Chiefs win Game 9-7; Lead Series 3-1

Hoping to tie the series, the Oakville Rock hosted the Six Nations Chiefs in Game 4 of their best of seven MSL semi-final playoff series  on Sunday night.  Despite outshooting Six Nations 59-47, the Rock were unsuccessful and found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard as Six Nations won 9-7 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

Although the Rock opened the scoring, the Chiefs took a 3-1 lead by the mid point of the first period.  Oakville rebounded and the game was tied 3-3 at the end of the first frame.

In the second period, the teams exchanged goals twice – Chiefs led 4-3, Rock tied it 4-4, Chiefs led 5-4, Rock tied it 5-5, to end the second period.

In the third period, Oakville took a 6-5 lead.  However, Six Nations stormed back scoring four straight goals to open up the game’s largest lead of 9-6.  Oakville added a goal in the last minute of play resulting in a game final score of 9-7 for Six Nations and the Chiefs with a 3-1 series lead.

Leading the way offensively for Six Nations were Dhane Smith with 1goal and 4 helpers; Chris Cloutier netted the hat-trick and added a single assist; while Shayne Jackson fired a pair of goals and added two assists.  Dillon Ward made an impressive 52 saves in the pipes for the Chiefs to notch the win.

For Oakville, Rob Hellyer has 3 goals and 2 assists; Dan Lintner, Dan Craig and Challen Rogers each had a goal and an assist.

Game five and possibly the final game of the series is Monday, August 12 with an 8:00 p.m. start.  Obviously, the Rock need a win to prolong their season.  A win by the Chiefs will propel them into the MSL Finals.  Awaiting the winner of this series are the Peterborough Lakers who swept the Brampton Excelsiors 4-0 in the other MSL semi-final series.

The Chiefs/Rock game can be watched at www.lacrosse-tv.com