(July 31, 2012)… Marshall Abrams congratulated his players after they swept the Peterborough Lakers in the Junior “A” Ontario Semifinals Sunday night. The former Rochester Knighthawks is one of two coaches with ties to the National Lacrosse League team.

Abrams, who serves as the Arrows’ head coach, works alongside current Knighthawks Assistant Coach Andy Secore. The duo has the Arrows in the Ontario Finals after a 9-8 win in Game 4 at Peterborough Memorial Center. The Arrows will play Orangeville, who defeated Whitby in five games.

“It was a great series win for the Arrows, especially after a long world tourney in Finland,” said Abrams. “We had 13 players attend that tourney and they were very jet lagged at the start of the series. So for them to accomplish what they did was impressive.”

Abrams played eight seasons in Rochester and was a member of the 2007 NLL Championship team. Secore finished his first season as a Rochester assistant coach in 2012 with a World Championship. It’s a chance to get more experience behind the bench and work with the junior program where he played lacrosse as a teenager.

“Coming back to the organization that I once played has been a great opportunity for me,” he said. “It's been a busy summer and hopefully it won't end here. We've got our eye on the Minto.”

Secore played six seasons in the NLL before moving into coaching. He spent the last three seasons with the Edmonton Rush (2009-11), after stints in Minnesota and Arizona. The former second-round pick played in one NLL All-Star Game and one NLL Finals. Now, he gets to learn from Abrams as he continues the next phase of his lacrosse career.

“Working with Marshall has been a great learning opportunity for me. He's got a great sense of the game having played at the professional level and coaching at the junior level for so many years,” said Secore. “He knows what it takes to win on and off the floor.”

The Knighthawks have one player on the Arrows in All-Rookie Team selection and NLL Champion Johnny Powless. Powless finished second on the team in points during the regular season after notching 50 points in the NLL as a 19-year-old.

On Sunday, the Arrows improved to 7-0 in the Ontario playoffs with the road win, which was led by 46-save effort from Warren Hill. The goalie made 176 saves in four games, including 57 in Game 2. Hill recently led the Iroquois Nationals to a bronze medal and earned top goalie honors at the 2012 U-19 World Lacrosse Championships.

The Arrows benefitted from balanced scoring with Wenster Green, Randy Staats and Seth Oakes scoring twice, and three others adding single tallies. Green led the team with four points. Staats collected three (2+1) to move into first in playoff points with 35.

“Warren and Randy both have been very good for us and both have had huge impacts in our playoff wins against Peterborough,” said Abrams.

Six Nations jumped out to a five-goal lead and survived a late rally to complete the sweep. Peterborough, facing elimination, jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the first. But the Arrows responded with two goals of their own with Oakes and Josh Johnson scoring to give Six Nations a 3-2 lead after the opening period.

After the Lakers tied the game on a goal by Josh Currier early in the second, the Arrows scored four straight and five of the next six goals to race ahead 8-4. Green scored two of the goals and assisted on Shane Simpson’s goal with five seconds left in the second.

The Arrows continued to blitz the Lakers and scored again at 2:56 as Mike Miller scored from Alex Martin. Now trailing 9-4, Peterborough regrouped and stormed back courtesy of Turner Evans. He scored his first of the third at 6:13 to make it 9-5. The goal was the first of four straight with Evans netting three for the Lakers. He scored again at 15:35 and 19:15 to cut the deficit to one. Evans (3+2) and Currier (2+3) led Peterborough with five points each.