The Drive For Five is over.
The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers were eliminated from Mann Cup contention on Wednesday evening, falling to the Six Nations Chiefs 10-5 in Game 4 of the Major Series Lacrosse finals. It was the first time the Lakers have been swept in a series since the year 2000.
“It’s tough to lose and especially that way. After the streak we’ve been on the last several years, all things considered, it’s a tough night for sure,” said Holden Cattoni. “We had a chance at history. It’s one [thing] to go out in seven games and you battle; we just weren’t good enough.”
The Lakers streak of national championships – 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 – will stop at four, keeping them tied with the 1951-54 Peterborough Timbermen/Trailermen as the only teams to win four in a row.
It was the first MSL championship for the Chiefs since 2016, which they also won at the Memorial Centre against the Lakers.
Austin Staats was awarded the Johnny Shooter Davis award as the MSL’s playoff MVP.
Six Nations jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Kiel Matisz converted Holden Cattoni’s pass on the crease. The Chiefs scored four more in the second period for an 8-1 lead.
Matt Gilray scored to open the third period, finishing off a transition run with a no-look spin shot, although that was answered by Eric Fannell. Undeterred, the Lakers rattled off three goals in a row to make a late push. Holden Cattoni scored a pair, and Austin Hasen one.
“We didn’t score enough goals and we gave up too many timely runs. You can’t get behind the eight-ball with them,” Cattoni said. “We didn’t do enough to support our defence.”
The team was obviously subdued after the game ended, but the message in the dressing room was to use the loss as fuel for next summer when the Lakers return to avenge this loss.
“We’ve said the right things in regards to how the season ended but we have to be willing to do it,” pointed out captain Robert Hope. “We’re still young; the majority of our team will be back. Only so many chances like this come by… and time is ticking. We want to win every single summer. That’s why we play lacrosse in Peterborough.”
On behalf of the team, Hope expressed his gratitude to the fans who supported the Lakers through so much this season.
“We have the best fans in summer lacrosse,” he expressed. “We’re so fortunate to play here in Peterborough. I know they’re very disappointed with how this ended and they have very high expectations and our community has very high expectations but they were right there with us all year long. The executive and the city is behind us and we’re looking forward to next year and that’s all we’re thinking about at this point.”
Scoring for the Lakers:
Holden Cattoni (2-1)
Kiel Matisz (1-1)
Austin Hasen (1-0)
Matt Gilray (1-0)
Eli McLaughlin (0-2)
Turner Evans (0-1)
Robert Hope (0-1)
Thomas Hoggarth (0-1)
Josh Currier (0-1)
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