Jr. Shamrocks Salvage Weekend with Road Win

The Jr. Shamrocks are still winless so far this season at the Q Centre but managed to come up with a weekend split with a win in Port Coquitlam Sunday after dropping a 12-10 decision at home against Langley.

Saturday’s game was close throughout, as Langley led after the first period by a 5-4 margin, however, Victoria had the score tied at the end of 40 minutes. The Shamrocks got some outstanding play from their special teams as they scored once on the power play and 3 times while playing shorthanded. They took a 10-9 lead at 13:15 of the final period but Langley pushed back to score the final 3 goals of the game, the last one at 19:59 of the game. In doing so, the Thunder won their first game of the season while the Shamrocks extended their losing streak to 3 games. Victoria got a hat trick from Braylon Lumb and 2 goals and 1 assist from Brad McCulley. Singles came from Zack Homer, Tyler Mace, Eddie Smith, Colten Merilainen and Nick Preston while Cole Pickup added 3 assists.

The key to the win for Langley was clearly their intermediate ‘A’ call-up goaltender, Torin Vanrheesen who stopped 47 shots to pick up the win and Nathan McKeigan’s 7-point night on a pair of goals and 5 helpers.

The Shamrocks rebounded Sunday to pick up a road win in Port Coquitlam, defeating the Saints 11-9. The Rocks went up by a 3-1 score after the first period. The score stayed close throughout, although the home team never held a lead. By the same token, Victoria never held a lead of more than 2 goals as momentum switched back and forth.

After 2 periods, the Rocks were still up, only by 1 goal by a 7-6 margin. With the score 9-8 in favour of the Shamrocks, Port Coquitlam pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker. Much to their dismay, a shot rebounded all the way back down the floor to enter the empty net at 17:48. The goal was credited to Victoria goaltender Mitchell Gurney and proved to be the winner. Keigan Bell got one back for the home team at 18:41 but Victoria captain, Matthew Hamilton put the game away with a breakaway at 19:13 to provide the 2-goal margin of victory.

Hamilton finished the night with a hat trick while Cole Pickup chipped in a goal and 5 helpers. Colten Merilainen added 2 goals and 1 assists with other goals coming from Brock Thompson-Marshall, Eddie Smith, Tyler Mace, Daniel Smith and Mitch Gurney. The result has the Shamrocks in 5th place, 2 points behind both Port Coquitlam and New Westminster. Next up for the Shamrocks is a home game next Saturday, May 28. They will host the Burnaby Lakers at 5:00 pm at the Q Centre.
- Janice Huckin