'Bellies Miss Minto Final by Less than a Second

Mitch Nanticoke might have to wear Kevlar gear in front of New West fans when he and Six Nations face Burnaby this Saturday in the Minto Cup final. Nanticoke was the hero for the Arrows at the semi-final on Thursday night, putting in the winning goal with under a second to go in the final period. The game was a full sixty minutes of tight lacrosse, never going past a goal differential.

Kyle Belton shed first blood in the game for New West with a great feed from Mike Paul, but Six Nations would get the lead to go into the second with goals from Dan Hill and Corbyn Tao.

The Salmonbellies defense would keep the Arrows scoreless in the second; most impressively on defense was keeper Craig Robertson. A goal from Kyle Buchanan, and a short handed helper from team Captain Curtis Manning, would turn the tables and give the Bellies the one goal advantage to go into the third.

The third… where do I start? Craig Point would sneak a five hole goal past Robertson for the tie, and not more than twenty seconds later, Nanticoke would put in a great goal for the go ahead- but not the game winner… yet.

After a time out New West got back into it and Kevin Crowley took a great feed from his goalie Robertson to tie it up- yet again. This is where it gets messy, so pay attention- there might be a quiz later. 

Forty four seconds later Crowley would score again to put the Bellies ahead and ignite Queens Park with four minutes to go. Waiting for the whistle there was typical mouthing off and an occasional slash that you would expect from the players; particularly from Shawn Evans and Eric Lewthwaite.

Evans would take one of these hits a bit too personally and hit the floor quick. Lewthwaite gets called for the slash and to make matters worse for the Bellies, Robertson would get two minutes and misconduct for illegal gloves. The salt in the wound was that the call was made by the BC referee- perhaps he should pick up some Kevlar gear as well.

After facing 62 shots from the Arrows, Robertson left in obvious frustration; but taking the time to pump up his sub Sean Tessarolo, who also stood in last night in the third period. Unfortunately for Tessarolo, he had absolutely no chance on a laser pass from Jamieson to Craig Point who "one-timed" it into the open net. on the 5-3 Power Play, to tie the game at 5-5.

The second penalty would expire with two minutes to go. Both teams would take a time out with time winding down in the third and money was being put on an overtime frame.

Six Nations would end up with the last possession of the game with under 30 seconds to try and generate some offense. The usual suspects Shawn Evans and Cody Jamieson were surrounding the crease and waiting. As soon as Jamieson had the ball he was double teamed leaving Mitch Nanticoke as open as he needed to be.

Nanticoke took the pass from Jamieson, rushed the net, and shot it past Tessarolo while the buzzer was sounding. “The play was for Jammer (Jamieson) to shoot it” Nanticoke said after the game, “but they were pressing him pretty hard so he passed it to me and told me to shoot it, it worked”.

With that buzzer goal the Six Nations Arrows Express will take on their familiar BC Minto Cup opponents the Burnaby Lakers, in what should be one heck of a match up this Saturday at Queens Park. The game will start at 4:00 and will be held live on Rogers Sportsnet, but will be much more enjoyable in person!!

Exiting the Minto Cup tourney like they did tonight takes nothing away from the great performance the Bellies have given to get here. Taking the win from Six Nations in the home opener, clenching the win against the Miners on Wednesday night, and holding Burnaby to a one goal game in round robin play, showed all fans the Bellies deserved to be in the tournament because of their skill, and not because of their berth. In a town that lives for lacrosse it will take a lot more than a loss at the Minto, for fans not to follow their beloved Bellies.