Eagles bring home bronze

After an estimated 30-year hiatus from a box lacrosse league, the Kanehsatake Eagles secured a place on the podium at the Quebec Senior C League playoffs, despite not practicing together pre-season and having a short bench.

“We brought a bunch of guys who were coming out of retirement to come play, and to be able to come off and win third is massive,” said Kyle Atkwiroton Canatonquin, the Eagles’ team organizer.

“It’s also very impressive that they got third place for the first time in their first season back,” said Philip Dubeau Chicoine, executive director of the Quebec Lacrosse Federation.

“As a federation, we’re really happy to see the Kanesatake lacrosse association bloom again.”

During the regular season games, the Eagles won three of eight games, which earned them fifth place among seven teams. Their placement determined their first game in the playoffs was against their sister-community rival, the Kahnawake Sturgeon Bellies.

The Eagles won the game 4-2, with Canatonquin having scored one of the goals on Sunday, July 5.

Afterwards, the Eagles battled into overtime against the West Bay Bombers, losing in a tight game 7-6. The West Bay Bombers went on to win the championship.

“We were going back and forth with goals. We were winning the game, and with a minute left, West Bay scored a goal to tie it up,” said Canatonquin. “Then we went to overtime, and then we lost in overtime … That was a really, really, really close game.”

Finally, the Eagles played for third place against Sherbrooke Extreme, winning in overtime 5-3.

“We definitely had our ups and downs, for sure, but we ended the season on a high note,” said Canatonquin.

The playoff games were difficult, said Eagle Roen’ro:te Hayden Nicholas. For one, the Eagles had a short bench of less than 13 players in the playoffs, an issue that was prevalent throughout the season.

And Nicholas, who broke his foot earlier this year and could not participate in the season games, was playing for the first time with the Eagles.

“I wasn’t really in shape, and not really ready for it, so it was pretty rough,” said Nicholas, who had some assists during the playoffs.

On top of that, the Eagles were down two players, Poe Albany and Vincent Cree, who were suspended from the three playoff games following a brawl after the season games last week.

Losing their top-scorer Albany was difficult on the team, said Canatonquin. In the last season game, Poe scored 11 goals.

Albany maintains he was provoked during the game against the Boisbriand Bulls, but said he takes accountability for his actions.

“I can’t let my emotions get the best of me in situations like that,” said Albany.

“I’ve always had a temper growing up; it’s just another lesson I have to learn.”

Albany did come out to watch the Eagles play in the playoffs.

“I got to give our boys credit, although they had a short bench, they hustled all game. They fought for every loose ball; they did everything right,” said Albany.

With the season over, Canatonquin is organizing the Eagles for LAXNAI, the annual North American Invitational lacrosse tournament in September. Last year, the Eagles debuted their team at this tournament, winning four of their five games at the Utica University Nexus Center in New York.

Canatonquin looks forward to continuing with the Eagles next year. He hopes to add some pre-season practices and recruit more players, but more so, he is grateful for Kanehsata’kehró:non support of the Eagles and would like to continue to build the Kanesatake team’s legacy.

“It means something when you play for your community,” said Canatonquin. “Now we have the lacrosse team getting bigger, the community is getting behind it, and it’s awesome.”

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Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter