Shamrocks Beat Saints on the Road

The Jr. Shamrocks kept rolling along with an 11-7 road win against the Port Coquitlam Saints Sunday. The Rocks held period leads of 3-1 and 7-4 on their way to the victory but will have to stay out of the penalty box with playoffs fast approaching as they took 48 minutes to just 20 for the Saints. 

Ryley Brown got the start in goal for Victoria while Bryce Phenix got the nod for PoCo. It was the Shamrocks getting on the board first, McLean Chicquen diving across in front at 2:32. The home team got that one back at 3:21, Ty Klarner scoring on a screened low shot. The tie lasted for all of 31 seconds as Cole Pickup picked up where he left off yesterday, firing a hard shot from well out that handcuffed Phenix. He added another at 6:28, that one coming on the power play on a quick stick from the side of the crease. That was all the scoring in period one as the Shamrocks took a 3-1 lead to the dressing room despite being outshot 20-17. 

The Shamrocks kept things going in period 2, scoring the first 3 goals of the period staring at 4:17 when Matt Hamilton shot from in close and it trickled through the leg pads. Pickup picked up his hat trick marker at 8:58 from right in front and a power play goal from Nate Wade on a shot from the dotted line made it 6-1 Shamrocks at the 12:13 mark. This is when penalties started to really hurt the Rocks as the Saints scored the next 3 goals, 2 of them with the man advantage. At 14:31 Matt Symes tallied on the power play with a hard shot from well out. Klarner picked up his second of the contest for PoCo, also on the power play, again shooting from the dotted line, that one coming at 15:23. Finally an even-strength goal for the Saints as Klarner picked up the hat trick at 17:09 getting a pass and scoring from the edge of the crease. The Shamrocks got one more back, in fact just 10 seconds later off the face off as Chris Kasper took it in alone and gave the visitors the 7-4 lead after 40 minutes. Again the Saints had the edge in shots by a 19-16 margin. 

Victoria continued their momentum into period 3 as they tallied twice in the early going. Nate Wade collected his second from the dotted line at 4:03 and Mason Pynn made it 9-4 Shamrocks with a shorthanded goal at 6:15 with a quick stick off a pass from the corner. Unfortunately the Rocks’ penalty woes continued and resulted in a couple more Port Coquitlam power play goals. Connor Goodwin got the first at 7:09 from the edge of the crease and at 10:53 Dylan Foulds found the back of the net as he dove in. Victoria got those two back, Jake Cullen tallying at 11:14 with a hard shot from the dotted line and Derek Lecky adding a shorthanded marker at 14:33, somehow finding himself in all alone. Go figure. PoCo managed one more power play goal at 15:24 but despite pulling the goaltender were unable to get any closer. 

For the second game in a row, it was rookie Cole Pickup continuing his strong play with the hat trick and 1 assist. Nate Wade picked up a pair and singles came from Jake Cullen, Matt Hamilton, Chris Kasper, Derek Lecky, Mason Pynn and McLean Chicquen who also added 4 assists for a 5-point night. Ryley Brown had a great night between the pipes for the Shamrocks making 47 saves and adding a couple of assists on the offensive side of the ledger. 

The win gives the Shamrocks 23 points, 3 ahead of 4th place Delta with a game in hand. Next up for the Jr. Shamrocks is a home-and-away series against the Coquitlam Adanacs next weekend. Coquitlam will visit the Q Centre for a 5:00 encounter Saturday and the teams make the return engagement Sunday at the same time.

Janice Huckin