PHOTO: Ryan Mccullogh Photography

OAKVILLE, ON - The Oakville Rock have clinched their highest standing ever in the Major Series Lacrosse with a 9-5 win over the Six Nations Chiefs. It's the same team they'll face in the first round of the playoffs, a rematch of last years semi-final, a series which saw the Rock lose a heartbreaker in Game 7.

The Chiefs dressed a lineup without some of their top guns including Randy Staats, Cody Jamieson and Jeremy Thompson. The Rock jumped out to an early lead and never really looked back. Jeremy Noble played his first game of the season, recovering from a sports hernia injury and opened the scoring. Rookie sniper Andrew Kew had 3 goals in the win and Challen Rogers had 2 goals beating goalie Angus Goodleaf.

"It's a really positive step for us." said Rock GM Josh Sanderson. "It gives us some confidence heading into the playoffs knowing we have home floor advantage and that we had success during the regular season."

Regular season success aside, the Rock have still not managed to win a playoff series during their 5 seasons in Oakville. They missed the playoffs in their first two seasons, bowed out in the first round to Peterborough in 2015 and 2016 and then the 7-game loss to Six Nations last season.

"We understand that we still have some work to do," added Sanderson. "The playoffs are a brand new season and Six Nations will be a tough opponent again, but we feel we have the best opportunity we've had to go on a run here and compete for the MSL Championship and potentially a Mann Cup."

The two teams will meet again Tuesday for their final regular season game in Six Nations for what will be a formality. With the playoff picture set, you can imagine a lot of bodies will be rested for the start of the playoffs Thursday night in Oakville at 8PM. This sets up the potential for the two teams to play each other 9-straight games if the first round series does go the distance.