Six Nations sweep Oakville to win Ontario Series Lacrosse title

The Six Nations Rivermen are Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL) champs after sweeping a second consecutive playoff series. The Rivermen captured the league championship on Friday thanks to a 13-9 victory over the visiting Oakville Rock. With that victory the Rivermen swept their best-of-five OSL championship series 3-0.

Six Nations had also prevailed in its OSL semi-final series against the Clearview Crushers in the minimum three games. By winning its Ontario-based league, Six Nations also earned the right to participate in this year’s Presidents Cup, the national Senior B tournament, which begins on Aug. 28 and continues until Sept. 3 in Edmonton.

“Our guys played great,” said Rivermen head coach Darcy Powless following his team’s triumph on Friday. “It got a little closer at the end but our guys pulled through and kept our composure.”

Six Nations enjoyed a 4-1 lead after 20 minutes and was ahead 9-4 heading into the second intermission. Oakville made things interesting in the third and trailed by just two goals, 10-8, before the Rivermen took control again, scoring three out of the final four goals in the match, held at the Six Nations Sports and Cultural Memorial Centre.

“We played well for three periods,” Powless said. “We came out flying and we made them chase us and it worked out well.”

Despite sweeping the Rock, Rivermen netminder Dusty Hill said their opponents provided a stiff challenge. “There’s no such thing as an easy win,” he said. “Oakville has got a really good squad over there. They kept us on our toes, that’s for sure.”

Hill was thrilled his squad was able to finish off the series on Friday in front of Six Nations’ fans. “It means more than you could know,” Hill said of capturing the OSL title on the Rivermen home floor. “There’s no words to describe it. I’m at a loss.”

Travis Longboat, who scored twice and added four assists for the Rivermen on Friday, also relished over the fact his side registered a series-clinching triumph at home. “It feels great, right in front of the hometown fans,” he said. “We battled hard all year. There wasn’t a single guy on the team who took control. It was a team effort all around. Everybody showed up to play every night and that makes it easy.”

Like Longboat, Wes Whitlow and Tyler Brown also had a pair of goals each for Six Nations on Friday. The other Rivermen scorers were Wayne Hill, Marshall Powless, Oakley Thomas, Marcus Elvin, Wake:Riat BowHunter, Justin Martin and Daylen Hill.