Rocks Take Game One In Island Playoff Derby

Victoria Takes Game 1 at Home

The old island rivalry heated up at the Q Center Tuesday as the Jr. A Shamrocks hosted the Nanaimo Timbermen in game 1 of the best-of-seven league semi final. In a hard-fought contest the home team came away with a 10-9 victory.

Starting goaltenders were Ashton Brown for the T’Men and Grayson Manning for the Rocks. Ben Pawluk got the home team on the board first, tallying at 4:21 getting in close off a rebound. It took more than 10 minutes before Jett Klassen made it 2-0 Shamrocks with a bullet from outside the dotted line at 14:45. A solo effort from Owen O'Farrell at 18:21 gave Victoria a 3-0 lead heading into the dressing room after 20 minutes. Shots were 16-10 in favour of the Shamrocks.

Victoria opened up a 4-goal lead at 3:02 of the middle frame, Carter Quested’s shot sneaking through. Nanaimo responded with 3 straight goals, the first an unassisted tally by Lincoln Wall at 4:57. Jared Maznik followed up at 7:59 moving across in front and at 11:46 Jordan Vincent cut Victoria’s lead to a single goal with a bullet from the dotted line, that goal coming with the teams playing 4-on-4. It took just 24 seconds for the Rocks’ response, Quested picking up his second of the contest and Dylan Anderson restored the 3-goal lead with an unassisted goal at 13:33. That chased Nanaimo goaltender from the game as Keegan Okino took over between the pipes. The move seemed to rally the visitors as Sam Strother scored just 7 seconds later and Nanaimo captain Andrew Bowman added a solo effort at 17:30 from the side of the net. The score after 2 periods was 6-5 for the Shamrocks, who held a slight edge in shots at 15-12.

The third period was a back-and-forth affair with never more than a 2 goal gap. Victoria’s O'Farrell opened the scoring with his second of the game with a hard shot from well out at 3:22 but Nanaimo replied almost immediately as Matt Boas tallied with a hard, low shot. The visitors drew even as Maznik picked up his second of the game at 5:13 getting in close. Quested picked up his hat trick marker for the home team at 9:05 but the lead held up for just over a minute when Maznik notched his third to tie the score at 8. With time running down, Quested had one more goal in his stick and he scored from the dotted line at 18:29. Nanaimo pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker but the move backfired when Quinn Cramb gobbled up a loose ball in his own end and rambled in for an empty-netter to make it 10-8 for the Shamrocks at 19:39. But it wasn’t over as Nanaimo won the ensuing faceoff and Vincent picked up his second goal of the game with just 11 ticks left on the clock. The T’Men held the edge in shots on goal 20-9 but fell a goal short on the scoreboard.

Leading the way offensively for the Shamrocks was Carter Quested with 4 goals. Owen O' Farrell chipped in a pair of goals and 2 assists, Dylan Anderson a goal and 2 helpers and Greyson Thompson 3 assists. Singles came from Ben Pawluk, Quinn Cramb and Jett Klassen. Jared Maznik led the visitors with a hat trick while Jordan Vincent had a pair of goals and Lincoln Wall a 5-point night on a goal and 4 assists.

The series switches to Nanaimo for game 2 Friday evening with both teams returning to the Q Center for game 3 Saturday afternoon at 3:30 pm.

- Janice Huckin