There is a new champion in the National Lacrosse League – the Georgia Swarm.
The Swarm downed the Saskatchewan Rush in dramatic fashion, beating the two-time defending champions 15-14 in overtime to clinch their first title.
READ MORE: Saskatchewan Rush swarmed in Champion’s Cup final, lose 15-14 in OT
It didn’t look like the game was going to overtime.
The Rush had a 14-13 lead with seconds left in Game 2.
Rush head coach and general manager Derek Keenan then pulled goalie Aaron Bold.
The Swarm’s Joel White scored with three seconds left in regulation time to force overtime.
It has left many wondering why Keenan pulled Bold in the dying seconds of the game.
“It’s something that we always do, we practice it, if you asked Eddie (Comeau) what he would do, he would do the same thing,” Keenan said in his post-game comments.
“We knew they were going to pull their goalie and double team, we normally execute that with precision and easily and we just made a mistake.”
READ MORE: No room for error as Saskatchewan Rush host Game 2 of Champion’s Cup final
Swarm head coach Eddie Comeau said he would make the same move in that situation.
“We would do the exact same thing, it was the right play, just they had a bad bounce and we capitalized on it,” Comeau said.
The Swarm took advantage of the move.
“This morning in shoot around, we prepared for that moment, that exact moment that went down for them to pull their goalie and for me and Joel (White) to double the ball and for us to score,” said Swarm forward Lyle Thompson, who had three goals and four assists in the game.
And just over a minute into overtime, Miles Thompson scored the title-clinching goal.
“You can take a look at my college highlights and you’ll see that pass from me to Miles a few times,” Thompson said.
READ MORE: Georgia Swarm top Saskatchewan Rush 18-14 in Game 1 of NLL Champion’s Cup
The Rush players aren’t making excuses for the late-game letdown.
Robert Church said they had lots of chances to put the game away, but failed to take advantage.
“We had that two-goal lead in the fourth quarter, the crowd was going nuts, we had a lot of chances to make that a three-goal lead, four-goal lead, and we didn’t,” Church said.
“We let them back in it and you know the rest.”