Akwesasne Thunder push Nepean to overtime, lose 6-5
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AKWESASNE — New head coach Raweras Mitchell sees a lot of silver linings that could lead to a gold mine for the Akwesasne Thunder Jr. B lacrosse team.
“You know what? This team has a mentality that they don’t quit. They keep working,” Mitchell said, after the Thunder dropped the first two games of their 2023 campaign over the weekend.
Mitchell also has a valuable ally on his side – the home fans at A’nowara’ko:wa Arena on Kawehno:ke.
“It is all about part of wanting to win. We have a new brand, new name,” he said of club that used to play as the Indians.
“Look at the arena, it’s packed in here,” he said, of the crowd that was also supplemented with a healthy contingent of fans supporting their Sunday foes, the Nepean Knights. “Akwesasne is the best lacrosse community to play for.”
After Friday’s 14-9 loss against Gloucester Griffins in Ottawa, the home crowd were kept on the edges of their seat for most of Sunday’s 6-5 overtime loss. The teams stayed within a goal of each other after Nepean jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead thanks to a pair of James Donnelly strikes.
A Nepean penalty allowed the Thunder to come oh-so close to grabbing the lead in the 10th minute of OT, but Nepean’s penalty kill held firm.
About two and half minutes later, Knights Cameron York one-hopped a shot past Thunder goalkeeper Sakaronhiotane Thompson, who had turned away several Nepean breakaways to get his team within a victory.
“He’s a solid goaltender,” Mitchell said.
Thompson stopped 54 of 60 shots, compared to the 42 saves by Nepean counterpart, Dylan Young.
Thompson’s Thunder teammate showed their resilience throughout the game. Thunder made it 2-1 in the first period after Hawi Francis put on a deke show to finish off with a power-play goal.
Akwesasne knotted it 2-2 early in the middle frame after Warren Oakes busted through a left hole to beat Young.
About three minutes later, Nepean jumped back in front 3-2 on Thomas Jones’ extra-man marker.
But the Thunder cracked Young twice with two long-range goals by Stone Chubb and Kaleb Benedict to move ahead 4-3 at the end of 40 minutes.
Akwesasne clung to the lead for almost 14 minutes in the final period, needing to kill a five-on-three penalty.
“We were executing on special teams,” appraised coach Mitchell.
A short lapse on defence, however, cost dearly. Nepean fired in back-to-back shots, by Michael Green and Donnelly to retake a 5-4 lead.
Oakes forced OT after firing the ball in from the left side with 3:14 remaining.
“(The Knights) are the defending champs, and they executed at the end,” Mitchell said. “But for us, I see a lot of positives.
“We are just going to build off it, and every day get better,” he said, noting he is expecting players still attending school are expected to join soon. “We are going to make the playoffs.”
The Thunder are on the road next weekend, Saturday in Pickering against the West Durham Ironheads and Sunday at Newmarket against the Saints.
Thunder’s next home match is Saturday, May 13, against Halton Hills Bulldogs.
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