It is down to a best-of-three to determine who is Canada’s top junior A lacrosse team.
The Six Nations Arrows, the Ontario champions, are up off the mat and even with their B.C. counterparts, the Coquitlam Adanacs after winning games three and four of the Minto Cup championships.
The Arrows evened the series on Wednesday (Aug. 20) night with a 10-7 victory.
Six Nations won game three the night before in decisive fashion, 19-5.
Coquitlam had won games one and two over the weekend by scores of 7-6 and 11-6.
The Minto Cup is being hosted at the Langley Events Centre.
Game four didn’t start well for the Arrows as Coquitlam scored three times in the opening 73 seconds. But from there, Six Nations tightened things up defensively and allowed just four goals the rest of the way.
“Their face-off man has been really good,” said Arrows head coach Marshall Abrams. “We just had to settle the boys down and keep our composure because we knew we were also going to make a run.”
Six Nations was led with another strong performance from Johnny Powless. The Arrows captain scored twice and added four assists while forward Josh Johnson scored four times, including the game winner.
“As one of the leaders on the team, I had to step up at one point,” said Johnson. “I got lucky on a couple shots, and it happened to be my night.”
The Arrows have stepped into another gear offensively, scoring twenty-nine goals in the last two games and outshooting Coquitlam 106-85.
“We started to get hot and set our picks,” said Johnny Powless.
“Our defense made a few adjustments and we started to play Six Nations lacrosse.”
This marks the first time the Adanacs have lost two games in a row all season.
“It was a battle,” said head coach Neil Doddridge.
“Both teams came to play, but we fell just short.”
“We had some momentum in the third period,” said Doddridge. “We were down by two, when I think the refs missed an interference call. Jordan Gilles gets laid out on a pick, they go in and score and get it back to a three goal lead,” commented the Adanacs coach.
Coquitlam’s Wesley Berg was held to just one point in game four, as the Arrows have started to be more aggressive on the Adanacs captain.
“They’re (Six Nations) just not getting called for their penalties,” said Doddridge.
“They’re playing tough defense, as we are, and now it comes down to which team can win two more games.”
Game five of the series goes tonight (Aug. 21) with game six set for Saturday (Aug. 23) with both beginning at 8 p.m.
If necessary, the seventh and deciding game would be Sunday night, also at 8 p.m.
Tickets are available at the LEC box office, which opens on game nights at 5 p.m., or at www.ticketmaster.ca.
