Sam on Sports: Greg Elijah-Brown
By Sam Laskaris
ONEIDA NATION OF THE THAMES – Greg Elijah-Brown is hoping an already successful lacrosse season will get even better in the coming days.
One can’t help but cheer for Elijah-Brown knowing the commitment he himself makes.
Elijah-Brown, a 22-year-old member of the Oneida Nation of the Thames, is in his first season of playing Senior lacrosse. He’s a rookie with the Six Nations Rivermen who compete in the Ontario Series Lacrosse (OSL).
While many of his teammates live on Six Nations, Elijah-Brown has a somewhat lengthy journey just to make it to the Rivermen games and practices.
It usually takes him 90 minutes to drive from his home to Six Nations. That’s a three-hour, round-trip commute, half of it after a rigorous match or training session.
Elijah-Brown, however, certainly isn’t complaining about his 2023 lacrosse season.
Despite being a rookie, and the fact he missed four of the club’s regular season outings, he finished fourth in team scoring. He racked up 40 points (19 goals and 21 assists) in a dozen matches.
Elijah-Brown has followed that up by averaging more than two points per outing in seven playoff games so far.
And things are going to get a lot more exciting in the coming days for Elijah-Brown and the Rivermen.
That’s because the Six Nations squad will be participating in this year’s Presidents Cup, the national men’s Senior B tournament.
The Rivermen earned a spot into the seven-team Canadian tourney by advancing to the OSL championship final series.
The Presidents Cup will begin this Sunday, Aug. 27, and continue until Sept. 2.
The OSL’s Oakville Rock is hosting the national championship. As the host, Oakville had an automatic entry into the event.
And since the OSL is allowed to have two representatives in the tournament, Elijah-Brown and his teammates knew they would also compete at the nationals when they advanced to the OSL final.
Oakville beat the Rivermen 2-1 in the best-of-three league final.
But Elijah-Brown and the Rivermen are full of confidence heading into the Canadian tournament. Members of the Six Nations squad are confident they have what it takes to capture the national title.
After winning the OSL crown in 2022, the Rivermen went on to participate and place third in the Presidents Cup staged in Edmonton last summer.
The Six Nations organization also competed in and won the 2019 national championship, staged in Kahnawake, a Mohawk community located just south of Montreal.
Elijah-Brown had finished off his junior career playing at the Junior A level in Burlington last summer. He had also spent a portion of his junior career toiling with the Six Nations Rebels, a Junior B club.
So, he kind of had his sights set on playing with the Rivermen this season. He was planning to reach out to the squad this past spring.
But Layne Smith, one of the Six Nations veteran leaders, beat him to the punch and contacted Elijah-Brown to see if he was interested in joining the team.
The fact he was able to produce consistently doing his rookie Senior season – and knowing the Rivermen will vie for a national title – Elijah-Brown is rather content these days.
Plus, he’s got even more to look forward to.
Elijah-Brown was a student/athlete the past two school years at Onondaga Community College in the state of New York.
He’s now preparing for his first year at Syracuse University. Elijah-Brown was expected to move into his Syracuse home on Friday.
But he’ll be back for the Rivermen’s Presidents Cup opener on Sunday.
If things go well, Elijah-Brown and his Six Nations teammates just might have a perfect ending to their season shortly thereafter.