IL Indoor

Brooklin Redmen, MSL, Peterborough Lakers, Six Nations Chiefs

MSL 3 Stars: Shawn Evans returns to the top of the heap with a 21-point week

Shawn Evans, here in the 2012 Mann Cup, is among the MSL 3 Stars for the third time in four weeks. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

Shawn Evans was the biggest star of the National Lacrosse League season, and so far in Major Series Lacrosse this summer it’s been more of the same. Evans leads MSL with 55 points through 9 games. His 41 assists are more than anyone else has points. He’s putting up the kind of season that Shawn Williams (who is currently second with 12/26/38 in 7 games) did last summer, when he led the league in scoring by 21 points and was a single assist short of having as many helpers as anyone else had points. Evans was the first star in Week 1 and the second star in Week 2. Now, after having missed out on honours last week, he’s back on top. READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A, Brooklin Redmen, Coquitlam Adanacs, Langley Thunder, MSL, Ontario Junior B, Road to the Founders, Road to the Mann Cup, Road to the Minto Cup, Road to the Presidents Cup, Senior B, Six Nations Chiefs, WLA

Last night: Chiefs and Redmen can’t decide who’s the top team in Major Series Lacrosse

Cody Jamieson, here against Peterborough, scored 3 times for Six Nations. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Brooklin Redmen travelled to the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena Saturday to take on the Six Nations Chiefs with the situation clear for both teams. Win and you’re in first place. The teams entered the game with identical 5-1 records. After battling hard for 70 minutes, they exited with identical 5-1-1 records and nothing decided after a 9-9 tie that included a goal by each team in the 10-minute overtime.

The game was close throughout–the score was 4-3 Brooklin after the first period, 6-6 after the second and 8-8 after the third. Stephen Keogh scored at 3:47 of the overtime but Jake Hayes responded at 8:10 with the game’s final goal. READ MORE »

Brampton Excelsiors, Brooklin Redmen, IL Indoor, Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks, MSL, Oakville Rock, Peterborough Lakers, Six Nations Chiefs

MSL Power Rankings: No coincidence that rankings reflect goals against averages

Zack Higgins and the Redmen allow the fewest goals per game in MSL and sit atop the Power Rankings. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

Major Series Lacrosse is just under one-third of the way through its 2013 season (18 of 60 games played) and so far things are playing out more or less according to expected form. Brooklin and Six Nations still appear to be the teams to beat; they’re both 5-1 and look like they’d be ready to go if the playoffs started tomorrow. Peterborough is adjusting to a boatload of new faces in the lineup and looks great one night, a little shaky the next, needing more time to gel before trying to defend their Mann Cup title. KW is growingly competitive but still falling just a little short against the top teams; they won’t be an easy out come playoff time, assuming they are able to make it to the big dance. And Oakville and Brampton are battling hard, sometimes competitive but mostly just lacking the horses and/or experience to take a real run at the top clubs just yet. READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A, Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks, MSL, Ontario Junior A, Six Nations Chiefs

Last night: Six Nations Chiefs edge KW Kodiaks to take over first place in MSL

Colin Doyle led the Chiefs with 6 points as they downed KW 9-8. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

For the fifth time in the last eight Major Series Lacrosse contests, a game was decided by one goal or in overtime. Last night it was the Six Nations Chiefs scoring four straight goals spanning the second and third periods to pull out a 9-8 win over the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks. Colin Doyle scored 3 goals and 3 assists and Cody Jamieson 2 goals and 3 assists to lead the Chiefs to their fifth win of the season against a single loss, moving them into first place in the league. Aaron Wilson (2g, 3a) and Mike Teeter (1g, 4a) each had 5-point nights to lead the Kodiaks, who fall to 2-4 and sit in fourth place.

KW took a 5-2 lead through the first half of the first period, but the Chiefs came back with three straight power-play goals from their left side—one each from Doyle, Jamieson and Roger Vyse—to tie the game at 5-5 after 20 minutes. The Kodiaks responded with a pair of man-up markers of their own from Teeter and Jamie Rooney before Six Nations went on their run. READ MORE »

Brampton Excelsiors, Brooklin Redmen, IL Indoor, Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks, MSL, Oakville Rock, Peterborough Lakers, Six Nations Chiefs

MSL Power Rankings: Redmen hold on to top spot for Week 2

John Lafontaine and the Brooklin transition game have helped keep the Redmen perfect so far. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

Major Series Lacrosse in 2013 is shaping up as an exciting, competitive league with a real mix of young speed and veteran wile. Both can be found on the league-leading Brooklin Redmen in spades. The back door features guys who can get the ball up the floor and know what to do with it like Cam Holding, John Lafontaine and Steve Priolo. The Redmen D comes at you in waves, making it hard to create good scoring opportunities and forcing the opposing O to be aware of their ability to break away and score. Then there’s Shawn Williams and Gavin Prout leading an offence that’s loaded with talent. No surprise that the Redmen are #1 in the Power Rankings and have everyone gunning for them. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, MSL, Oakville Rock, Peterborough Lakers, Six Nations Chiefs

