Jr. Shamrocks Drop a Pair

It was indeed a long weekend for the Jr. Shamrocks as they dropped a pair of games, one on the road and the other at home to drop to fourth place in the standings with a 4-5 record.

The troubles started on the road Saturday when they went into Langley to face the Thunder, a team they defeated at home last weekend. Victoria got behind the 8-ball early, trailing by a 4-0 score after the first 20 minutes.  Three of Langley’s goals came off special teams, one shorthanded and 2 on the power play.  The Rocks battled back in the second, outscoring the home team 4-2 to trail 6-4.  The visitors got some special teams scoring themselves, one on the power play and the other shorthanded while one of Langley’s goals came on the power play.  Unfortunately things fell apart for the Shamrocks in the third, as they managed just 2 goals against 5 for Langley.  A couple of those goals came into the empty net and one was an unfortunate misplay by Shamrocks goaltender ?Will Kinnaird but the final was still 11-6 for the Thunder.  Braylon Lumb led Victoria’s offense with the hat trick while Brad McCulley had a goal and 2 assists, Jake Campbell added 1of each with the other coming from Nick Preston with his brother Ben chipping in a couple of helpers.

You might have thought things wouldn’t get better when the Rocks hosted the Coquitlam Adanacs, the team perennially at the top of the standings, Sunday but the home team held their own through the first period, as the score was tied 4-4 but once again their offense failed to produce in the final 40 minutes as they fell 12-6, suffering their third straight defeat.

The Shamrocks got the ball rolling just 28 seconds in when Ben Preston scored from the dotted line.  Coquitlam replied with a pair, Philip Buque scoring at 2:45 and Dennon Armstrong at 4:44.  Not to be outdone, Victoria came back with two of their own to re-take the lead.  It was Jake Campbell scoring unassisted at 9:29 with the teams playing 4-on-4 and Skyler Wilson making it 3-2 at 10:28 with a bit of a dipsy doodle fake and shoot in close.  After the Adanacs tied the score once again at 13:31, the teams traded goals, Braylon Lumb scoring at 14:57 with a nifty over the shoulder shot and Buque coming up with his second for the Adanacs at 16:32.

The Shamrocks scored first in the second period, Cole Pickup getting a shorthanded goal at 5:29 but it was all Coquitlam after that, as they scored 5 straight to take the 9-5 lead after 40 minutes.  The third period saw the Samrocks getting just one goal, from the stick of Nick Murray while the visitors rattled off 3, including one empty netter.

The Jr. Rocks return to the Q Centre next Saturday at 5:00 pm, their usual home game time when they will host the New Westminster Salmonbellies.  They will be looking to avenge a 16-4 loss at the hands of the ‘Bellies in Queen’s Park Arena last weekend and turn their fortunes around.  The Salmonbellies remain the only undefeated team in the league, however, they will face both the Adanacs and the Langley Thunder before making the ferry trip to the island. 

-      Janice Huckin