Rocks and Saints Battle to a Tie

The Port Coquitlam Saints came into the Q Centre Saturday and the Shamrocks were looking for some redemption after dropping their season opener on the mainland 11-5 to that same Saints team.  They battled for 70 minutes, including a 10-minute overtime, with the score tied after eac hperiod and could not finish the game with a definitive win, the final score12-12.

Starting goaltenders were Cam Dunkerly for the Rocks and Diesel DeGuzman for the visitors.  The Rocks jumped out to an early lead, Skyler Wilson tallying just 1-minute in from the dotted line.  Brayden Brown made it 2-0 at 7:46 with a curve ball that eluded the Saints netminder. Off the ensuing faceoff Dylan Foulds found the back of the net to get the visitors within one, that goal coming unassisted at 7:51.  Before the period ended, Foulds got his second at 14:04 and that was how the period ended, with shots pretty even, the Shamrocks ahead by 1 in that statistic.

Period 2 opened the same way, Victoria getting a power play goal from Ben Preston just 22 seconds in with a bullet from the center dotted line.  Jackson Boyd,  just returned from his school commitments re-gained the 2 goal lead for the Rocks at the 49-second mark, from the side of the crease.  Once again PoCo battled back to score a pair, Foulds getting his hat trick marker at 1:36 and Clark Walters tying the score at 4 at the 3:22 mark,  getting in close.  Cue the Shamrocks power play, Brian Robb pulling the team ahead at 6:49 with a quick stick in close and Preston picking up his second at 8:36 with a highlight reel over-the-shoulder shot in close.  The Saints answered back at 12 minutes, Brodie Gillespie putting one off the goaltender’s back to close the gap to a single goal.  This time Victoria answered quickly, Braylon Lumb tallying at 12:17, going to the net and Preston getting his hat trick goal at 13:43, again on the power play with a bullet from the dotted line.  That made it 8-5 for the Rocks but the visitors got on a 3-goal run with goals from Matt Buchanan, Justin Digby and Walters with his second of the night to send the teams to the dressing room deadlocked at 8-8. Shamrocks held the edge in shots on goal by a 20-14 margin.

The teams continued to trade goals in period 3, Jake Campbell scoring for the Shamrocks at 3:29 from inside the dotted line but Foulds replying for the Saints at 5:11.  Lumb scored a pair to complete his hat trick, the first coming at 6:43 with a quick stick and the second, with the man advantage at 9:40 to open up another 2-goal lead.  The Rocks got into some penalty problems of their own with a double minor that resulted in two Saints power play goals, both from Walters to tie the score by the 12:51 mark.  Victoria took a lead at 14:51 on Campbell’s second goal of the game with a quick stick over the goalie but with the Saints' goaltender on the bench for the extra attacker, Walters got things even with just 11 ticks left on the clock to send the game into overtime.

No scoring in the extra 10 minute period so the 12-12 tie goes into the record.  Offensively, the Rocks were led by a pair of players with 5 point nights, Ben Preston with the hat trick and 2 helpers andJake Campbell with a pair of goals and 3 assists.  Braylon Lumb also had the hat trick and added1 assist with singles coming from Jackson Boyd, Brayden Brown, Skyler Wilson and Brian Robb.  Nick Murray and Tier 1call-up Liam Phillips added a pair of assists.

Next action for the Jr. ‘A’ Shamrocks is a home game next Saturday, May 19 when they will take on the Burnaby Lakers at the Q Centre in a 4:00 pm start.  You can catch the Tier 1 Jr. B Shamrocks also on the 19^th when they will host the Langley Thunder at 1:00 pm.