Shamrocks and Thunder Tie at Q Centre

June 27, 2015

The Jr. Shamrocks and Langley Thunder battled to a 9-9 tie Saturday at the Q Centre, both teams battling for playoff positions.

The Shamrocks started Charles Claxton in goal while the Thunder went with Zach Wickett between the wickets. It was the visiting team getting on the board first, Parker Willis scoring from the dotted line at 2:48. A Victoria power play marker drew the Rocks even at 7:02, McLean Chicquen also firing from the dotted line. The teams traded goals once again, Pearson Willis, tallying at 8:13 as they passed from side to side. Once again, they surrendered the lead, this time just 25 seconds later as Max Fredrickson found twine with a hard low shot at 8:38. The Shamrocks put on a great 4-minute penalty kill but before the period ended, Langley took the lead, Alex Gibbs scoring a power play goal 5-hole on Claxton at 16:27. That made it 3-2 for Langley heading to the dressing room.

Period 2 saw the Shamrocks come back to tie things, Matt Hamilton getting in off the opening faceoff to score just 19 seconds then. After that, the game seemed to be getting away from the guys in green as Langley scored 4 straight to take a 7-3 lead by the 11:05 mark. One of those came with the man advantage and yet another with a man disadvantage. Victoria got back into the game in the second half of the period as Cole Pickup scored twice, the first coming on the power play at 15:16 and the other on a break at 16:35, Claxton picking up an assist on that marker. The Shamrocks were still down by a score of 7-5 but weren’t quitting.

The Shamrocks pulled within a goal at 1:02 of the final frame, Danny Smith getting in close. Langley restored the 2-goal lead on a goal at 6:51 by Ethan Goodman as he scored from the side of the net. The home team seemed to wake up as they went on a 4-goal spree, starting just 10 seconds later as Nate Wade went in straight from the faceoff to make it a 1-goal game once again. Hamilton picked up his second of the contest at 12:47 with a great second effort, picking up a rebound in front with the teams playing 4 aside. Nate Wade gave the Shamrocks their first lead of the game with another unassisted tally, off the faceoff at 12:54, a lead that held up until the 19:16 mark when Langley, with their goaltender on the bench for the extra attacker found a way to get the ball behind Claxton to tie the game at 9. Ten minutes of overtime solved nothing and the result goes into the book as a 9-9 tie.

Leading the way offensively for Victoria were Nate Wade, Matt Hamilton and Cole Pickup each with a pair of goals. Max Fredrickson, Danny Smith, McLean Chicquen had the others and Jake Cullen added 3 assists.

-Janice Huckin