John Grant, Jr., here in Colorado gear, won’t be visiting B.C. for the Mann Cup with Peterborough. (Colorado Mammoth)
For the first time since 2005, the Mann Cup won’t be won by the Peterborough Lakers or the Brampton Excelsiors.
The Excelsiors, who have captured Senior A lacrosse’s top honour three times in the past seven years, didn’t make the Ontario playoffs this time around, and the Lakers, who won their fourth Canadian banner in that span last year, were eliminated in the first round of the provincial postseason, thanks to a 13-8 loss to the Brooklin Redmen in the seventh and deciding game of their set Monday in Peterborough.
The teams were knotted at 8-8.
This will make the first time in 11 seasons that Peterborough hasn’t been in the Ontario final, too. Brooklin had led the series 2-0, but then lost three straight to Peterborough. They won Game 6 in overtime by a 7-6 count.
The Redmen (12-7-1) finished third in the regular season, one point in back of the Lakers (13-7-0), and will now meet the first-place Six Nations Chiefs (16-3-1) in the best-of-seven final, which starts Tuesday.
Brooklin is the team that sold the rights to Mark Matthews and Adam Jones to the Langley Thunder just before the roster deadline.
Langley, the two-time reigning Western Lacrosse Association champions, are currently knotted at 1-1 with the Victoria Shamrocks in this year’s best-of-seven provincial championship. Game 3 is Wednesday in Langley.
The Shamrocks won that 2005 Mann Cup. The 2001 Coquitlam Adanacs were the last Lower Mainland team to claim the crown.
