Rocks Take Adanacs in Game 1

The Victoria Junior ‘A’ Shamrocks opened the playoffs with a 10-5 win over the visiting Coquitlam Adanacs Saturday at the Q Center.  The Rocks got a first round bye, finishing first in the regular season while the Adanacs had defeated the Burnaby Lakers to advance to the semi-final.

Starting goaltenders were Adam Bland for the home team and Connor Nichols for the Adanacs.  Coquitlam got on the scoresheet first, Max Sample netting a power play goal at the 42-second mark, off a rebound in front.  The Rocks replied at 2:16, Noah Manning finding twine to the far side.  The visitors took the lead again at 3:15, Ty Banks scoring shorthanded on a run but Victoria’s power play got that one back, again off the stick of Manning, at 5:03, finishing off some quick passes.  Manning got his hat trick goal at 8:22 to give the Rocks their first lead of the contest, cutting to the net.  Mitchell Sandberg added to Victoria’s lead at 9:32 putting a shot off the goaltender and in.  Patrick Dodds extended the lead just 20 seconds later from outside the dotted line.  At 18:11 Casey Wilson connected for the Shamrocks to make it 6-2, a hard shot that dribbled through.  Before the period ended, Luke Turenne replied for the visitors.  That gave the boys in green a 6-3 lead heading into the dressing room after 20 minutes.

Period 2 saw just 2 goals scored, 1 by each team.  First it was Dodds picking up his second of the game at 1:49 getting in close.  Adam Noakes replied for the Adanacs at 11:18, putting the ball over goaltender Bland.

Victoria opened scoring in the final frame, Sandberg picking up his second of the game at 6:25 with a hard shot from outside the dotted line.  David Charney got that one back for the visitors at 9:05 with the teams playing 4-on-4 but a pair of Victoria power play goals put the game out of reach.  Wilson picked up his second of the contest at 11:37 with a quick stick from the side of the net and Manning picked up his fourth at 16:52 in close to make the final score 10-5.

Noah Manning paced the winners with 4 goals and 3 assists while Patrick Dodds had a 6-point night on a pair of goals and 4 helpers.  Casey Wilson and Mitchell Sandberg each had a pair of goals and chipped in 3 and 1 assist respectively. Trent Dicicco had 4 assists, Isaac Swan 2 assists with Aido Solomon and Denton Macdonald each contributing an assist.  Adam Bland was outstanding in goal kicking out 41 of the 48 shots he faced to pick up the win.

Game 2 is Sunday in Coquitam with game 3 coming back to the Q Center next Saturday, July 23 at 4:00 pm.

In the other semi-final, the Langley Thunder came from behind to defeat the Nanaimo Timbermen 14-13 in the hub city.  They also face each other in game 2 Sunday on the mainland.