Goaltenders Matt Vinc and Evan Kirk alternated starts in helping the Peterborough Lakers win the Canadian indoor title last September, and now they are about to plant themselves at opposite ends of the floor in the NLL’s championship series.

They are friends who are about to be foes with the NLL Cup at stake. Kirk, 30, of the Saskatchewan Rush and Vinc, 35, of the Rochester Knighthawks will be front and centre when the best-of-three NLL finals begin Saturday in Saskatoon and continue June 2 in Rochester.

“It’s kind of surreal,” Kirk said. “He’s one of my idols. It’ll be tough because he’s a friend but, when it comes to trying to win this cup, your teammates are the guys you stand with. So there’ll be no friendships on game nights, just competition.”

Kirk is from Orangeville, Ontario, and was in his teens when he first saw Vinc tend goal when he went to a Junior A game his big brother Mike Kirk and the Northmen were playing against Vinc and the St. Catharines Athletics. Seven years later, they were teammates on Canada’s silver medal team at the 2010 world field lacrosse championships. Evan was one of the goalies in Manchester, England. Matt plays defense in the field version of the sport.

They became NLL opponents after Kirk got drafted by Minnesota in 2011. Vinc had entered the league in 2006 and was with Rochester by then. Kirk always takes it as a supreme challenge to be at the opposite end of the floor from Vinc in NLL games. Playing Rochester also meant going up against his brother, who had become a defenseman with the Knighthawks. When Evan won the award for best goalie in 2016 when he was with New England, one of the most satisfying aspects of it was earning an award Vinc had won.

The novel part of this relationship kicked in three years ago when they both signed to play summer ball in Peterborough. Last summer, the Lakers won the Ontario championship and went to British Columbia to face the New Westminster Salmonbellies in a best-of-seven series for the Canadian title. Vinc started Game 1, Kirk started Game 2, and they alternated through Game 6 when, with Kirk in the nets, the Lakers finished the series. Kirk and Vinc celebrated with their teammates.

“It was great,” Kirk recalled. “We both have a mutual respect for one another. I’ve always looked up to Matt. Winning a Mann Cup with one of the best goalies in history was really cool.”

They didn’t talk much about sharing the crease during the trip west.

“We just knew we were going every other game and we had faith in each another,” Kirk said.

“Evan and I have had a great relationship for years and I really think that is because we are both really similar off the floor and in our approach to preparations for our starts,” Vinc said. “During our time as goalie partners in Peterborough, I think we both loved sharing minutes and being great teammates. He had already won Mann Cups in Six Nations and always said we were going to get one together.”

But only one of them will get to celebrate with the new NLL Cup next month.

Rochester won both games it played against Saskatchewan this season. When Kirk and Vinc meet, they update each other on personal stuff. They sometimes text back and forth.

In the NLL championship series, Kirk won’t pay a lot of attention to what Vinc is doing, and Vinc won’t play a lot of attention to what Kirk is doing.

“Obviously, I want to outcompete any counterpart out there,” Kirk said. “But I’ve got to concentrate on the shooters I’m playing against and not Matt.”

Rochester coach Mike Hasen also coaches in Peterborough during the summer.

“It’s great because they are two goalies who respect each other,” he said of the Vinc-Kirk summer partnership. “Each wants to play every single game he can, but both are quite happy working together and taking their turn. When their turn comes, they are focused and ready to go. Between periods, they’ll be talking about what the other guy sees. They have a very good relationship.”

Only one will get an NLL championship ring this spring. Vinc already has three. Kirk will be trying for his first.

“It is always weird to play against friends but, in some ways, you have friends on every team you play,” Vinc said. “I know playing against him it is going to be a battle and our forwards are going to have their hands full, especially because he had an extra week to prepare.”