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The Other Professional Summer Lacrosse League
by boomerw on September 16, 2004Lacrosse was started in Canada and was one of the first sports played in their country. It is said that Canadian Jean de Brebeuf was the first person to observe a lacrosse game in 1683. It is said he witnessed the native people who lived in what is now Southern Ontario playing with a ball made from a deerskin bag stuffed with deer hair. Well, right now you might be thinking, “Thanks for the history report, but what’s your point professor?” Lacrosse is as Canadian as the Maple Leaf and has been known as Canada's national sport/game since 1859. With this strong tradition there is a certain kind of lacrosse Canada is known for: box lacrosse. When you look at Canadian lacrosse legends, they all honed their skills on the box field. It was a great victory when the Calgary Roughnecks won the National Lacrosse League (NLL) Championship and brought the cup up to the great white north. But, where does a box lacrosse player sharpen his skills in the off season? Well just like the U.S. has the Major League Lacrosse (MLL) there are box league games going on through out Canada competing for the end of the year tournament. Winning this tournament is bigger than winning the NLL Championship in Canada. This tournament is called the Mann Cup.
The Mann Cup Started in 1910 and is the Canadian Lacrosse Association senior division’s way to establish a National champion. There are two divisions competing for the cup, the Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA), and the Western Lacrosse Association (WLA). After a team wins its respected division, it goes on to the Mann Cup. It is the Stanley Cup of Canadian box lacrosse. In this year’s finals are the Peterborough Lakers from the OLA playing the best of seven games against the Victoria Shamrocks from the WLA. In addition, there are many big NLL names playing in this tournament such as Scott Evans, John Grant, Pat O’Toole, Mike Accursi, Brad Self and Derek Malawsky.
As of Wednesday the 15th of September, the Lakers had a 3-1 lead in the series. The last game was an outstanding performance by Lakers goal tender Pat O’Toole. O’Toole had a game that most box goalies, or any goalie, would dream of. O’Toole had a shutout for 50 minutes of the game, scored the first goal by a goalie in the tournament’s history, and also added four assists to his stats, tying the Lakers top scorer for the game. O’Toole was on thirty-five straight saves before being scored on by Lewis Ratcliff of the Shamrocks. The Lakers ended up winning the game 12-3 in front of their home crowd of 3,300 people. But before that stellar performance, there was game three. This game was dominated by fellow Rochester Knighthawk John Grant Jr. Grant, who is coming off a NLL season-ending knee injury had the type of game he is known for. You could see that Grant had a brace on his knee, but not on his arms. He would help lead the Lakers to a 12-11 victory ending the game with four goals and five assists.
But, lets take a look back at the other two games to see how Victoria and the Lakers got to this point. On Saturday, September 11 the Peterbough Lakers came out strong. Their defense in the second game looked like they had something to prove, which caused troubles for Victoria on the offensive end. The strong Lakers defense prevented Victoria from getting a clear shot the majority of the night, leading them to a 12-6 victory over the Shamrocks. During the game the Lakers offense was spread out with Steve Evans having 1 goal and 2 assists, Scott Evans had 1 goal and 3 assists, John Grant had 2 goals and 3 assists, and Matt Giles had 2 goals and 6 assists, in addition seven other Lakers having points in this game. The Lakers defense was a different story during the first game of the series on September 10. Their defense seemed to come out slow and sluggish. Victoria had a 4-1 lead in the second period and there was no looking back. Victoria scoring was led by Lewis Ratcliff, who had 1 goal and 4 assists, Jordan Sunder had 3 assists, and Sean Pollock had 3 goals. Nine other members of Victoria had points, which caused them to go on and win the first game 9-6.
When the MLL ended weeks ago, many thought professional lacrosse was over for the summer. But all people had to do was look to our friends from the north to see that summer pro lacrosse didn’t stop. The Lakers have one more game to win before they win their tenth Mann Cup championship. This has been a long time coming as for Peterborough, they have not won since 1984, and John Grant Sr. was on the team. But, don’t count out Victoria, there is one thing I have not told you: they are the defending champions. The next game in the series is September 15th, and if needed there will be games on September 17th and 18th .Unfortunately there is no way to watch these games in the US , but here at Lax.com we will keep you posted as best we can.
Update: September 16, 2004
It looks like the Shamrocks extend the Mann Cup to game 6. It was a close game the majority of the night. After playing nearly forty minutes it was only a one-point game, with the Shamrocks up 7-6. Then the Shamrocks decided to take over and went on an unstoppable seven goal-scoring spree, which helped push the Mann Cup on to game six. At the end of the game tempers were short, as a fight broke out, which involved twelve members on the field. Game six will be played Friday night at 7:30pm.
Update: September 17, 2004
The Mann Cup is over, Peterborough won the game, and brought the ten-year drought to an end. It was a great game with both teams playing very well. At one point Victoria was winning four to one, but soon after the fourth goal, Peterborough scored five unanswered, which gave them a steady lead for the majority of the game. It was a little scary for the Lakers at the end when Tyler Heavenor scored with nine seconds left to pull Victoria with in one: 11-10. But the Lakers would hold on to the ball for the rest of the time to give them the win. The Mike Kelly Memorial Award, the Mann Cup MVP, went to the game’s high scorer John Grant Jr., whose father , John Grant Sr. , also won the award for Peterborough last time they won the cup in 1984. The Player of the Game was Mike Accursi who added three goals and two assists to Peterborough’s tally and, yet again, Pat O’Toole had a great game in goal with 39 saves.
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