonbellies ruled ineligible for the Mann Cup on the eve of the series.
The games are broadcast on cable Rogers TV. Game highlights are available on MSL YouTube. Watch parties are being held at Browns Social House in Langford.
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