Shamrocks Even Record at 2-2

After dropping the opening pair of games, the Jr. ‘A’ Shamrocks won their second in a row Tuesday at the Q Centre, defeating the visiting Nanaimo Timbermen by a 10-8 score.  That followed a road win in Burnaby Sunday.

In Tuesday’s encounter, the game was hard-fought from the start and both goaltenders played strong games, Nanaimo starting Colin Jeffries and Victoria opting to go with Cam Dunkerley, his fourth straight start. The Rocks opened the scoring at the 9:53 mark, Braylon Lumb scoring on a bouncer from the dotted line.  He followed up with his second of the contest at 11:01, an unassisted tally picking up his own rebound right in front. It was 3-0 for the home team when Brian Robb found the back of the net on the power play at 13:41, getting on a run in close.  Before the period ended, Nanaimo would answer back with a goal at 16:22 off the stick of Jake Mickelson, that goal also coming with the man advantage.  Shots on goal were pretty even at 15-14 for the Shamrocks.

Nanaimo opened the scoring in period 2, a second power play goal, this time from Arthur Miller just 23 seconds into the period and they tied the score at 3 when Colton Lidston tallied at 3:44 with a hard shot through traffic.  The visitors took the lead for the first time at 4:57, Lidston getting his second but the Shamrocks got things even with a shorthanded marker from Lumb at 9:53, getting in close.  They regained the lead at 10:26 with a goal from Skyler Wilson, that goal coming with a delayed penalty about to be called.  That made it 5-4 for the Shamrocks but Nanaimo managed to squeeze another by Dunkerley at 13:45, Reid Matthews doing the damage.  Shamrocks again held the edge in shots by a 21-16 margin in the middle frame.

The visitors once again opened scoring in the third, this time Ryan Sheridan scoring from the dotted line at the 44-second mark. Wilson picked up his second for the Rocks at 2:02 with a high hard shot from the dotted line to get things even once more.  The T’Men played a scrappy game and got a hat trick goal from Lidston at 3:11 to draw even once more before the Shamrocks went on a 4-goal run.  First it was Max Wilson, in his first game of the season, getting in close at 5:07.  Lumb was lighting things up as he scored three straight, the first coming unassisted, on the power play at 11:14, then following up at 12:38 and once more at 13:33. Nanaimo had one last gasp effort, Sheridan picking up his second at15:40 before the Rocks were able to run out the clock and pull out the win.

Braylon Lumb led the offense with 6 goals.  Skyler Wilson added a pair with Max Wilson and Brian Robb adding singles, Robb also chipping in a pair of assists.  David Byrne had 3 assists while Cam Dunkerley stopped 33 of 40 shots to pick up the win between the pipes.  

Next action for the Jr. ‘A’ Shamrocks is a home game Saturday at 4:00 pm at the Q Centrewhen they will take on the Port Coquitlam Saints.  Prior to that, the Jr. B Tier 1 Shamrocks will be in action.  They host the Delta Islanders in a 1:00 pm start.