Caughnawaga Indians are ILA Champs, Defeat Snake Island Four Games to One

The Caughnawaga Indians took the Iroquois Lacrosse Association’s top honor for the 2013 season on Thursday, Aug. 15, defeating the Snake Island Muskies 8 – 6 in game five of a best-of-seven series at Massena Arena. They will advance to the President’s Cup to compete for the Quebec Lacrosse League Senior B title in Kahnawake over the week of August 26. Over 800 people attended.

Although Snake Island took game one, the Indians came from behind and swept games two through five.

“We’re going to try to carry this momentum into the big dance,” Indians Coach Eric “Dirt” Flo said following the game.

Game five opened with the Muskies setting up a 2 – 0 lead within the first few minutes of play. Joe Hall tossed in the opening goal just 14 seconds in, assisted by Brodie Merrill. Hall, who would end the game with a hat trick, tossed in a second just over six minutes later, a powerplay goal; Ratsienhahiens Adams had been docked two minutes for too many men on the field. Josh Sanderson and Seth Oakes assisted.

The Indians wouldn’t respond for about another eight minutes of play, but when they did would put Snake Island in a deficit that would last the remainder of the contest.

Miles Thompson opened scoring for the Indians at 14:35; assists came from Lyle Thompson and Troy Lyons. Lyle Thompson would tally five assists by the game’s end.

Just over two minutes later, Jeremy Thompson would charge on the Muskies goal on a breakaway leveling Lee Thomas of the Snake Island squad, his shot finding its way past Jake Lazore to tie the match.

On the following face-off, Jeremy Thompson would flip the ball to squadmate Myan Adams, who would bolt his way through several Muskie defenders before tossing a shot through a narrow gap between Lazore’s legs.

The second stanza started with Hiana Thompson of the Indians bringing his squad to a two-goal lead at 1:15, assists coming from Lyle Thompson and Herbie Johns. About 2:30 later, Indians starting goalie Alex Fortier found himself tossed from the game on an illegal equipment call. The referees decided that slits he had made in the palms of his gloves warranted a game misconduct. Daylin Adams filled in for the remainder of the bout.

The Muskies showed the makings of a comeback just over two minutes later, tying the game with back-to-back goals in less than 45 seconds. At 5:14, Brodie Merrill snuck a shot into the Indians net on a breakaway, assisted by Casey Swamp and Jake Lazore. Lee Thomas followed at 5:55, assists coming from Bruce Codd and Jake Lazore.

The Indians quickly recovered their lead. Hiana Thompson netted his second goal of the game at 8:41, a powerplay goal, with a hand from squadmates Lyle Thompson and Miles Thompson. Evan Cree had been cited two minutes for holding.

Just under five minutes later, the Caughnawaga contingent would fire in back-to-back goals, retiring to the locker rooms with a three-goal lead.

Mitch Nanticoke garnered his team’s sixth goal on a powerplay at 13:10, assist came from Lyle Thompson. Lee Thomas was sent to the sin bin for two minutes on a holding call. On the following face-off, Jeremy Thompson quickly gained control of the ball and fired it into the Snake Island net just seven seconds after Nanticoke’s point.

Although Snake Island outscored their opponents in the final stanza and their defense held them to a single goal, it would not be enough to force game six.

Josh Sanderson broke five minutes of offensive silence to bring his team within three goals; assists came from Brodie Merrill and Jake Lazore. Although it wasn’t on a powerplay, the point came two seconds after the Indians’ Herbie Johns returned to the field from a two-minute interference penalty.

Eddie Dickson answered for the Caughnawaga contingent just over five minutes later, assisted by Lyle Thompson, the team’s eighth and final goal of the game.

At 12:51, Joe Hall would rack up the sixth and final Muskies goal, with assists from Josh Sanderson and Andrew Lazore.

As a last-ditch effort, Snake Island unsuccessfully pulled Lazore in favor of a sixth stickman for about 15 seconds.

After 60 minutes of play, Snake Island Coach Ernie Mitchell praised his opponent’s defensive efforts.

“Our offense just didn’t score,” he said. “We did everything right, got a lot of shots.”

His team ended the season with a 9 – 5 record at first place in the Iroquois Lacrosse Association.

“We’ll see what happens next year,” Mitchell said.

Caughnawaga’s Coach Eric “Dirt” Flo was emphatic following the game and showed a great deal of respect for Snake Island giving them what he described as a hard-fought victory.

