Everything at stake for Hunters tonight

It’s do-or-die for the Kahnawake Hunters tonight, as they take on the Elora Mohawks at the Kahnawake Sports Complex, after a difficult first two games of the Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League (OJBLL) finals last weekend on Elora’s home turf.

The Hunters, who have never before reached this stage of the OJBLL, lost 10-7 last Saturday and 15-5 last Sunday. The losses were even more bitter coming off the Hunters’ sweep of the Orangeville Northmen in the previous round of playoffs.

“You can’t make mistakes in the Ontario playoffs. And last weekend it seemed like they were contagious,” said the Hunters’ head coach Garrett Cree. “Once one mistake was made then there was another one, then they’d score a goal, then desperation would set in, and there’d be a penalty, and then two more.”

The Hunters took 10 penalties on Saturday and 15 on Sunday.

Even goalie Kasey Lahache, known for being like a wall against incoming shots, wasn’t able to keep out Elora’s attacks on net. On Sunday, he was replaced near the end of the second period by Michael Benedict in an attempt to try a fresher defense.

“We decided to give him a break and try and corral the guys and regroup, just to try at least crawl back and walk away from that on a high,” said assistant coach Mike Benedict. “But by that time, it was too little, too late, and we couldn’t.”

Like Kahnawake, the town of Elora loves lacrosse. Their home crowd was particularly rowdy, and came out in masses, chanting slogans like “Kasey, you suck,” at Lahache.

“They got a little personal, they had a good chant. Hats off to Elora, because they were ready to psych us out, they were ready to intimidate us any which way they could,” Cree said. “They packed their barn, and I guess they did their job because they beat us two games to none.”

Mike said many of the Hunters’ penalties seemed to be linked to the showing from Elora – though he emphasized that he didn’t hear any racist chants throughout the two days.

“I think the boys were getting frustrated and that did have a lot to do with the atmosphere. They were yelling at our goalie, but if you go into someone else’s arena, you’re going to get that,” he said. “Our guys played into it a little bit, and they need to focus on lacrosse.”

Ionatarishon Cedar Kirby, who is from Kahnawake and made the trip to Elora to support the Hunters, said the environment in the arena was different than she was used to here in Kahnawake. Though no racist chants seemed to be used, she did notice the fact that Elora use the word “Mohawks” in their team's name despite being non-Indigenous and use an image of an Indigenous man in a headdress as their logo.

“It definitely doesn’t sit right with me,” she said. “We don’t have much but our identity, and even that they make a mockery of.”

A letter to the editor in Elora Fergus Today, a local news outlet in Elora, from an individual named Sean Hunter, pointed out the irony in the Elora Mohawks facing the Kahnawake Hunters, calling Elora’s use of the Mohawk name and logo “tone deaf cultural appropriation,” that is “repugnant and highly disrespectful.”

Earlier in July, it was announced that the Elora Mohawks banner wouldn’t be reinstalled at the local community centre until the township of Elora makes a policy on the use of Indigenous names and imagery at township facilities – the team is the only one in the township that continues to use an Indigenous name and logo.

Despite the unease with Elora’s logo and name, Kirby is excited to watch the next game of the series, happening tonight at the Kahnawake Sports Complex. She knows that the community will show up to support the boys.

“Through the highs and the lows, the Hunters can see the people of Kahnawake have their backs,” she said. “The massive support from Kahnawake plays a huge part in the Hunters’ push to parade the Founders Cup home.”

Tonight’s game starts at 8 p.m., and the Hunters will have to win it to keep their place in the best-of-five finals series, the winner of which will head to Hamilton to face other Junior B Lacrosse teams from across Canada in the Founders Cup. If they win tonight, the next game will be played tomorrow at 8 p.m. in Kahnawake, with a final game in Elora on Monday night if the Hunters keep fighting.

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