For the fourth time in history and the second time in the last three seasons, the Six Nations Chiefs and New Westminster Salmonbellies will square off for the 2025 Mann Cup.
The 2025 version will be a rematch of the 2023 series that was won by Six Nations. Just like that one, the 2025 Mann Cup will be played at Queen’s Park Arena in New Westminster, one of the oldest and most legendary venues in the sport.
The tournament begins Friday night, and will be streamed on WLATV. Details of the stream can be found here.
The Chiefs and Salmonbellies also met in 1994 and 1995. With the Chiefs taking both series four games to two. These clubs are two of the most successful in Canadian history, with a combined 32 Mann Cups and 22 runner-up finishes between them.
The Salmonbellies have the most wins and appearances in history, with 24 titles and 22 more appearances. Six Nations has won all eight of their appearances in the national championship, and will look to complete the three-peat this summer.
The run for Six Nations comes on the heels of the four-straight Cups won by the Peterborough Lakers, but three-peats have been hard to come by before that. But the organization has done it before, as the last team to three-peat before the Lakers was the 1994-1996 Chiefs.
There is a lot to unpack with this series, let’s get right into it.
2025 Mann Cup: How Did We Get Here?
Starting with the Chiefs, they advanced to the 2025 Mann Cup after a dominant run this summer. In 27 games, they went a combined 24-3, losing only to the Peterborough Lakers on three separate occasions. In two rounds of playoffs, the Chiefs went a combined 8-1 and narrowly missed the perfect playoff by losing to the Lakers, who avoided the sweep in game four.
They finished with a +86 goal differential in the regular season, leading the MSL in both goals for and goals against. They also had the league’s best power play, clicking at an incredible 50% on the season.
The Chiefs were led in scoring during the regular season by Josh Byrne, who had 55 points in 14 games. But it was Buffalo teammate Dhane Smith who took over in the playoffs, finishing with 57 points in nine postseason outings, which was 20 more points than the next closest player.
Meanwhile, Ryan Smith led the MSL in goals during the regular season with 39, with Shayne Jackson also finishing in the top ten.
As has been the case for the last few years, Doug Jamieson and Warren Hill split time evenly, with both posting sparkling numbers. Hill had the better GAA at 5.45 but Jamieson finished with the better save percentage at 85.1%.
For the Salmonbellies, the path was more difficult. The ‘Bellies finished second in the WLA during the regular season with a 14-4 record. Like the Chiefs, they led their league in scoring with 189 goals for during the regular season, but were third in goals against behind Coquitlam and Victoria.
In the playoffs, they beat the Victoria Shamrocks in four games (best-of-five series) and finished off the first-place Adanacs in the finals, again dropping just one game.
New Westminster has unquestionably been led by Mitch Jones, who led both the playoffs and regular season in scoring, finishing with 88 points in the regular season and 51 points in 9 games during the playoffs. Import righty Tye Kurtz had a big summer as well, finishing with 45 points in the playoffs.
Like Six Nations, it’s a deep group up front for the Salmonbellies, who also feature Will Malcom, Tyler Pace, Haiden Dickson (the WLA’s regular season goals leader) and Phil Caputo.
In net, Frank Scigliano has been excellent for the Salmonbellies, with an 85.1% SV% and 7.51 GAA. He was named playoff MVP for his efforts.
Of course, the question this week is who else we might see on these rosters.
The Salmonbellies have already announced several pickups for the tournament, including Elijah Gash, Owen Grant, Ryan Sheridan and Marcus Klarich.
Grant competed for the Boston Cannons this summer, being named to the All-Star game, while the other three competed in the WLA. Klarich was the most notable of the three, as he was the leading non-Salmonbellie scorer this year.
Meanwhile, Gash brings some obvious physicality to the back gate.
Six Nations has options as well. Before the season, they traded for the rights to both Graeme Hossack and Cam Wyers, who are both finished with their PLL responsibilities for the summer. Both would figure to be eligible for this tournament and it remains to be seen exactly who will be in the lineup for the 2025 Mann Cup.
Matchup History
The relevant matchup was the 2023 series between these two sides. Six Nations won that series in five games, with the Salmonbellies taking game four of the series.
Cody Jamieson was the leading scorer in that series with 8 goals and 22 points, including a series-leading 14 assists.
Jones led the Salmonbellies in scoring with 19 points, but it was a different cast of characters around him. Keegan Bal and Kevin Crowley were in the top three in scoring, and neither will compete this year.
Perhaps the biggest difference was in net, where Zach Higgins turned in a legendary performance to keep the games close and give the Bellies a chance. Scigliano has been outstanding this summer, but will need to play very well this week.
Josh Byrne, Ryan Smith and Latrell Harris are in, while Ben Mcintosh, Kyle Rubisch and others are out since last time for the Chiefs. But Six Nations will bring back most of the same roster.
