NLL Insider

John Grant Jr. has been taking his return to lacrosse slowly, but this past weekend he kicked it into another gear, and then some. Yes, he played in Friday night’s Major Series Lacrosse playoff victory for the Peterborough Lakers, but he also played in games Saturday and Sunday to help the Toronto Nationals win the Major League Lacrosse championship in Maryland. He then flew — literally — back to Canada in time to rejoin the Lakers Sunday night as their MSL playoff series continued against rival Brampton. So if you’re doing the math, that’s 4 games in 3 days in 2 countries. How’d he do? Not too bad, considering.

If there’s been any question as to how badly Junior wants to get back into the game he loves so much, this weekend answered it. Boldly. On Friday, the Lakers came into the game trailing Brampton 2-0 in the best-of-seven series for a berth in the Mann Cup. His return the game from major knee surgery has been a slow one for him, because he doesn’t want to put too much stress on the knee and risk missing another National Lacrosse League season for the Rochester Knighthawks.

But he was in fine form Friday night, scoring 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points in Peterborough’s 9-6 victory. It was the first MSL finals victory for the Lakers, but the problem with playing Friday night is that he was scheduled to join Lakers teammate Geoff Snider in Annapolis, Md., for the MLL’s Championship Weekend on Saturday and Sunday. That’s when the Lakers stepped in and chartered a private plane for Junior and Snider to get down to Maryland for the MLL weekend.

Junior didn’t score any points in Saturday’s game, but the Nationals won, which meant they were to play for the MLL title on Sunday afternoon. He scored 2 goals and assisted on another to help the Nationals win, then hopped on the plane for Canada and was on the Peterborough bench before the first period ended Sunday night. Junior had 2 goals and 1 assist and even was called for a high-sticking penalty in Brampton’s 14-9 win.

That means Brampton has a 3-1 lead in the series and the Excelsiors can clinch that series by winning tonight’s Game 5, which starts at 8 p.m. at Brampton.

And in the ultimate lacrosse irony, Grant helped the Nationals win the MLL title with teammates Shawn Williams and Brodie Merrill, both of whom play for Brampton. It was Williams who was the hero for the Nationals, scoring the game-tying goal and then the winner. Merrill had 8 ground balls in Sunday’s Nationals game, and had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s semifinal win. Merrill and Williams didn’t make it back in time for Sunday night’s MSL game, but Brampton had enough firepower in Colin Doyle (3-3) and Josh Sanderson (3-4).

Snider wasn’t in the Peterborough lineup Sunday night, but that could have been the result of some late-game shenanigans and a gross misconduct assessed toward the end of Friday’s Game 4. The gross misconduct apparently comes with an automatic two-game suspension and Snider drew that by apparently trading some language and hand gestures with Brampton’s Paul Dawson, according to The Peterborough Examiner.

So when it’s all said and done, it’s been quite a weekend for John Grant Jr. In his 4 games in 3 days, he had 6 goals and 5 assists for 11 points. He won an MLL championship and did his best to help his beloved Lakers avoid elimination from the MSL playoffs.

Does he have enough left in him to keep Brampton from clinching tonight? We can’t find out soon enough.

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