Rivermen improve to 2-0 with victory over Owen Sound

It wasn’t quite as easy as their season opener. But the Six Nations Rivermen managed to register a second consecutive victory on Saturday. The Rivermen downed the visiting Owen Sound North Stars 10-8 in an Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL) contest staged at the Six Nations Sports and Cultural Memorial Centre. The Six Nations squad, which defeated the expansion Clearview Crushers 17-5 one week earlier, is now sporting a 2-0 mark to start its 2022 campaign.

The North Stars, who were playing their first game of the year, were in Saturday’s contest right until the end. In fact, Owen Sound, which was trailing 9-8 in the game’s final minute, pulled its goaltender Landon Kells hoping to get the equalizer and send the match into OT. But Six Nations’ Jesse Johnson sealed the deal with an empty-net goal with just 20 seconds remaining in the contest.

Marshall Powless, who joined the Rivermen fresh off his National Lacrosse League (NLL) season with the Saskatchewan Rush, had an impressive outing, scoring twice and adding three assists.

“I’m just trying to help these guys out,” Powless said of his Six Nations teammates. “I just want to get on the same page with these guys on offence.”

Powless, 21, could potentially have a rather busy spring/summer schedule. Besides suiting up for the Rivermen, he’s also hoping to dress for some games with the Six Nations Chiefs, members of the higher-calibre Major Series Lacrosse. Though his squad earned another W on Saturday, Powless said the Rivermen have plenty of room for improvement.

“There’s still lots of work to do,” he said. “Our offence could have scored some more goals. We ran into a hot goalie but that’s no excuse.” Powless said there’s also another aspect of the Rivermen game that can be better. “It’s not as if our transition guys helped us out with goals,” he said, chuckling.

Besides helping the Rivermen on the court, Powless said he also has a bit of a sell-job to do for the squad off the court. He’s hoping to convince his older brother Johnny, an NLL veteran, to join the team for its 2022 campaign. Johnny Powless had played for the Rivermen sparingly back in 2019, the last year the Six Nations team had an OSL season. The pandemic forced the cancellation of both the 2020 and 2021 schedules. Instead of playing in the NLL this season, Johnny Powless opted to suit up for his hometown Six Nations Snipers, members of the Arena Lacrosse League. The Snipers captured the ALL championship last month.

Meanwhile, Leland Powless also had a two-goal night for the Rivermen on Saturday. Also scoring for Six Nations were Wes Whitlow, Tyler Brown, Tye Argent, Vern Hill, Jordan Goddard and Brooker Muir.

Six Nations will hit the road for its next game, this coming Friday (May 13) against the Oshawa- based Merchants Lacrosse Club. That match, which will be staged at Delpark Homes Centre in Oshawa, has an opening faceoff scheduled for 8 p.m.