Hunters, Thunder meet in East final

For the second year in a row, the Kahnawake Junior B Hunters and the Akwesasne Junior B Thunder are meeting in an all-Onkwehón:we the Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League (OJBLL) East finals.

While it is a rematch, if the best-of-five series - which has started on Thursday night after The Eastern Door’s publishing deadline - is unlikely to end the same way as last year’s final when Kahnawake swept Akwesasne, barring an epic collapse or several miracles.

That is because Akwesasne is coming into this series having not lost a single game in the regular season or the playoffs, sweeping both its playoff series so far with ease.

That doesn’t mean the Hunters will just lay down for their opponents, though. Especially not a rival like the Thunder.

“Playing against an undefeated team is definitely making us more motivated than nervous, because we’re looking to give them their first lose, and the rivalry between both of us will give us more intensity, in my opinion,” said Hunters’ player Jackson Norton.

This won’t be the first time this team faces adversity in the playoffs. In fact, Norton said that coming off their series against the Halton Hills Bulldogs - where the Hunters had to come back from the brink of elimination to take the last two games from the Bulldogs and advance to the finals - they believe they can achieve another Founder’s Cup berth more than ever.

“The lesson we’re taking from the Halton series is believability, because we were down 2-1 in the series, but we fought back and won,” said Norton.

“The atmosphere was great after being down and coming back to win, our guys were pumped and super happy with ourselves.”

For Norton, who is in his first year with the Junior B program after playing Junior C last season, it has been a great experience making it this far with the Hunters.

“It means a lot to be a part of such a great team and making it this far. Our bond with the team has been great, everyone hangs out with each other and it’s always a great time.”

Game two will be on Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Kahnawake Sports Complex and game three will be on July 21 at 8 p.m. in Akwesasne.

If Kahnawake can successfully give the Thunder their first loss, game four will be back in Kahnawake on July 24 at 8 p.m. and the winner take-all game five will be July 26 at 8 p.m. in Akwesasne.

By the numbers

The most notable difference between the two squads going into the East finals is, naturally, their record: Akwesasne has yet to be defeated in any game during the playoffs coming off their also undefeated regular season, winning an astounding 27 games in a row.

When it comes to team statistics, Akwesasne has the edge in many of them, but not all of them.

Akwesasne just barely edges Kahnawake in goals for per game (12.83 to 11.33), while Akwesasne has a bigger advantage in goals against per game (5.5 to 8.78); on special teams the Thunder do better on the power play than the Hunters in almost the same amount of opportunities (41.7 percent on 12 opportunities to 36.4 percent on 11 opportunities) but Kahnawake retains the advantage on the penalty kill (81.8 percent to 80 percent), allowing just two goal shorthanded in the playoffs.

For individual stats, Kahnawake leads the way when it comes to points.

Owen Rice (23 goals and 33 assists in nine games) and Shakononhkwahtsheronniennis Rice (21 goals and 20 assists in nine games) are top two for both the Hunters and the overall OJBLL in terms of playoff scoring. Owen also leads all OJBLL goalscorers.

For Akwesasne, Tehokwirathe Barreiro is the leading scorer, with 10 goals and 20 assists in six games. Trysen Sunday is right behind him with 15 goals and 14 assists, also in six games. Barreiro and Sunday are fifth and eighth in OJBLL playoff points respectively.

In net, both Xavier Delormier for Akwesasne and Kasey Lahache for Kahnawake have had strong playoffs for their respective teams.

Delormier has a 5.60 goals against average and an .869 save percentage, playing all but 16 minutes of the Thunder’s playoff run so far.

Playing eight of the Hunters’ nine games, Lahache has a 8.72 goals against average but faces more shots on average than Delormier, putting up a .814 save percentage as a result.

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