(August 17, 2012)… Members of the Rochester Knighthawks had a busy day of lacrosse with games in Guelph and Six Nations. The Six Nations bantam team, coached by Knighthawks Owner and General Manager Curt Styres, had the most frenetic schedule with three games in 10 hours.

The bantams opened the OLA Final Six “A” Provincials in Guelph, Ontario with an impressive 10-3 victory over Whitby. They followed that up with a tightly-fought 5-4 win over St. Catharines. In the nightcap, Six Nations dropped an 8-3 decision to the host team from Guelph in an evening encounter. Chris Driscoll, who is the Ontario scout for the Knighthawks, coached Guelph to a 1-2 record on Day One of the Provincials. He was happy to end the three-game set with a victory.

“We had to play a perfect team game to beat Six Nations,” said Driscoll. “We did that and I am proud of my team.”

Driscoll went head-to-head with a Six Nations team that has a Knighthawks’ with Styres as the head coach and Assistant Coach Jason Johnson, and Strength and Conditioning Coach Matt Green and its staff. The Provincials run from Friday, August 17th to Sunday, August 19th.

While two Knighthawk-coached bantam teams battled in Guelph, eight Knighthawks opened the Major Series Lacrosse Finals at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena. The Peterborough Lakers scored six goals in the second to break open the game en route to a 10-7 victory over the Six Nations Chiefs in Game One of the best-of-seven series.

The Chiefs’ roster includes six Knighthawks, while the Lakers have two players from Rochester’s 2012 Championship team. Brad Self and Cory Vitarelli earned bragging rights tonight over teammates and Six Nations stars Cody Jamieson, Craig Point, Stephen Keogh, Sid Smith, Alex “Kedoh” Hill and Travis Hill.

The Six Nations Chiefs held a 2-0 in the second period, but fell victim to the potent Peterborough Lakers’ offense. Mark Steenhuis (2+3) and John Grant Jr. (3+1) powered the Peterborough offense, while Vitarelli chipped two assists.

But the game did not start well for the Lakers, as Six Nations’ Roger Vyse (1+1) and Knighthawk Craig Point (2+0) scored the only goals of the first period. Peterborough finally got on the board at 1:28 of the second to set off three straight goals in just over three minutes. Steenhuis scored the Lakers’ first of the game, and Shawn Evans and Tracey Kelusky provided supporting tallies for a 3-2 lead. After Kasey Beirnes tied the game at 6:45, Grant and Jamie Lincoln helped the Lakers regain the lead at 5-3. “Kedoh” Hill, who was named MSL Rookie of the Year, brought the Chiefs within one at 15:43 of the second. Grant and Six Nations’ Rob Marshall traded goals to give the Lakers a 6-5 advantage heading into the third period.

Yet, any chance of a comeback was dashed early in the final period. Grant, John Tavares and Scott Self scored in succession to give Peterborough its largest lead of the game at 8-5. Jamieson tried to keep the game close as he connected at 12:18 from Stephan Leblanc (0+4) and Beirnes (1+1) and it was 9-6 with plenty of time left in the game. Steenhuis, however, scored just 36 seconds later to restore the four-goal lead. Point added a late goal for the Chiefs, who were outscored 4-2 in the third.

Game Two is set for Sunday, August 19th at 7:00 p.m. at the Memorial Centre.