The Chiefs walked into Central Arena Thursday night facing a 2-0 deficit in their best-of-seven Ontario Lacrosse Association Jr. A series with the Akwesasne Indians. By the time they emerged a few hours later, the Chiefs were leading 2-1.

The swing occurred in part because of a protest filed by Chiefs' general manager Glen Little. His protest was based on Akwesasne's use of two Cornwall Jr. B players, Blake Kenny and Justin Ingram in Wednesday's game. (Kenny scored an important third-period goal that gave Akwesasne an 8-5 lead in a game they won 8-6).

"It's not the way I want to win a game but I'm sick and tired of people not following the rules," Little said.

The league's rules state that in the playoffs, a team may only use players signed to Jr. A cards, playing on affiliated Jr. B, intermediate or midget teams, or players that have been drafted by the team.

Neither player was drafted by Akwesasne and the team is not affiliated with Cornwall. A couple of hours before the game, Jr. A commissioner Dean McLeod ruled in the Chiefs' favour awarding Burlington the victory.

McLeod said Akwesasne officials told him the players were on Jr. A cards earlier in the season but were reclassified to Jr. B cards and then assigned to a non-affiliated team. They believed because they owned their Jr. A rights, they were still eligible to play.

"It was an honest mistake. There was absolutely no attempt at deceit," McLeod said, noting that both players were designated as affiliates on the game sheet. "It's regrettable from their part but had they called me to ask my interpretation before the game, I would have said, plain and simple, 'There's no way you can use those players.'"

McLeod said he could only remember one other instance, three years ago, of the rule overturning a game -- at least until this week, when it came up twice in 48 hours (a similar protest was filed in the Six Nations/Peterborough series).

Both Little and Burlington captain Brendan Farrer had talked about the importance one Chiefs win could mean in turning the series around. While that first victory didn't exactly transpire as they imagined, it certainly had the effect they had hoped for.

The Chiefs went out on the floor after receiving the news of the successful protest and proved they can win games there as well. They scored four unanswered goals, three of them in the third period, to win 9-6.

Burlington's penalty killing continued to shine as the Chiefs scored two more shorthanded goals, giving them four in the series. They have also yet to surrender a power-play goal to Akwesasne in 18 chances.

Burlington was ahead 5-3 midway through the game but Akwesasne regained the lead with three goals in four minutes. Second-period lapses had cost the Chiefs in the first two games of the series and it looked like they might be headed for another.

Instead, Matt Hicks' goal late in the period tied the game 6-6 and the Chiefs killed another penalty to keep the game deadlocked.

Kevin Brownell then gave Burlington the lead midway through the third period with a power-play marker.

Jordan MacIntosh would score twice in the next four minutes and Jason Crawford blanked Akwesasne over the final 23 minutes, making 14 of his 42 saves in the final period, to secure the victory.

Kiel Matisz had two goals and two assists while Dylan MacDougall, Tyler Midwinter and Chris Moulson also scored for the Chiefs.

Games 4 and 5 of the series will be played in Akwesasne on Saturday and Sunday. If necessary, Game 6 is set for Tuesday night at Central Arena at 8 p.m.