Lakers Take Game 4 to Even MSL Final with Chiefs at Two Games Apiece

By Scott Arnold

The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers built a nine-goal lead and then held off a furious Six Nations comeback Tuesday night, defeating the Chiefs 12-8 at the Peterborough Memorial Centre to even the MSL final at two games apiece.

Fresh off his gold medal win with Canada at the Pan-am games in jamaica, Owen Hiltz presents Lakers goalie nick rose with the first star of the game. the pair won a national lacrosse league championship together with the toronto rock this past may. (Photo by Scott Arnold)

The Lakers came out flying, scoring six times in the opening period while keeping the Chiefs off the scoreboard. Taite Cattoni scored twice in the first, while Ryan Lanchbury, Thomas Hoggarth, Brad McCulley and Justin Sykes also found the net as Peterborough took a 6-0 lead into the second.

Peterborough continued to pour it on early in the second, with Saris and Cattoni adding to the lead. Cattoni's second goal of the period made it 9-0 with 7:25 remaining. Six Nations finally broke through 33 minutes and 24 seconds into the game when Lyle Thompson scored shorthanded with 6:36 left in the second. Matt Gilray answered with a shorthanded goal for Peterborough, then Dawson Theede scored for Six Nations before Braedon Saris added his second of the night with 43 seconds left in the period, sending the Lakers into the third with an 11-2 lead.

Six Nations came out strong in the final period, scoring six times to cut the deficit to three, with four of those coming in a span of 2:12. Dhane Smith struck first, followed by one from Theede and then a pair from Andrew Kew. Ryan Smith added a pair in the final 1:27, 43 seconds apart, before Matt Gilray stopped the six-goal run with an empty-netter with just 32 seconds remaining.

The Chiefs scored twice shorthanded and added three power-play goals during their third-period push.

Cattoni led the Lakers with four goals, while Lanchbury finished with a goal and five assists. Saris had two goals and four assists, while Rob Hellyer added four assists. Hoggarth and McCulley each had a goal and two assists.

Despite the Lakers being outshot 64-50, Nick Rose stood tall in net and was named the game’s first star with 56 saves.

The series now heads back to Six Nations for Game 5 on Thursday. Regardless of the result, the series will return to Peterborough for Game 6 on Sunday night at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.

Scott Arnold is a Journalist and Content Creator at PTBOCanada Media Inc

Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Tiktok, Youtube and LinkedIn. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for our newsletter here.