Eagles make a strong comeback

After never having practiced as a whole team together, the Kanehsatake Eagles won two pre-season box lacrosse games this past weekend, including a win against the Kahnawake Sturgeon Bellies. The Eagles had not faced a team from Kahnawake for about 30 years.

At the Quebec Senior C league pre-season games at the Kahnawake Sports Complex on Saturday, the Eagles beat the Boisbriand Bulls 7-2 and defeated the Sturgeon Bellies 12-4.

“We’re feeling great,” said Kyle Atkwiroton Canatonquin, Eagles’ team organizer.

“We were able to shake off the cobwebs and just relax and be able to just play the game.”

After decades without a men’s Senior team in Kanesatake, the team banded together last year to restart the renowned local box lacrosse team, the Eagles.

During the first game against the Bulls, the Eagles got off to a slow start, especially since the team was shorthanded, with only nine players and one goalie, said Canatonquin.

Some players were stuck in traffic on the Mercier Bridge, and others, like Hayden Nicholas, could not play because of injury.

But that did not dampen Nicholas’s spirits. He was working the doors for the rest of the team while recovering from a rolled ankle.

“I felt so good. I got to take it in,” said Nicholas. “I loved it - I’d love it more if I was playing, but I loved it even though I was just on the side.”

After their first win against the Bulls, the team was more confident but felt like they had more in them to give, said Canatonquin.

“In our heads, we were like, ‘We could have done way better. We should have ran the score up a lot more than that,’” he said. “So, we looked at it as a good learning experience.”

For the next game, the whole Eagles team had arrived and was locked in against the Sturgeon Bellies.

“Everybody was like, ‘We can’t lose this one,’” said Canatonquin. “Everybody was ready, it was a need-to-win game.”

For Randy Rahskwe’Ióntha Etienne, the Eagles shined with strong teamwork.

“Whenever you get Kanehsatake and Kahnawake playing lacrosse together, there’s always this undertone, a rivalry, even though we’re sister communities,” said Etienne.

“Our guys were able to put the ball in the net, our goaltending was stellar, our defense was stellar. There’s a lot of little things that it’s a team effort, it’s not just about how many goals you score, it’s about how many goals you prevent.”

To win against Kahnawake “was great, especially in their home barn,” said Canatonquin.

Eagles player Shawn Boudrias said the team’s energy was strong, and the players were kind, especially considering it was Boudrias’s first time playing competitive lacrosse.

“They were so nice, and they were helping me out,” said Boudrias, who is also a sports co-coordinator at the Kanesatake Health Center (KHC). “If I made mistakes, they were all there to help me and say, ‘Do this, do that.’”

Many Kanehsata’kehró:non came out to cheer on the team, which Vincent Cree, another player for the Eagles, said was extremely encouraging for the team.

“Pretty much everyone came out to watch - some friends, family, community members who just wanted to show their support,” said Cree.

“It was great to see, and hearing everyone cheering for us in the stands, you could feel their presence in the arena, even friends and old teammates from other teams stayed to watch our game against Kahnawake.”

Teiawenhniseráhte Jeremy Tomlinson, a player on the Eagles and KHC executive director, could not attend the games, but was excited to hear how many came out to support the team.

“I was told so many community members attended the event,” said Tomlinson. Lacrosse games “gets people watching something really positive, our men coming together and competing in our game.”

Last year, the Eagles played in the LAXNAI 2025 lacrosse tournament in New York, getting placed 17th out of 42 after only losing one game.

Some players from last year’s Eagles have joined this year’s team, said Canatonquin.

The Eagles will play in the Quebec Senior C box lacrosse league, which starts this Saturday, and the team plans to compete in LAXNAI 2026 in the fall.

“I don’t expect to win the whole season. If it happens, great. But like I said, it’s our first year. There are teams that have been in this league for years, and they all know how everybody plays with each other. We’re just getting back into it,” said Canatonquin.

“We haven’t played with each other in so many years, so this weekend was a great look for our team.”

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Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter