Jr. Rocks Dominate Lakers

May 24, 2015

The Jr. Shamrocks hosted the Burnaby Lakers Saturday at the Q Centre and it was basically no contest as the home team held period leads of 6-1 and 9-3 on their way to a 14-8 thrashing of the Lakers.

Charles Claxton got the start in goal for the Shamrocks while Matthew Han got the nod at the other end of the floor. Nobody hit the scoresheet until 6:53 when Cole Pickup got a pass coming to the net to get things started for the Shamrocks. After that, it was a goalfest as Max Fredrickson tallied at 10:18 with an almost-identical play, followed by Ryan Lewis at 12:03 and again at 16:15, that one coming on the power play. Jake Cullen tallied a pair at 17:44 and 19:00 before the Lakers finally solved Claxton with just 8 ticks left on the clock, Danny Spagnuola finding the back of the net.

The second period was more of the same. When the Shamrocks made it 7-1 at the 9:29 mark, Fredrickson picking up his second in close on a delayed penalty call, Claxton made way for backup Liam Reid to gain some valuable game experience. The home tallied on the power play at 16:10, McLean Chicquen doing the damage and Jamie Jensen made it 9-1 at the 17:05 mark, getting on a run. Burnaby replied with a pair before the period ended, the first coming from Jesse Gastaldo with 2 minutes left and the final coming at 19:17, a shorthanded marker at the hands of Anthony Quatrano.

Each team scored 5 goals in the final frame to provide the margin of victory. It was a pretty dominant performance by the Shamrocks despite letting down a little in the late going and improves their record to 6-2, two points behind the league leading Delta Islanders who suffered their first loss at the hands of the Coquitlam Adanacs in other Saturday action.

Leading the way for the Shamrocks was a quartet of players with hat tricks. Cole Pickup led all scorers with 3 goals and 6 helpers while Jake Cullen and Max Fredrickson each had 3 goals and 4 assists. Ryan Lewis had the other hat trick. Singles came from McLean Chicquen and Jamie Jensen who also chipped in an assist each. Matt Hamilton and Nick Preston chipped in 3 assists apiece.

The Shamrocks finished the weekend with a road game in Coquitlam. It was a game that the Rocks were hoping to win and thereby win the season series after an earlier victory. It was not to be, however, as the Adanacs scored 3 unanswered goals in the final period to come away with a 10-6 win. Ryan Lewis picked up a pair of goals and 1 assist for the Shamrocks. Max Fredrickson had a goal and 2 helpers while Nick Preston also had a 3-point night with 3 assists. Singles came from Cole Pickup, Jake Cullen and Zac Christianson.

The Rocks are next in action next Saturday, May 30 at the Q Centre when they will host the New Westminster Salmonbellies at 5:00 pm.

Janice Huckin