Shamrocks Win Season Opener

The Tier 1 Shamrocks began their second season with a resounding 14-1 victory over the visiting Burnaby Lakers at the Q Centre Saturday.  The Rocks held period leads of 2-0 and 10-1 on the way to the win.

With a very new group of players, the starting goaltender was newcomer Adam Bland for Victoria and Ryan Downie for the visitors.  It took over half a period for anything to show up on the scoreboard when Brodie Wade found twine at 10:18, shooting from his knees in close.  Returnee Jonathon Boyd made it 2-0 for the home side at 17:11 with a quick stick in front and that rounded out the first period scoring with each team taking a minor penalty in the opening frame.

The second period saw Victoria jump out to a 4-1 lead before Burnaby managed to solve Bland and then rattle off 6 unanswered to take the 10-1 lead after 40 minutes.  The Shamrocks were strong on special teams with 4 shorthanded markers and 2 power play goals among their 8 in the period.  Boyd picked up 2 more to get his hat trick while Wade scored his second.  Other goals came from Brodie Strugnell, Logan Wright, Graham Goodfellow, Aiden Solomon and Evan Law.  The middle frame saw a steady parade to the penalty box, both teams guilty of a lack of discipline at times.

The Shamrocks, with the big lead, rested Bland in period 3, opting to go with Junior B Tier 2 call-up Diego Such between the pipes.  Victoria scored 4 times, one of those on the power play as the penalty parade continued.  Scoring for the Shamrocks were Carson Echlin, Davis McCulley, Law with his second of the contest and Jacob Obee. 

Jonathon Boyd led Victoria’s offense with the hat trick and one helper.  Evan Law and Brodie Wade had a pair of goals each with 3 and 1 assist respectively.  Carson Echlin had a goal and 2 assists with Jacob Obee chipping in a goal and 3 helpers.  Other goal scorers were Aiden Solomon, Graham Goodfellow, Davis McCulley, Logan Wright, and Brodie Strugnell.  Nic Coleman had 3 assists. 

Next action for the Tier 1 Junior B Shamrocks is Sunday in Maple Ridge while they return to the Q Center for their next home game next Saturday, May 4 when they will host the Coquitlam Adanacs in a 4:00 pm start.  You can catch the Junior ‘A’ Shamrocks in action prior to that game when they host Port Coquitlam in a 1:00 PM contest.