Rocks Drop Game 1 at Minto

The Junior Shamrocks saw their first action Monday at the Minto Cup in Brampton, dropping a 9-7 overtime game to the Ontario runner-up Toronto Beaches.  Adam Bland was in goal for the Rocks with William Johnston at the Toronto end of the floor.

Victoria got on the board first, Casey Wilson with his first of four in the game just 57 seconds into period 1.  Wilson, along with Noah Manning and Trent Dicicco had just returned from participating in the U-21 World Lacrosse Championships in Ireland and had an immediate impact.  Toronto scored the next two goals, Greg Palmer connecting at 4:04 and Josh Fairey at 8:23 to open up a 2-1 lead.  Wilson picked up his second at 9:18 to tie things up but Toronto went on a 3-goal run.  Scoring for the Beaches were Matt Collison, Cam Acchione and Willem Firth.  Dylan Johannes got one back for the Rocks at 15:22 to make it 5-3 after 20 minutes.

Victoria carried much of the momentum in the middle frame, outscoring the Beaches 3-2 although it was Toronto opening up a 6-3 lead on a marker from Collison, his second at7:02.  Wilson picked up his hat trick goal at 11:05 before Collison got his hat trick goal at 16:34 on the power play.  Victoria came back with a pair of power play goals of their own, Patrick Dodds scoring at 18:10 from the side of the net and Wilson with his fourth of the contest with a quick stick in front at 18:56.  That send the Irish to the dressing room down by a goal after two periods.

The Shamrocks forced overtime with the only goal of the final period, Noah Manning going across in close at 13:43.

In the full 10-minute overtime it was Toronto scoring a pair to put away the victory, Firth and Palmer each collecting their second goals of the contest.

Casey Wilson was named Victoria’s player of the game with 4 goals and 1 assist.  Noah Manning had a goal and 3 helpers while Patrick Dodds chipped in a goal and 2 assists.  Dylan Johannes had the other Shamrocks goal while Mitch Sandberg and Davis McCulley each added 2 assists and Trent Dicicco had 3 helpers.

For Toronto Matt Collison had 3 goals and 1 assist while Greg Palmer and Willem Firth each had a pair of goals with 1 and 4 helpers respectively, Firth picking up player of the game honors.  Cam Acchione and Josh Fairey each had a goal and Jacob Hickey added 5 assists.

Next up for the Shamrocks is a battle against Ontario champion Whitby Warriors Tuesday at 5 pm Pacific Time.

In Monday’s other contest it was Whitby winning in overtime against Alberta representative Edmonton Miners.