The Six Nations Chiefs sewed up first place in the MSL on Thursday night, defeating the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers 9-8 in overtime. The Lakers currently sit in second place, four points up on the Brooklin Lacrosse Club.
Both Peterborough and Brooklin have three games remaining including two against each other.
“First place is always a goal,” said Lakers’ head coach Mike Hasen. “When push comes to shove if we get to the MSL Finals having a game seven in our barn would have been huge but we’ll just have to regroup.”
Despite the loss, Hasen said the Lakers played their best game of the season in front of 3324 fans at the Memorial Centre.
“We were missing five key contributors to our group but that’s the position we’re in; it’s next man up and they all played well. That was the first full 68 minutes of great lacrosse from back end all the way forward and we need to make sure we’re building off that.”
Thomas Hoggarth led the Lakers with three goals and one assist, while Holden Cattoni scored twice and added two assists.
Landon Kells played well in goal, making 40 saves.
“He was unbelievable tonight,” said Austin Hasen, who had two assists. “He’s been really good all year. He’s young and he’s gaining confidence… being able to trust everyone is a big part of this team.”
Lyle Thompson scored four goals, including the OT game winner, to lead the Chiefs.
Down 4-1 in the second, the Lakers rattled off four goals in a row to lead 5-4 after the second period. The Chiefs tied the game 5-5 early in the third, but the Lakers kept pushing and took three consecutive one-goal leads. Hoggarth crashed the crease, only to be answered by Lyle Thompson for the 6-6 score. Eli McLaughlin put Peterborough up 7-6, coming out of the corner with the ball. Brendan Bomberry equalled that. Colton Armstrong stripped Cody Jamieson of the ball and scored on the twister as he evaded both the crease and a defender for the 8-7 lead, but Tyson Bell finished off a 2-on-1 with Tyler Biles with 5:46 left to send the game to OT.
The Lakers have a busy week to close out the regular season. They visit the Cobourg Kodiaks on Sunday and the Brooklin Lacrosse Club on Wednesday before returning home Thursday to host Brooklin. Tickets for Thursday’s game are on sale at the Memorial Centre box office.
Scoring for the Lakers:
Thomas Hoggarth (3-1)
Holden Cattoni (2-1)
Eli McLaughlin (1-2)
Colton Armstrong (1-0)
Mike Robinson (1-0)
Austin Hasen (0-2)
Jay Thorimbert (0-1)
Mitch Ogilvie (0-1)
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