In a series of ebbs and flows, the Peterborough Lakers proved to be built to ride the big wave.
The Ontario squad overwhelmed the host New Westminster Salmonbellies 14-10 on Friday, collecting the city's 15th Mann Cup crown.
Buoyed by a rolling offensive game plan and a diligent forecheck, Peterborough flipped a 2-0 series deficit and captured the national title on the crest of a four-game win streak, culminating with a somewhat decisive victory in Game 6 -- although the score proved a little deceiving.
The two teams traded markers over the first 12 minutes, with the Lakers taking the lead each time.
A five-goal outburst that spanned just over eight minutes, beginning with 4:42 left in the first period, propelled them into the driver's seat and sustained them despite a forceful pushback by the 'Bellies. Peterborough's Zach Currier broke a 3-3 draw with a rocket of a shot from outside the semi-circle, and was followed a minute later with the squad's fifth goal on an individual effort from tourney MVP recipient Shawn Evans.
The diminutive Evans -- generously listed as five-foot-nine -- continued to spearhead the attack against New West, counting his third of the game just 26 seconds into the second period. Adam Jones and Currier would strike before the frame was four-minutes old to make it 8-3 for the Lakers.
New West pushed back and put a couple of markers behind netminder Evan Kirk, but each one was followed by a Peterborough reply.
In the third period, the 'Bellies gave a valiant attempt to erase a five-goal deficit, with tallies by Kevin Crowley and Logan Schuss making it 12-10. But the Lakers capped it with two late goals, both coming as New West netminder Tye Belanger scrambled back to the crease after being pulled for a sixth attacker.
New West outshot Peterborough 59-50, but Kirk was rock-steady, while the Lakers' defence did a solid job keeping the shooters outside the perimeter.
"It was a tough series -- hat's off to them, they're a fantastic team," remarked New West veteran Ian Hawksbee. "We just couldn't make the adjustments when we needed to. I'm proud of everyone in our dressing room, we battled hard but it's a tough pill to swallow."
Unfortunately, Ontario teams have a habit of shaking off 2-0 series deficits in the Mann Cup. Not being able to reverse the momentum swing, despite herculean efforts during patches of Games 3, 4 and 5, made the loss all the more unbearable.
"Our offence played incredible," he added. "You can't blame any one part of our game for not coming out. With a few more wins we'd get the result we wanted (but) I'm kind of at a loss for words right now. This wasn't what we were looking for."
Evans, who counted five goals and three assists on the night and 11 goals and 19 assists over six games, said winning the championship in B.C. was extra special.
"It's definitely huge," said Evans, who also won the Mike Kelly MVP award in 2010 when the Lakers bested New West in six games in Ontario. "It hurt not winning it in Victoria (in 2015). We wanted to make this win -- there were a lot of guys who didn't win it who were there last time. ... New West was an awesome team. Crowley, Schuss, (Mitch) Jones -- they were putting the ball on the net and tough to stop.
"We knew we had to be better than Games 1 and 2, and we were. We didn't quit."
Curtis Dickson, who tied Crowley with a series-best 14 goals, said winning his first Mann Cup was an incredible experience. The Port Coquitlam native, who was a member of the 2015 Lakers lineup that lost in six games in Victoria, credited his teammates for shaking off the two opening losses and marching on with four straight victories.
"Going down 2-0 (in the series) there was still no doubt in our minds," said Dickson, who spent one season as a member of the junior Salmonbellies and played a couple of senior A games with New West in 2007 before getting drafted by Maple Ridge. "We just plugged away and this is probably the greatest moment in my lacrosse career. ... It's extra special. My dad (Derek) is in the crowd and he won a Mann Cup back in 1981 (with New West). I know he was pacing the floor and he may have been more nervous than I was."
Schuss picked up the squad's player of the game award after leading New West scorers with four goals on Friday, while both Crowley and Jones potted two goals and four assists. Jones finished the series with 12 goals and 27 assists to establish a new Mann Cup scoring record for most points in a series.
Peterborough's Adam Jones registered a hat trick and four assists on the night to earn his team's player of the game award.
Evans, meanwhile, moved into sixth spot in all-time Mann Cup scoring with 134 points, surpassing his brother Scott in the process. His 19 assists also positioning him second overall with 99 over 32 games, trailing John Tavares' 111 assists over 53 Mann Cup contests.
For the 31-year-old Evans, holding New West back after losing the opening two games was pretty satisfying, on top of everything that comes with being a champion.
"We didn't want to play Game 7, we wanted to end it tonight," he said. "We knew they were going to throw everything at us and we stuck together. We kept on going. They made it close near the end but we rebounded to get a couple of goals to give us that space. It was a big team win."
