Rocks Fall to Saints

The Jr. Shamrocks, coming off a win against their island rivals, the Nanaimo Timbermen, were unable to maintain that momentum as they fell 14-7 to the Port Coquitlam Saints Sunday on the mainland.

Intermediate ‘A’ Shamrocks call-up Spencer Erwin started in goal while Andrew Gallant suited up at the other end. The Rocks actually got off to a quick start, scoring the first two goals of the game. Marshall King got things started at 6:22, getting in close. Rees Cullen made it 2-0 at 12:45 and things looked good for the boys in green. As has been their fate all season, things fell apart rather quickly as the Saints rebounded for 9 straight before the Shamrocks would again find the net. PoCo responded with 3 goals in less than 2 minutes as Greg Lunde, Brody Gillespie and Ty Klarner tallied at 13:21, 14:21 and 15:10 respectively. They added another pair before the period ended, those coming off the sticks of Tanner Rennich and Keegan Bell, the last coming with just 2 ticks left on the clock. That sent the home team to the dressing room with a 5-2 lead as they outshot the visitors 23-15 over the first 20 minutes.

Port Coquitlam kept the onslaught going as they rattled off the first 4 goals of the middle frame by the 5:13 mark. The first came on the power play and the 4th, the Saints’ 9th of the contest, chased Erwin in favour of Mitchell Gurney between the pipes for Victoria. The Shamrocks responded with a couple of goals. Brad McCulley tallied at 6:44 from the dotted line. King picked up his second of the game at 7:14 but PoCo replied with a pair before Brock Thompson-Marshall found twine for the Rocks on a run at 18:24. The Saints again held the edge in shots on goal by an 18-15 margin, making it 41-30 over two periods and they led the game 11-5.

Victoria managed a power play goal early in the final period. It was King picking up his hat trick marker from outside the dotted line at 2:26. Klarner replied for the home team at the 5-minute mark but Nick Preston got that one back for the Rocks at 9:21. Unfortunately that was all the offense the boys in green could find as the Saints got a bad angle goal at 17:09 from Lunde and Graydon Bradley added an empty netter at 18:47 to provide the margin of victory.

Another tough outing for the Shamrocks as they got the hat trick from Marshall King, singles from Brad McCulley, Brock Thompson-Marshall, Rees Cullen and Nick Preston. Eddie Smith chipped in 3 helpers in a losing cause.

The Rocks sit in 6th place in the league standings with a 5-9 record and 7 games remaining in the season. They are actually tied in points with the Langley Thunder, however, Langley holds 2 games in hand. Both teams are well ahead of Burnaby and Nanaimo. Next up for the Shamrocks is a home game Sunday, June 19 when they host the Delta Islanders. That game will be played at Westhills Arena starting at 5:00 pm.

- Janice Huckin