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GEORGETOWN TOYOTA SALES 15 MOUNTAINVIEW RD. N., GEORGETOWN 905-877-2296WEBSITE at www.georgetowntoyota.com THE 09 TOY OTAS ARE C OMING SO THE 08s GO TTA GO WITH PURC HASE FINAN CING AS LO W AS 0.9%! Special pullout section Friday, September 12, 2008 8 Pages Circulation 22,500 www.independentfreepress.com Kinsmen Girls declare champs Page 3 Local goalkeeper sparks Under-16 win Page 2 SPORTS AND LEISURE Halton Hills Community Newspaper For someone who has already won four National Lacrosse League titles by the age of 27, capturing his first Mann Cup still holds a special place for Acton native Sandy Chapman after his Brampton Excelsiors swept the New Westminster Salmonbellies for the Canadian major series championship on Tuesday evening. Its got to be right up there (with the NLL Champions Cup wins) because when I was growing up, the Mann Cup was a tro- phy that everybody involved with lacrosse saw as being the greatest accomplishment, said Chapman, who now resides in Burlington. Its so much more grueling because you had to go through three best four out-of- seven series and its a lot more different than the NLL, where its just a one-game knock- out in the final. For the Mann Cup, we play such a condensed season and it takes so much out of you, but that becomes sort of the fun part because you go so much emo- tionally in a short period of time. Chapman, in his sixth year with the Excelsiors, joined the Brampton squad just after its last national title victory in 2002 and was on teams that lost in the finals twice in Victoria, B.C. The past three seasons, the Excels were eliminated by the Peterborough Lakers in the Ontario championship and faced their rivals again in 2008, roaring back from a 3-2 deficit in the series to earn their date with New Westminster. To finally beat Peterborough, well, it was a long time coming, Chapman added. They were a big monkey on our backs, so to beat them in a seven-game series was great. Then to turn around and have to play New Westminster was tough, even though we ended up sweeping them. We had devel- oped such a rivalry with Peterborough that by the afternoon of the games you were so pumped up to play, but we didnt really have a hate on for New Westminster. Early in the games it took us a while to get going, but we had such a veteran-laden team with guys who had won the Mann Cup before that we were able to overcome that. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Chapman played his usual steady defensive role, get- ting to loose balls and starting up the transi- tion game for Brampton, which featured sev- eral former and current Toronto Rock play- ers, with whom Chapman won three Champions Cups. He looked like a sapling amongst some of the B.C. redwoods on the Salmonbellies, including 6-foot-10, 270-pound Dave Morgan. I dont know where they got some of these guys from. They were monsters, Chapman chuckled. For me, it was tough to know what to do at first when youre trying to defend against them because they were just ginor- mous. I know that a lot of our offensive guys are pretty banged up and Ive got a bit of a charley horse, so we were glad to get it over with in four straight. Chapman is in his second and final year of the University of Torontos School of Nursing graduate program. Hell begin prac- tices in November with the NLLs Rochester Knighthawks, who earned the league cham- pionship in 2007 but didnt make the play- offs this past season. Mann Cup win special says Actons Chapman EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer Actons Sandy Chapman (5) of the Brampton Excelsiors rushes over to cover a New Westminster Salmonbellies player during this weeks Mann Cup Canadian senior mens lacrosse championship at the Powerade Centre in Brampton. Chapman did- nt get any points in Bramptons four-game sweep but was an important part of an Excelsior defence that limited the opposition to just 19 goals in the series. Photos by Bryon Johnson Sandy Chapman (left) of the Brampton Excelsiors watches the ball slip away after being checked by a New Westminster foe.