(September 13, 2012)… This weekend, the 2012 Mann Cup Champion will be crowned at the Peterborough Memorial Centre. It all comes down to a three-game in three-night stretch, which begins Friday night. The Peterborough Lakers and Langley Thunder enter the 8:00 p.m. contest tied with two wins apiece in the best-of-seven Mann Cup Finals. 

The Lakers held on to defeat the Thunder 9-8 Wednesday night to even the series. Peterborough, who trailed Langley two games to none, won its first game of the series Monday night, 14-10. Peterborough has been fueled by the return of goalie Mike Thompson, who has made 64 saves in back-to-back wins.

The Mann Cup features three members of the Rochester Knighthawks. Brad Self and Cory Vitarelli are members of the Lakers, who are trying to win their second Cup after hoisting the NLL’s Champion’s Cup in May.

“It’s huge to get it back to even. Every game gets bigger and bigger,” said Self.

Joel McCready, who plays for the Western Lacrosse Association Champion Langley Thunder, ranks second in goals and fourth on the team in points after four games. Last night, he scored his only goal and picked up his lone assist of the contest in a 3-0 comeback attempt late in the third period.

Vitarelli provided similar support for his team, finishing behind only John Grant Jr. (1+5) in points for the Lakers in Game Four. The Rochester forward scored one goal and chipped in three assists in the win at the Peterborough Memorial Centre. Self collected one assist, which staked the Lakers to a 3-1 lead in the opening period. Peterborough led 7-4 after two and took its biggest lead of the night on Mark Steenhuis’ third of the night to open the third. Langley, however, rallied with four of the game’s next five goals to make it 9-8. That gave the Thunder five and a half minutes to pull even, but the Lakers withstood the rally to capture Game Four.

“It was pretty tense…but we made a big stop at the end. It didn't look like it would be that tense because we were up by three goals, but anything can happen in lacrosse and that's been real evident in this series,” said Self.

Game Five is set for Friday at 8:00 p.m. with Games Six and Seven scheduled for Saturday and Sunday night.

The Lakers are bidding for their fifth championship in nine years (2004, 2006, 2007 and 2010). Langley, who lost in the 2011 Finals to Brampton, hopes to capture its first Mann Cup.