Akwesasne Indians fall to Six Nations Arrows

The Akwesasne Indians faced off this past Sunday against the Six Nations Arrows in the Jr. A lacrosse league at the A’nowara’ko:wa Arena. With both teams evenly matched in the first few minutes of the game, the Arrows scored the first goal of the game 6:14 from Kedoh Hill with the assist going to Johnny Powless. Just over a minute later Winster Green scored the Arrow’s second goal of the game at 7:26 off an assist from Kedoh Hill. Johnny Powless scored the arrows final two goals of the first period at 12:31 and then again at 14:21 with assists going to Joey Cupido and James Mt. Pleasant.

The Indians countered the Arrow’s offensive effort with a goal by Akwesasne’s Jordan Thomas with the assist going to Trent Thomas. Closing out the first period in scoring, Seth Oakes made the conversion from Lyle and Miles Thompson at 18:53. Terry Bigtree was in the nets for the first period saving 12 of the 16 shots on net.

Coming into the second period the Indian’s scored early at 2:20 with the goal by Chancy Johnson with the assist from Lyle Thompson. After an 8-minute drought, the Indians scored again at 10:06 off the stick of Miles Thompson with assists going to Justin Oakes and Jordan Thomas. The final goal of the period was made by Lyle Thompson at 14:26 with assists going to Seth Oakes and Ty Thompson. The excellent defense by the Indians kept the Arrows to a goalless second period, while Terry Bigtree saved 14 shots on the net.

Lyle Thompson scored early in the third period for the Indians at 0:30 with the assists going to Shane Francis and Ty Thompson. This would be the only goal for the Indians until the last few minutes of play at the end of the game. The Arrows suffered a penalty for high-sticking at 6:53 but the Indians were unable to use the man-up situation as the opposing team simply ran down the clock.

With their man a minute out of the penalty box the Arrows pulled their goalie giving their offensive end the advantage they needed to score against the Indians at 10:06 with the goal going to Josh Johnson and the assist to Johnny Powless and Kraig Maracle.

Indians player Chancy Johnson was given a penalty at the end of the goal for unsportsmanlike conduct, among other things, and was sentenced to serve first two-minutes and then ten-minutes in the penalty box. The Indians held a tight zone defense as they tried to hold onto the lead in their man-down scenario. The Indians would eventually get the ball and Lyle Thompson tried to keep possession and the lead for close to a full minute before the Arrows forced a turnover. Despite some great goaltending and defensive work the Arrows scored again at 13:47 off the stick of Kraig Maracle with an assist going to Johnny Powless and Josh Johnson.

The Arrows won the face-off and quickly charged into the Indian’s zone. A couple of shots on net resulted in the Arrows rebounding the ball to score again at 14:16, giving them their first lead of the period with Indians at 6 and Arrows at 7 goals. The goal was scored by Kedoh Hall with assists going to Josh Johnson and Brendan Bomberry. Spurred on by their last goal the Arrows went on a run with what would be their final goal of the game being scored at 14:50 by Kedoh Hall assisted by Brandon Brooks.

The last few minutes of the game were spent in an offensive scramble to score a goal to close the lead between the Indians and the Arrow. Finally, at 18:15 Shane Francis shot the ball at the net and in an attempt to save the shot the goalie swatted it back into his own net. With a one-goal difference between the teams the Arrow managed to win the face-off and worked to run down the remaining minutes of the game. The Indians managed to force a shot-clock violation leaving 31.44 seconds on the clock as they called a time-out to strategize a way to bring the game into overtime. As the seconds ticked down the Indians were unable manage an eighth goal, giving the undefeated Six Nations Arrows another game to add to their win column. Terry Bigtree made 9 saves during the final period with a total of 35 shots saved in the game.

The remaining games for the Akwesasne Indians will be on the road, with playoffs for the Jr. A League scheduled to begin in three weeks.