Rocks Win Home Opener

The Jr. ‘A’ Shamrocks improved their record to 2-1 with a 14-8 home floor victory over the visiting Port Coquitlam Saints Saturday at the Q Centre.

Will Kinnaird got the nod in goal for the Shamrocks with Karter Wilson taking up the position at the Saints’ end of the floor.  The home team jumped out to an early lead, Ben Preston tallying just 45 seconds into the game with a jump shot from right in front.  A shorthanded goal from the stick of Cole Pickup at 2:40 made it 2-0 and that was followed up by a Braylon Lumb marker at 3:31 and Preston’s second of the night at 4:58. Port Coquitlam closed the gap with 3 goals of their own beginning with Daylan Kellough’s goal at 11:21 as he beat Kinnaird from the slot, that goal coming on the power play.  Kellough connected again at 12:08 with a low, hard shot and made it a true hat trick at 16:21, another power play marker from outside the dotted line.  That made it a 1-goal difference but theShamrocks came back with a pair before the end of the period, Griffin Wilson finding twine from right in front at 17:13 and Skyler Wilson putting one behind Williams with just 5 ticks left on the clock to make it 6-3 going into the dressing rooms after 20 minutes.  Shots on goal were even at 16 apiece.

The second period saw the visitors outscore the Shamrocks by a 4-3 margin, however, it was Victoria getting things started at 5:27 when Pickup got his second of the game at 5:27.  PoCo’s Graydon Bradley answered at the 6:08 mark on a run, getting in close, but Brian Robb restored the 4-goal lead just 18 seconds later with the teams playing 4-on-4.  The Saints, bolstered by reinforcements from the West Shore Bears Jr. B team, made a game of it, going on a 3-goal run with Chris Reid, Kellough with his 4^th and Nick Agnoletto tallying to bring the visitors within a goal.  Skylar Wilson managed to put the Shamrocks ahead by a pair at 18:20, with his second.

The third period was all Victoria as they rattled off 5 straight to begin the period, starting with a power play goal from Robb at the 3:42 mark, starting a run of 4 goals within just less than 2 minutes.  That was followed by Griffin Wilson’s second of the night at 4:21 and a pair by Lumb at 4:47 and 5:35 to give him the hat trick. Robb picked up his hat trick marker shorthanded at 10:35 to make it 14-7 before Port Coquitlam managed one more at 16:51 off the stick of Ty Goff.

Cole Pickup led Victoria’s offense with an 8-point night on 2 goals and 6 helpers while Braylon Lumb had the hat trick and 4 assists for 7 points.  Brian Robb had 3 goals and 3 assists while Skyler Wilson had 2 goals and 4 helpers. Ben Preston and Griffin Wilson also had a pair of goals apiece.  Will Kinnaird had a solid outing between the pipes with 35 saves.

The Shamrocks hit the road Sunday for a game against the Coquitlam Adanacs and return to the Q Centre next Saturday, May 6 at 7:30 to host the Burnaby Lakers.

-      Janice Huckin