MSL 3 Stars: Point, Evans and Leblanc earn Week 2 honours

Week 2 of the Major Series Lacrosse season had a busy schedule with six games on tap. The Brooklin Redmen won both of theirs, including a game that had to switch pads midway through because of poor floor conditions, to move to 3-0 atop the standings. Zach Higgins, Shawn Williams and Steve Priolo all had strong weeks for the Redmen, but none could quite crack the IL Indoor MSL 3 Stars. Those spots went to a trio of forwards from three different teams, all of whom contributed in a variety of ways to their team’s success. Craig Point helped Six Nations tie Brooklin for first place, Shawn Evans made the players around him better and Stephan Leblanc led the Rock to its first win as Oakville. READ MORE »

Brampton Excelsiors, Brooklin Redmen, IL Indoor, MSL, Peterborough Lakers, Six Nations Chiefs

Week 2 MSL Player of the Week Awards

Zach Higgins (right) named Defensive Player of the Week as Redmen remain only undefeated team in the MSL (Photo: brooklinredmen.ca)

There were six games in Week 2 of Major Series Lacrosse action.  On Monday night, the Six Nations Chiefs scored 6 in each period to breeze past the Oakville Rock 18-10.  The Rock turned around on Tuesday to defeat the Brampton Excelsiors 13-10 and the Brooklin Redmen edged the KW Kodiaks 11-9.  On Wednesday, Brooklin remained undefeated taking down the Six Nations Chiefs 10-9.  The Excelsiors travelled back to Peterborough on Thursday, dropping another one to the Lakers 13-8.  In the Sunday matinee, Six Nations Chiefs bounced back to defeat the Peterborough Lakers 12-9. READ MORE »

Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks, MSL, Six Nations Chiefs

MSL: Chiefs get Jesse Gamble from Kodiaks for Mat MacLeod and Corey Fowler

CLax scoring champ Corey Fowler had 4 goals in his only game with the Six Nations Chiefs. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Six Nations Chiefs have given their transition game a shot of adrenaline, acquiring Jesse Gamble from the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks in exchange for Mat MacLeod, Corey Fowler and other considerations. Gamble is one of the best transition players in lacrosse. He finished second in IL Indoor’s voting for National Lacrosse League Transition Player of the Year and in 2011 was named Major Series Lacrosse’s top defender. The lefty played primarily offence for most of that season and scored 45 points, but switched to defence when John Lovell took over as head coach and shone in the role immediately. Lovell is also the 25-year-old Gamble’s coach with the Toronto Rock, where he had a breakout season in 2013, showing outstanding defensive improvement and continuing to impact games with his blazing speed. READ MORE »

Brampton Excelsiors, Brooklin Redmen, IL Indoor, Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks, MSL, Oakville Rock, Peterborough Lakers, Six Nations Chiefs

MSL Power Rankings: Redmen win head to head battle for MSL early-season supremacy

Cam Holding and the Brooklin D/transition game have helped lead the Redmen to a perfect 3-0 start. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

Sometimes circumstances come together to make things easy on those of us tasked with compiling power rankings. This week that is the case with the Major Series Lacrosse schedule. Two teams that were early favourites in MSL—the Six Nations Chiefs and Brooklin Redmen—came out of the starting blocks with perfect 2-0 records. They shared one common opponent in Kitchener-Waterloo, with Brooklin downing the defending Mann Cup champion Peterborough Lakers in their other game while the Chiefs beat last year’s last-place team, the Oakville Rock. It would have been a tough call had that been the end of it, but the Redmen and Chiefs squared off in Whitby for a showdown that would decide top spot in the rankings. Unless something unforeseen happened. Like, say, the floor becoming unplayable mid-way through the second period. Thankfully for the IL Indoor Power Rankings—and more importantly for what turned out to be a great game—they were able to switch to another rink and finish the game. READ MORE »

Brooklin Redmen, Langley Thunder, MSL, Nanaimo Timbermen, Ontario Junior B, Road to the Founders, Road to the Mann Cup, Road to the Presidents Cup, Senior B, Six Nations Chiefs, WLA

Last night: Redmen pull out come from behind win in battle of MSL league leaders

Shawn Williams and the Redmen remained unbeaten with a 9-8 win over Six Nations. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but Cody Jamieson may have been reconsidering after the fact. The Six Nations Chiefs led the Brooklin Redmen 5-4 with 7:39 to play in the second period Wednesday night when referees Brent McCauley and Stephen Line made the proper decision to suspend play because slippery floor conditions were making it unsafe to continue. It was announced over the PA system that the game was being called, the teams lined up and shook hands and headed to their dressing rooms. But Jamieson had an idea that bore fruit. Officials checked the other pads in the Iroquois Park Sports Centre and found that Pad 3 was available as a game had just finished there. So the teams and fans headed over and completed what turned out to be the game of the year so far in Major Series Lacrosse, a 10-9 Brooklin win that leaves them as the only undefeated team in the league. READ MORE »