“It wasn’t a series that was given … especially this game,” the Indians’ head coach said. “It brought me back to my hey-day, old-time lacrosse; a lot of hitting and a lot of action.”

“We were behind the eight ball at the beginning … we had to persist and dig deep,” Coach Dirt said. “We wanted this kind of series and they gave it to us … it’s what the fans wanted also.”

Games two through five saw Caughnawaga squeeze by with narrow victories.

They took game two 12 – 10; game three ended 15 – 11; and game four’s final score was 11 – 10.

Game one

The Snake Island Muskies started the 2013 Quebec Lacrosse League Senior B playoffs with a strong showing on Monday Aug. 5 at Massena Arena, taking down the Caughnawaga Indians 11 – 6.

What started as tense, back-and-forth play quickly shifted to the Muskies exploding all over the scoreboard and establishing game-winning domination in the second period.

The Indians Angus Leborgne opened the scoreboard just 17 seconds in sneaking what appeared to be an effortless shot past Muskies netminder Jake Lazore. Assists came from Jerome Thompson and Lyle Thompson. The Caughnawaga defense held strong for another five minutes but was broken by Snake Island’s Mac Mitchell at 5:16 with an assist from Lee Thomas. Mitchell would go on to finish the game with a hat trick.

Lyle Thompson of the Caughnawaga contingent garnered his team’s final goal of the stanza just over three minutes later, Mitch Nanticoke and Angus Leborgne assisted. The Muskies almost slid ahead by one goal, literally, as one of their players charged at the net with seconds to go, fell and while in a face-first slide flicked the ball at the Indians net but barely missed.

After nine minutes of defensive stalemate that opened the middle stanza, Caughnawaga jumped ahead on by two goals in just under a minute starting at 11:15. The first came from Mitch Nanticoke, who was assisted by Jerome Thompson. The second goal came from Lyle Thompson, assisted by Brandon Francis.

In a little more than 90 seconds, the Muskies would start their game-winning comeback. Lee Thomas would begin the rally at 12:09. On an assist from Josh Sanderson, Thomas would break away and go one-on-one with Alex Fortier. He faked right, and quickly popped in his shot to the left. Just over a minute later, the Muskies’ Joe Hall would recover a ball after some intense board play. He passed to squadmate Andrew Lazore who fired a shot around the back of his head finding the inside of the Indians’ net. Josh Sanderson also assisted.

Over the next five minutes, Jordan Thomas, Sanderson, Seth Oakes, and Joe Hall would all score. Sanderson assisted three of the goals, Rusty Kruger and Andrew Lazore also garnered assists.

Although each team would manage to up their score in the closing period, it would be a stalemate effort, not enough for the Indians squad to pull ahead.

Snake Island’s Rusty Kruger posted the stanza’s first marker at 3:36; assists came from Andrew Lazore and Mac Mitchell. Just shy of three minutes later, Caughnawaga’s Jeremy Thompson would take advantage of a breakaway, easily tossing in a goal on Lazore’s weak side. The next 10 scoreless minutes would be broken at 16:38 by the Indians’ Mitch Nanticoke, assisted by Miles Thompson and Jerome Thompson. Snake Island’s Joe Hall would garner the game’s final goal at 18:16, with assists from squadmates Josh Sanderson and Andrew Lazore.

Ernie Mitchell, Snake Island head coach chalks up the night’s victory to teamwork and conditioning.

“It was a great team effort,” he stated after the game. “Our practices have been very intense … I think it shows out there. Running seems to pay off.”

But Mitchell isn’t sitting on his laurels.

“Caughnawaga’s tough – they’ll come back,” he said.

Indians Coach Eric “Dirt” Flo said after the game that his team wasn’t 100 percent at attention for game one.

“We’ve got to be aware; there’s guys sleeping on offense and defense,” he said. “This is not bingo, you know … they’ve got to stop those guys going through the middle.”

“[The Muskies] were getting more loose balls – there’s no aggression toward loose balls,” according to Flo.

“He wasn’t at all pleased with his team’s drawing multiple penalties for unnecessary roughness (although they held their opponents scoreless during eight powerplays).

“We’ve got to overcome the pettiness,” he said. “But it’s water under the bridge – it’s game one … [the rest of the series] is going to be good lacrosse.”