Solid Braves defense results in win over Muskies; Medicine Men game called short

A hometown match-up between Akwesasne's St. Regis Braves and Snake Island Muskies ended with a 12-3 Braves win.

The two teams met up at Massena Arena on Wednesday, June 14.

Meanwhile, the junior B Mohawk Medicine Men game was called early, but the Akwesasne contingent still earned a win.

In the Braves-Muskies bout, the St. Regis defense and goaltender Torrey Bigtree stood tall, holding their opponents scoreless through the first two stanzas, and allowing three goals in the final period. Braves attackers fashioned three goals in both the first and second frames, and came through for six in the closing 20 minutes.

For St. Regis, Brett Bucktooth had the game high in total points, with a goal and five assists. Blake Kenny had four goals with a helper. Angus LeBorgne had two goals and two assists. Zack Hopps had two goals and one assist. Dalston Day, Kyle Lewis and Mike Lazore each had a goal and an assist.

For the Muskies, Lee Thomas scored twice and Ahta Lazore netted a singleton. Grayson Phillips recorded two assists. Kariwate Mitchell and Justin Oakes each assisted one play.

In the June 17 Medicine Men game, Akwesasne was ahead 9-6 after the game was called short. Team officials said the floor was too slippery to play on because of the high humidity that night. According to WeatherUnderground.com, the humidity was as high as 100 percent that day.

Coach Kariwate Mitchell said the game had initially been called in favor of the Mohawk team, but Seneca appealed the decision.

"The call was made after a player had slipped in the corner without any contact from another player and the senior official told both coaches at center floor that the game would be called," Mitchell said via email following the game. "I was told yesterday (June 18) by the league commissioner that the Seneca Warchiefs have filed an appeal to have the last 10 minutes played out before the start of our next game against them." Mitchell said the appeal hearing was to have been held Tuesday, June 20, after the press deadline for this edition

These two teams are scheduled to play on the night of June 24 at the Benson Center in Cornwall, and the league could decide to have the teams play 10 minutes and 40 seconds of their June 17 bout before that contest.

In the game on June 17 in Massena, the Medicine Men were working their way towards beating the War Chiefs, to whom they have lost three times this season.

The Warchiefs scored four minutes into the opening period, "and then it was all Medicine Men for the rest of the period as they netted 5 unanswered goals to finish the first period at 5-1," Mitchell said.

Seneca got back on their feet in the second stanza, coming out with two quick goals to bring the score to 7-3, with no additional goals from the Mohawk squad, according to Mitchell. After the Medicine Men added two goals and the War Chiefs scored three more times, the game was called after 9:20.

"I would have liked to finish the game completely," Mitchell wrote in an email, adding that he was "happy with his team's performance."

"All 20 guys played awesome, this is a big morale boost especially after losing two games in a row, the Medicine Men coach said.