Shamrocks Defeat Island Rivals

The Tier 1Junior ‘B’  Shamrocks saw a winning streak come to an end Sunday with a loss on the road to the New Westminster Salmonbellies, but they bounced back with a hard-fought 12-10 home floor victory Tuesday against the Nanaimo Timbermen.

The Shamrocks jumped out to an early lead, Travis Pullan scoring at 2:40 with a hard sho tfrom outside the dotted line.  Nanaimo didn’t reply until 9:50 when Hank Wulder found twine in close.  The home team didn’t wait long to respond as Patrick Dodds scored just 20 seconds later, finishing some quick passes around the slot.  Jared Wendt got on a bit of a break to score a rare goal at 16:36 to put the Rocks up by a pair but before the period ended, Nanaimo got those 2 back, off the sticks of Justin Reedeker and Kyle Drouin at 16:41 and 19:46 respectively, the latter coming with the man advantage.

In the middle period it was the visitors scoring early, Cole Christiaens finding the top corner at 1:08.  Seconds later, Victoria starting goaltender Nolan Dalep left with what appeared to be an injury, to be replaced by Ryan Atkinson.  Drouin collected his second for the visitors on the power play at 4:50 with a long shot through traffic.  Victoria got on a 3-goal run, Denton Macdonald scoring at 6:05 with a hard shot from outside the dotted line.  They got a power play marker from Patrick Dodds at 7:01 and another goal with the man advantage off the stick of Owen Russell at 10:25, capitalizing on an interference call against the visitors and getting on a run. The 1-goal lead held up for just a little over a minute as Nanaimo got the tying goal from Wulder, his second of the game at 11:44.  The T'Men then added 3 more to go up by a 9-6 score by 14:47. The Rocks bounced back again with Liam Phillips scoring an unassisted goal at the 16-minute mark off a loose ball in front.  Casey Wilson pulled the home team within a goal at 18:10 with a power play goal on a quick stick from the side of the crease and 48 seconds later, Brody Black tied the score at 9 after intercepting an outlet pass from Nanaimo goaltender Darian Claxton.

Jonathan Boyd scored early in period 3, off a rebound in front, just 1:19 into the final frame to regain Victoria’s lead but again Nanaimo’s power play connected at3:48, Christiaens getting on a run.  The Shamrocks managed to kill the remainder of what was a 5-minute major with Patrick Dodds outstanding on the rag.  Things were once again tied 10-10.  The Shamrocks pulled ahead with a shorthanded marker from Boyd at 12:13 and Casey Wilson picked up his second of the contest at 13:34 to lock up the win.  That was all they needed as they ran the clock and, despite pulling the goaltender Nanaimo was unable to capitalize.

Patrick Dodds and Casey Wilson each had a pair of goals and 2 assists while Jonathan Boyd added 2 goals and 1 helper.  Brody Black ,Denton Macdonald and Travis Pullan each contributed a goal and 2 assists while other goals came from Jared Wendt, Liam Phillips and Owen Russell.

Next up for the Tier 1 Shamrocks is a rematch against the New Westminster Salmonbellies, the team that broke their winning streak, as they come into the Q Centre nex tSaturday, June 2 for a 1:00 game. Following that, you can catch the Junior ‘A’ Shamrocks in action at 4:00 against the Coquitlam Adanacs.