Jr. Rocks Thumped At Home

June 22, 2015

After a really strong road effort against Delta Saturday, the Jr. Shamrocks laid a big egg Sunday in front of the home fans, losing 16-3 to the league-leading Adanacs. A pancake would not have been any flatter than the Rocks out of the gate.

Charles Claxton got the start in goal for the Shamrocks with Christian DelBianco at the other end. Claxton must have felt literally like a sitting duck in the arcade in the early going and Victoria’s defense was on the floor for pretty much the first 7 minutes of the opening period during which the Adanacs went up by a 3-0 score. They were up 7-0 before the Shamrocks finally solved DelBianco and that was Cole Pickup scoring on a hard shot which the goalie got a piece of. That came at the 18:12 mark and that was how the period ended, 7-1 for the visitors. Liam Reid relieved Claxton for the final 3:27 of the period but Claxton was back to start the second period.

Unfortunately the Adanacs continued their domination in period 2, outscoring the Shamrocks 3-1 with the shots even at 14 apiece. For the Shamrocks it was McLean Chicquen finding twine, again late in the period, getting in close at 15:14.

Coquitlam ran the score to 11-2 just 29 seconds into the final frame and Matt Hamilton replied for the Shamrocks at the 6:01 mark but they were no match as Coquitlam added 3 more to romp away with the win. There was some spirit shown by a couple of the Shamrocks, Max Cullen getting into a fight around the 5-minute mark, trying to rally his mates.

I can’t remember ever leaving a Jr. Shamrocks game early but I did exactly that Sunday, leaving with 6 minutes left. It was, to say the least, a very disappointing outing leaving us wondering what happened to the team that beat Delta and looked so sound just 24 hours earlier.

There are just a handful of games left in the season for the Jr. Shamrocks, who sit in third place in the league with 20 points, 2 points behind Delta and 2 ahead of New Westminster who holds a game in hand. Langley and Nanaimo are chasing with 12 and 11 points respectively. Up next for the Jr. Rocks is a home game next Saturday, June 27 against the Langley Thunder. That will be a 5:00 pm start at the Q Centre.

-Janice Huckin