Rocks Pick up 3 of 4 Points

The Tier 1 Junior ‘B’ Shamrocks picked up 3 of a possible 4 points on the Canada Day long weekend.  Saturday they crossed the Malahat and fought the Nanaimo Timbermen to a 7-7 overtime tie and Sunday they returned to the Q Center to pick up a 9-8 overtime victory against the visiting Maple Ridge Burrards to finish their regular season.

In Sunday’s home contest it was Nolan Dalep getting the start in goal for Victoria with Lucas Price his counterpart for the Burrards.  The Rocks jumped out to an early lead, Jonathon Boyd connecting from the dotted line just 17 seconds after the opening faceoff.  Riley Hawes made it 2-0 for the home team at 5:18 with an unassisted tally on a breakaway, that goal coming shorthanded.  Maple Ridge would reply before the period ended, Sawyer Morais finding twine from just inside the dotted line at 15:28 and that was all the scoring in the opening frame as the Shamrocks held a 15-10 edge in shots on goal.

Period 2 opened with the visitors scoring twice, both goals coming from Morais at 4:24 and 4:46 as he got in close to put the ball behind Dalep.  The Rocks pulled even at 6:06, Evan Law finishing off some good ball control around the crease.  Maple Ridge got a goal from Cole Lowe at 7:29 but Victoria replied with a 3-goal run to end the period.  The tying goal came from Graham Goodfellow at 7:55 on a run.  Carson Echlin scored the next two, the first at 13:49 on the power play getting in close and the second to give Victoria a 6-4 lead, at 16:56 from outside the dotted line.  Again it was the Rocks outshooting the Burrards by a 23-18 margin.

The third period saw the Burrards dominate, scoring the first two goals of the period to get the score knotted at 6.  Noah Bradley scored from the dotted line at the 24-second mark and Matt Cameron added another at 1:54.  Victoria regained the lead at 4:55 with Law’s second goal of the game from outside the dotted line, that goal coming with the man advantage.  Maple Ridge responded with 2 goals just 45 seconds apart to regain the lead as Cam Ickert scored at 7:19 and Cameron picked up his second of the game at 7:54.  They would hold the 1-goal lead until 16:43 when Davis McCulley fired a bullet from way outside the dotted line to knot the score at 8 with shots on goal in Victoria’s favour by a 12-10 margin.  With 60 minutes solving nothing the teams took a 2-minute break before heading into a 10-minute overtime period.

Each team had 8 shots in the extra period but it was Victoria’s Echlin with the game winner at 8:41, his third goal of the game from the dotted line.  Despite pulling the goaltender for an extra attacker in the late going, Maple Ridge was unable to equalize.

Carson Echlin led the way with the hat trick while Evan Law picked up a pair of goals and 2 helpers.  Jonathon Boyd and Davis McCulley each had a 4-point night on a goal and 3 assists.  Singles came from Riley Hawes and Graham Goodfellow.

Saturday, the team was led by Jacob Obee with 4 goals.  Brodie Wade also had a 4 point night on a goal and 3 assists.  Evan Law and Cameron Lumb had the other Victoria goals with Adam Bland making 48 saves to pick up the win in goal. 

The regular season is over for the Tier 1 Shamrocks but other teams have games remaining through the coming week and weekend.  The Rocks currently sit in second place with 27 points, 1 point behind the Coquitlam Adanacs who have 1 game remaining.  Richmond Roadrunners are in third place with 21 points while Port Coquitlam and Delta Islanders each have 20 and all 3 teams have games remaining.  The top 8 teams will compete in playoffs, likely to begin for Victoria the weekend of July