MASSENA – Akwesasne's Mohawk Medicine Men won two recent home games against the Onondaga Red Hawks, a blowout 14-3 win on June 8 and a closer 6-4 bout on May 29.

Head Coach Kariwate Mitchell says the team is still in the process of honing in and there have been lineup changes, but he's pleased with the players so far.

"I really like what I see, we are getting better each time we hit the floor and that is our objective, to keep improving," he said. "We have a really good mixture of players, they are very disciplined and willing to learn.

"We've already began to trim the roster down and we have some tough decisions to get it down to our final 25-man roster."

In the June 8 game, the teams started off close, trading goals in the first period with the Medicine Men up 3-2 at the buzzer. In the middle stanza, the Medicine Men defense and goaltending kicked into high gear, shutting out Onondaga 4-0 over the course of 20 minutes. Akwesasne went on a 7-1 run in the closing frame for the 14-3 final tally.

Four Medicine Men players recorded hat tricks: Cody Moore (two assists), Kyran Sunday (one assist), Josh Huaitt and Kaine Ransom. Isaac Thrasher had one goal and four assists. Nick Henrie netted a goal with two helpers. Kiernan Lafavre had three assists, Garrett Glasgow two and Ian Bressett and Mark Mahoney one each. Onondaga goals came from Matt Eccles, Gavin Hill and Tim Crouse. Alex Steeprock, Pierce Smith and Brendan Gibson tallied assists, as did a player wearing #46 who was not identified by name on the box score.

In the May 29 game, the teams were tied after the opening period but a four-goal barrage in the second and tight defense in the closing stanza resulted in a 6-4 win for the Mohawk squad. Glasgow scored the opening goal 2:06 into the game after taking a pass from Thrasher. Peyton Vanbibber followed suit with 11:16 to go in the frame, with assists from Moore and Thrasher. Onondaga's Nate Sullivan put the Red Hawks in the game with 5:27 left in the first period, assisted by Eccles and Steeprock. Leland Powless tied the game just over a minute later, with assists going to Eccles and Levi Cotter.

The Medicine Men took over the game in the second period and held on for the win. That was thanks for a four-goal barrage from Bressette, Huaitt, Moore and Frank David. Assists on those plays went to Bobby Todd and David picked up single assists on those plays. Sose George contributed helpers to two of the goals. Gavin Hill picked up back-to-back third frame goals for Onondaga, assisted by Darren Vanevery and Cotter.

In between those two games, the Medicine Men lost to the Seneca War Chiefs 13-8 on June 3 in an away game.

Nick Henrie breaks through the Red Hawks defense during their June 8 game.

The Medicine Men are scheduled to play at Onondaga on June 15 at 8 p.m. They will return home to play Seneca on June 17 at 7:30 p.m. and Onondaga on June 19 at 8:30 p.m.