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By Sam Laskaris
Windspeaker Contributor
HAGERSVILLE, Ont.
The Six Nations Arrows have had their share of regular season and playoff success this year, but now the Junior A lacrosse team is also receiving a little bit of flak.
Arrows’ general manager Jake Henhawk, however, is not the least bit concerned about the criticism being directed towards his organization.
The Arrows, which won back-to-back national Minto Cup championships in 2014 and ’15, already know they will have another shot to win a Canadian title later this month.
By advancing to the Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA) finals, both the Six Nations squad and the other league finalists, the Mimico Mountaineers, have secured berths into this year’s Minto Cup tournament.
The nationals, which will feature four clubs, will be held Aug. 17 to Aug. 29 in Brampton, Ont.
The Arrows and Mountaineers are being levelled with some criticism since both organizations have stated they will be resting some of their key players during the best-of-five OLA championship series, which begins tonight (Thursday).
The series opener will be held at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena, the Arrows’ home facility, located in Hagersville, Ont.
“I think for both teams, I think, the key thing is coming out of this series healthy,” Henhawk said. “We’re obviously playing for a provincial championship. But at the same time you want to come out of there healthy and ready for the nationals.”
Henhawk said he anticipates as many as 10 of the Arrows’ better players will sit out for a game at some point during the OLA finals.
“I talked to the (Mimico) manager and they said they’d be resting a guy here and there as well,” Henhawk said. “Both teams want to be healthy for the national championships.”
Even before announcing some of their key contributors would not play all of the matches in the Ontario final, both the Arrows and Mountaineers organizations angered some folks.
Since both squads advance to the Minto Cup anyways, officials from both clubs agreed to shorten the provincial final from a best-of-seven to a best-of-five series.
“There are some fans out there and people from other teams saying we are tarnishing the league championship,” Henhawk said. “But it is what it is. We want to be healthy for the nationals.”
Henhawk added even though his side will be using some affiliated Junior B players from Six Nations and Akwesasne, the Arrows are still keen to hoist the provincial championship trophy.
“Obviously you want to go into the Minto Cup as league champions,” he said. “You don’t want to go in through the back door.”
The Arrows beat the Mountaineers in both of their regular season matchups this season. Six Nations edged the host Mimico club 11-9 on June 24. And less than a week later the Arrows beat the visiting Mountaineers 11-5.
Six Nations went on to finish atop standings of the 11-team league with an 18-2-0 regular season mark. Mimico finished third thanks to its 12-8-0 record.
The Arrows are also undefeated in playoff action. Six Nations swept eighth-ranked Toronto Beaches 3-0 in their best-of-five quarter-final series. The Arrows then swept the fourth-seeded Whitby Warriors in their best-of-five semi-final battle.
Henhawk is anticipating an exciting OLA final.
“It’s the two best goalies in the league,” he said. “And it’s also two of the better defences and two of the best offences in the league. It should be quite a series.”
Henhawk believes the Arrows have an edge over the Mountaineers between the pipes. Doug Jamieson, who is in his fourth season with the Six Nations side, is arguably the top goalie in the OLA.
Jamieson posted an impressive 15-0-0 mark in 17 regular season appearances this season and had a stellar 5.81 goals-against average.
Jamieson is also undefeated in post-season action. He’s won all five of his starts and has a 6.20 GAA.
Jamieson is not the only Arrows’ player who was on the club’s last national championship winning side.
“We’ve got five guys remaining that have already played in the Minto Cup,” Henhawk said. “We’ll be counting on those guys.”
The OLA final will resume with Game 2 on Friday in Mimico. The Arrows will then host Game 3 next Wednesday.
If necessary, Games 4 and 5 will be held on Aug. 11 in Mimico and Aug. 13 in Hagersville.
As for the Minto Cup, it will feature four entrants.
Besides the Arrows and the Mountaineers, Alberta’s Okotoks Raiders have also qualified for the national tourney.
The eventual champions from the British Columbia-based Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) will also take part. The New Westminster Salmonbellies and Coquitlam Junior Adanacs are currently squaring off in the WLA final.