On one good leg, Cody Jamieson powers Six Nations to 2-1 Mann Cup lead

HAGERSVILLE, Ont. -- Star forward Cody Jamieson's damaged left leg might need surgery, but there he was Monday night for Six Nations, scoring three goals including the overtime clincher and assisting on four in a 9-7 victory over the Maple Ridge Burrards that gave the Chiefs a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven Canadian senior lacrosse championship series.

These kind of heroics are nothing new for Jamieson, 29, one of the all-time greats among First Nations players. In the Ontario final, Six Nations fell behind 0-3 with Jamieson out of the lineup against Peterborough. He strapped on a brace, suited up, and helped the Chiefs win that series 4-3 and advance to the Mann. He was rested in Game 1 last Friday and, when the Chiefs won 15-8, he was kept out of Game 2 as well. He hated watching in street clothes as Maple Ridge won 13-9.

He was adamant about being in the lineup for Game 3.

“I can’t sit in the stands and watch the boys,” he says. “I’d rather be out there helping.”

As for Game 4 Tuesday night, “I’ll show up and, if my name is on the list and I get called upon, you know where I’ll be.”

That would be on the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena’s green carpet.

“It takes a while to get used to it,” he says of the leg support. “It’s only my fifth game wearing a brace.”

Winning goaltender Dillon Ward was as impressed as everyone else with Jamieson’s selfless contribution.

“Talk about a leader,” said Ward. “He’s our best player and everybody knows that. The fact that he’s putting himself on the line like this, going out there willing to battle for us, shows how much heart he has and how much this team means to him. It’s a pretty easy thing to rally around.”

The Chiefs outshot the Burrards 55-29 but, once again, Frankie Scigliano’s goaltending gave his team a chance to win. In regulation time, the Chiefs led six times. The Burrards tied it up six times. Then, with 3:16 remaining, they snatched their first lead of the game, 7-6, on a goal by Conner Goodwin. Craig Point, another banged-up forward who also missed out playing the first two games, forced a 10-minute overtime period with his second goal of the night with 1:13 left.

Austin Staats scored 26 seconds into OT.

“There’s not enough words to describe him,” says head coach Rich Kilgour. “He’s 18 and probably since he came in here (last month) he’s been our leading scorer, definitely one of our two two or three O players, and he’s got three years of junior left.”

Jamieson capped the scoring at 5:52.

“He’s like a fire extinguisher: In case of emergency, break glass,” head coach Rich Kilgour said of Jamieson. “On one leg, he gets seven points. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. I’m glad he’s on my side.”

Another Chiefs player who sat out the first two games but returned for Game 3 was big defenceman Billy Dee Smith.

“His presence out there is something else,” said Ward. “He’s so big and strong. It takes a toll on guys when he’s cross checking them for 70 minutes. He takes our defence to that next level.”

“We’re the underdogs and we were 30 seconds away from going up 2-1,” said Burrards coach Rob Williams. “One of the positives is that we have young legs and they don’t and we’re going three nights in a row. We took something out of them with the overtime and they already went through that seven-game series before. I know they have a couple of guys who are sore and they’re probably going to be a little more sore after (Game 3).

“It’s going to be a really good series. We’re just going to keep going at each other. This is what we expected.”