Keys to the Series
Chiefs: Outside Shooting
The New West defence likes to pack it in near the dotted line and let Scigliano try and take away the angles by taking a step out off his goal line. That in turn means that Six Nations outside shooting will need to be dialed in, to force the ‘Bellies defenders to come out higher to try and take away shooting lanes and get on hands. If the Chiefs are able to do so, it will force New West out of their comfort zone and make their bigger defense have to play in space. Accomplishing that will mean more space for the two man game, off ball cuts and room underneath.
Another important factor is backdoor passes. Six Nations has two of the best backdoor finishers in the sport in Ryan Smith and Shayne Jackson, and New Westminster will need to take these away to allow Scigliano to be aggressive. If Six Nations can open them up by either passing or shooting from the outside, look out.
Salmonbellies: Spring Malcom and Kurtz
Mitch Jones is an elite shooter and he will find his way into being a major factor in this series. However, the key for the New West offense will be finding ways to create space off the ball for their two secondary scoring threats in Will Malcom and Tye Kurtz. The ‘Bellies offense will go through stretches where they will slow down the offense a bit too much and settle for low danger looks. Against what is a punishing and physical defense it’s even more important to not have the mail carried by your most dangerous offensive weapons and focusing on quick ball movement, off ball cuts and working to get those guys into the middle and into shooting lanes. The WLA champions offense can be excellent and this approach should help them find more consistency.
Whether it’s Malcom and Kurtz, or other members of this talented offensive group, New Westminster needs a balanced scoring chart to have a chance.
Chiefs: Dominate Offensive Loose Balls
In watching the WLA finals the New West defense is often content settling back into position off of resets and not going full tilt for loose balls along the boards and in the corners. This of course is a by-product of their pack-it-in strategy that limits shots to the outside. When their defenders are inside the dotted line, they have no chance to contest loose balls on the perimeter.
If Six Nations is alert in this series I can see them dominating loose balls in the offensive zone and getting plenty of second chances along with multiple possessions in a row. Those extended shifts for the New West defense could lead to fatigue and some extra quality looks for what is a potent Chiefs offense that knows how to control the pace of play and clock.
Salmonbellies: Penalty Kill
Special teams always play a large role in lacrosse and aside from goaltending can often have the largest area of impact in a game or series. A lot of New West’s ability to challenge the Chiefs here will ride on their penalty kill that allowed Victoria to go a wicked 9/15 (60%) on the power play in Round 1 and then early on in the series struggled a bit with Coquitlam’s power play before really improving in this area as the series went along. Those signs of locking down on the man short should be very encouraging for Salmonbellies fans and will play a huge role in determining how this series plays out.
Six Nations clicked at a remarkable 50% in the regular season on the man advantage, and will send out one of the most talented power play units in Mann Cup history. New West needs to avoid penalties if they can, and find ways to kill when they do have to sit.
X Factors
Chiefs: Defeat the Travel
In these national championship formats going across the country has always proven difficult. The time change, the different atmosphere, venues you may have never played in or been to, it all combines to form a tougher task. It will often take teams longer than you might expect to get acclimatized as well.
Two relatively recent examples include the 2014 Six Nations Arrows who after dropping the first two games of the Minto Cup to the Coquitlam Adanacs and not looking very sharp in doing so, would click back in and win the next four games in resounding fashion to win in six games. Another example, these same Chiefs who in 2013 traveled to Victoria and went down 2-1 before responding with three straight wins to take that Mann Cup in six as well. If you see a pattern here, the time for New West to really assert themselves should be early in this series.
In the 2025 Mann Cup, the Chiefs need to get over the travel quickly.
Salmonbellies: Embrace the Long History, Ignore the Recent History
It’s simple, New West will be working against history here as we head into this year’s series. Consider that the WLA hasn’t won a Mann Cup since the 2015 Victoria Shamrocks won it all on the island taking down the Peterborough Lakers in six. Prior to that, you won’t find a Mann Cup champion out of the WLA again until 2005 when Victoria won at home that year as well. That means the WLA has only won the Mann twice in nearly two decades and a team from the mainland hasn’t won since 2001 when Colin Doyle and the Adanacs got past the Brampton Excelsiors in one of the most memorable Mann Cups ever.
Safe to say New Westminster will be fighting against history here but they can’t let the recent history discourage them or impact their intensity. The beauty of the sport is that you have to play the games, and the Salmonbellies need to go in with the confidence of a champion. The ‘Bellies have lifted the Mann Cup several times inside QPA, they need to believe they can do it again.
The 2025 Mann Cup starts Friday night, from the beautiful Queen’s Park Arena. You can stream every game on Playfullscreen and through WLA TV. Enjoy what should be a great series everyone.