RHINO COACHES IN ACTION: Road to the Mann Cup-Brampton and New West to clash for the 2009 Mann Cup, Game 7
Saturday, September 12th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Good luck Colin and Brodie!
The 2009 Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA) Mann Cup national lacrosse championships are headed to a deciding Game 7 on Saturday night at 7:45pm PST in New West’s Queen’s Park Arena. The game is sure to sell-out but fans can also catch the action online with a pay-per-view broadcast from theboxrocks.com.
The sold-out Game 6 crowd witnessed the third over-time battle in this series between the Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) New Westminster Salmonbellies and Eastern Major Series League (MSL) Brampton Excelsiors, with the visitors pulling out a last-second OT win to extend the Best-of-7.
For a Game 6 recap, check Jenner’s blog: The plane tickets were worth the expense! More from the players and coaches, after the jump.
“Talk about how resilient they are. We’re up by two goals and they just keep coming back,” said Brampton’s Dan Dawson. “For such a young team, their guys are showing so much maturity and poise. Their guys will not go away, and visa-versa, we won’t go away, so it’s going to be a fantastic Game 7.”
“This is what you play for,” added New West’s Jordan Hall. “Everything comes down to one or two plays. I think it’s going to be another tight game.”
“Obviously they have a lot of fire-power but our D has been doing a great job of shutting them down and our goaltenders have been playing well,” said Hall. “I think for us it’s just a matter of trying to match them offensively.”
“We can’t leave anything in the tank, this is it – Game 7,” said Hall, who also played in the NLL and MLL final this year. “The rivalry is bigger, there’s a lot riding on the game and a lot of intensity… Whoever wins it will have earned it with the series going seven.”
“You throw the rosters aside,” added Dawson. “It doesn’t matter who the best team is (on paper), it’s the best team on that night.”
“They’ve got the home-court advantage. It’s going to come down to the wire… We have to limit their transition opportunities. Whoever has the hot goalie is probably going to win the game.”
“It’s an opportunity of a life time,” said New West captain Chris Gill of the chance to hoist the Mann Cup, after the ‘Bellies put themselves in position to win with a Game 5 victory.
“The Mann Cup is definitely the most coveted trophy in lacrosse,” added Mike Hominuck who scored the Excelsiors’ first OT goal of Game 6 with a back-hand tally. “It’s the longest road to get there, it’s a battle, it’s a war. It’s going to mean that much more after seven games when we win it.”
“We all play professional, and you never see this kind of professional wear and tear on your body,” said Brampton’s Anthony Cosmo, noting how players are icing up after every game. “Just the emotional roller coaster that we’re going through in a seven game series.”
“This is the best lacrosse in Canada, best lacrosse in the world right now, so these fans are being highly treated.”
“Game 7 is the biggest game of the series, I’m looking forward to it,” concluded Cosmo.
“We’ve got to bury the ball more,” said New West coach Bob Salt.
“They’ve beat us three times in over-time. I like our chances… It’s still advantage us because we’ll be at home. Our guys are really fit and it will be hot.”
“It’s been so close – a couple possession calls here and there and that’s all it was,” said Salt, who didn’t like the turn-over calls in Game 6. “When we run, I don’t think they can stay with us.”
“Great plays by some really good players,” said Salt of the Game 6 goals, specifically those that came in OT.
Dawson had the Game 6 winner on an outside rip from the high-slot with only 1.5 seconds left on the clock. New West’s Kyle Ross opened the OT scoring but Mike Hominuck tallied with his back-hand shot just twenty seconds later.
Brampton was 2-6 on their power-play, New West 0-4.
Period scores were 3-2 New West, 5-3 Brampton and tied 7-7. With under one minute to play in regulation time, New West’s Jordan McBride scored on a hard outside shot to force OT.
