Hunters make history

The Kahnawake Junior B Hunters have accomplished what seemed impossible a few short years ago - and unlikely as recently as this time last week - by winning the Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League (OJBLL) championship for the first time ever, reverse sweeping the Elora Hawks after Kahnawake lost the series’ first two games.

The Hunters finding themselves down 2-0 to Elora after being swept by them last season was like a bad case of deja-vu for some players who were on the roster last year.

“Being in a sweep situation again had us with our backs against the wall, but only we could take us out of this hole we put ourselves in,” said Hunters’ defender Crayton Cree, a member of last year’s roster.

“I felt that we could’ve won it all with last year’s team, but after the first game, we lost our spark and just couldn’t get it back,” said defender Darris Jones, also a member of the team last summer.

“This year, we had one goal in mind and one goal only: to meet Elora in the finals and beat them. Whether that took three games or all five, we wanted a revenge story. And we got it.”

Last year’s team was a pure underdog going into the playoffs, finishing as the seventh seed with a 8-12 record before flipping the script on the higher-seeded Clarington Green Gaels, Nepean Knights, and Orangeville Northmen prior to falling to Elora in an OJBLL finals sweep.

This year, there was nothing surprising about the team’s playoff performance, finishing second overall in the East. They only lost playoff games to the Halton Hills Bulldogs on their way to a repeat as East champions, sweeping the Gaels and Akwesasne Thunder to do so.

They were perhaps an underdog against the 16-4 Elora Hawks, but both finished second in their division, and the Hawks had just finished a five-game, hard-fought series against the Northmen.

But if the Hawks had any fatigue, they did not show it in game one, winning 12-6, or in game two, where they held the edge in a much more competitive 9-8 game.

In game three, at the Sports Complex, Cree said that what made the difference was them playing what he called “Hunters’ lacrosse,” battling hard each shift, gaining momentum with physical play and shooting often - Kahnawake registered a series-high 71 shots.

The Hunters and Hawks were evenly-matched, trading goals throughout the game. With the game tied at nine with less than a minute to go, it seemed like the Sports Complex would be treated to some overtime playoff lacrosse.

Hawi Francis had other ideas.

The forward, who joined the Hunters partway through the season following a trade with Akwesasne, scored his 19th of the postseason with six seconds left to make it 10-9 and give the Hunters their first OJBLL finals win.

“We were worrying about just getting one, because one gets us two and two gets us three,” said Cree about the players’ feelings following that first win.

Game four at the Sports Complex was another tightly contested game. The Hunters ended the first period up 4-1, but a late second period surge that included three unanswered goals to close out the period by Elora made it a 7-6 game after 40 minutes.

The Hunters extended their lead to two thanks to Connor Gorman’s 17th, and the team tightened things up defensively to only allow 12 total shots, preventing another rally and ultimately winning  9-8.

Game three, it turned out, was no last-second fluke. Elora could be beaten.

Tuesday’s ultimate game in Elora proved that once and for all.

Kahnawake got off to a quick 3-0 lead thanks to goals by Francis (20), Ioteseronties Marcus Diabo (3), and Gorman (18).

“We started the game off on a huge high. The morale was unmatched, and our genuine desire to win - and not only win but to absolutely beat them - helped with the huge start to the game,” said Jones.

Evan MacDougall (31) got Elora on the board at 8:28, before Kaymen Diabo (20) closed out the period with a goal of his own to make it 4-1 Hunters after one.

Shakononhkwahtsheronniennis Rice (17) and Owen Rice (24) quickly made it 6-1 Hunters, and from there, it was smooth sailing for Kahnawake.

“The game just went our way. Although you should never take your mind out of the fight, we knew we had them. You could visually see their momentum dying,” said Jones.

The Hunters led 7-3 after two, with Kaymen Diabo scoring his second of the game to give them a four-goal lead.

While the Hawks scored four more times in the third, Kahnawake never led by less than three goals until the final buzzer. Deeland Martin had a hat-trick in the third period (17, 18, 19), Owen Rice had his second of the game (25), and Marcus Diabo had a breakout performance by scoring his fourth and fifth of the postseason to complete a hat-trick of his own, his first-ever in Junior B.

When the game ended and the Hunters celebrated their win together, you could see that the emotion of finally slaying the final boss, the one team that had prevented them from going to their first-ever Founder’s Cup, all came out in an eruption of joy.

“It’s unbelievable for this team, we had everything going against us and came through and got the series done,” said Cree.

“I’m extremely proud to be a part of this team, and I see great things coming for this community,” said Jones.

The community was proud of them, too, with a huge outpouring both on social media and on Wednesday night as community members welcomed the team back at the Sports Complex.

While the OJBLL season is over, the Hunters still have a lot to play for, with the Founder’s Cup right around the corner.

Their first game of the Founder’s Cup will be against the Mountainview Mavericks, the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL) Junior B champions, on August 18 at 1 p.m. in Calgary.

Seating in Elora

With the ultimate game taking place in Elora, a bus trip was organized, with transport free of charge thanks to sponsorship by Kahnawà:ke Shakotiia’takehnhas Community Services (KSCS) to make the seven-hour drive to Elora to have Kahnawake fans in the crowd.

Once Hunters fans got to the arena, there was some controversy over the fact that the arena had reduced capacity and had more than 400 presales for a capacity of 600, but 50 tickets had been guaranteed for Hunters’ fans.

In the end, 35 additional fans from Kahnawake were permitted to join the section, which was grouped together behind a line of tape to “ensure Kahnawake fans safety,” according to a Facebook post by Hunters’ general manager Greg Horn.

Previously, he had made a Facebook post during the game with a photo of the taped-off section, comparing it to racial segregation in the US south in the 1940s.

Other Hunters’ fans accused the Hawks, Hawks’ staff, and even the Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA) of racism due to the placement of the section and the limiting of fans inside the building.

Horn deleted his post made during the game, apologizing for it and clarifying that it was meant to be taken lightly and that the tape was there to “ensure that the section was identifiable.”

He added that he, the OLA, and the Hawks’ staff had worked together to allow as many Hunters fans as they could in the building, and that having a specific section was a joint solution.

“We discussed that if we made a section for Kahnawake fans would that mean we could get more of our fans in,” said Horn in his post.

“Niá:wen to the OLA  and Elora for a great series. Let’s focus on the positives as we head to Calgary for the Founder’s Cup.”

The OLA did not respond to a request for comment on the situation prior to The Eastern Door’s publishing deadline.

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