Rocks Improve Playoff Outlook

July 4, 2015

The Jr. Shamrocks may well have their playoff fortunes in their own hands as they hosted the Port Coquitlam Saints Saturday at the Q Centre and, in a hard-fought game, came away with an 11-7 victory.

While the Saints are a non-playoff bound team, they work hard and don’t give up. They started Andrew Gallant in goal while the home team inserted Charles Claxton between the pipes. It was actually the visitors getting off to a quick start, going up by a pair before the Shamrocks hit the board. Goals for PoCo came from Ty Klarner at 2:52 and Greg Lunde at 44:53 before a power play goal from the stick of Jake Cullen got the Shamrocks going, that goal coming at the 9-minute mark. The Saints re-gained the lead just 1:05 later, Quinton Pavan finding twine. The Shamrocks woke up then as Jamie Jensen scored at 11:20, once again narrowing the gap to a single goal as he collected a quick pass and fired a hard shot to the back of the net. Mattt Hamilton got the home team even with a bullet at 18:16, that coming on the end of some great ball control. Victoria held the edge in shots on goal by a 19-10 margin. The teams were deadlocked at 3 after 20 minutes.

The middle frame saw just two goals scored, both by Victoria and both coming late in the frame as Cullen picked up his second at 16:30 with a hard overhand shot from the dotted line. A shorthanded goal from rookie Nick Preston at 18:03 as he went to the net gave the home team a 2-goal lead going into the dressing room after 2 periods.

By contrast, the teams combined for 10 goals in the final period. Victoria made it a 3-goal lead at the 2:02 mark, Cullen getting his hat trick but just 21 seconds later, PoCo got that one back off the stick of Sahawana Baker. Jensen picked up his second for the Rocks, getting in close at 5:16. The 3-goal lead diminished with Port Coquitlam picking up a pair, the first at 7:12 from Lunde, his second and the other at 12:11, Pavan also getting his second. Suddenly it was a 1-goal game once again. The teams traded goals, Adam Jay getting an unassisted goal at 15:03 on a play on which he was also assessed a penalty for running over the Saints goaltender. On the ensuing power play, Klarmer picked up his second for the Saints to narrow the gap to 8-7. The Rocks got some momentum going late in the period as Ryan Lewis picked up a pair, the first on a bouncer at 16:28 and the second at 19:24, cutting to the net. Danny Smith added an exclamation mark at 19:54 with an empty netter to round out the scoring.

Jake Cullen led Victoria’s offense with the hat trick and 1 assist, Jamie Jensen and Ryan Lewis each contributed a pair of goals while Matt Hamilton and rookie Nick Preston each scored once and added 4 and 3 assists respectively. Singles came from Adam Jay and Danny Smith as the Shamrocks outshot the visitors 44-29 overall.

The Shamrocks currently sit in a second place tie with the Delta Islanders, 2 points ahead of the New Westminster Salmonbellies. All 3 teams have one game remaining, all to be played Sunday. A Victoria win against the Saints on the mainland, coupled with a Delta loss to the league-leading Coquitlam Adanacs would have the Shamrocks holding the home floor advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Conversely, should they end in a tie with either New West or Delta, they would drop down by virtue of losing the season series against both those teams. It’s going to be a close finish to the Jr. A season.

-Janice Huckin