Shamrocks Force Game 3 at Minto Cup

With their season on the line, the Victoria Shamrocks came into game 2 of the best-of-3 Minto Cup final against the Calgary Raiders with some jump, getting out to a 7-2 first period lead and running away to a 14-6 victory to force a deciding game 3 on Sunday.  It isn’t often that the winning goal comes in the first period of a Junior A lacrosse game.

As in the previous two games between these teams, starting goaltenders were Greyson Beggs for Victoria and Nathan Whittom for Calgary.  It took only 24 seconds for the Shamrocks to hit the scoreboard, Evan Mcdougall scoring on a hard riser from outside the dotted line.  Dawson Wade made it 2-0 on another hard, low shot from well out at 2:52.  Wyatt Viste drew the Raiders within a goal at 3:46 cutting to the net.  The Rocks went on a 3-goal run beginning at 4:37 as Carter Quested picked up a pass in front.  Marcelo Carreiro followed up with another long, low shot at 5:09 and big defender Parker Sorenson made it a 4-goal Victoria lead at 6:44 on a 2-on-1 break with Quinn Cramb.  Calgary finally found the back of the net again at 9:23 Cash Frijters with a backhander in close but the Shamrocks closed the period with a pair, Carreiro picking up his second at 18:48 from the side of the crease and Ryan Lowe going on a run after a huge save by Beggs, tallying at 19:27 to make it 7-2 after 20 minutes.  Shots favored Victoria 19-13.

Victoria kept the run going to open period 2, Phillip Busenius scoring at the 59-second mark.  That drove Whittom from the Raiders’ net in favour of Kaiden McDonaugh.  The Rocks showed no mercy as team captain Greysen Thompson grabbed a big rebound and buried the shot at 1:50.  Calgary got some offensive life and went on a 3-goal run, the first two from Viste at 3:47 and 5:41 giving him the hat trick with Mitchell Carik picking up a goal from outside the dotted line at 7:47 to cut the Victoria lead to 4 at 9-5.  It was short-lived, however, as Lowe restored the 5 goal lead with his second goal of the game at 8:09.  Frijters picked up his second for the Raiders at 10:33 but Thompson made it 11-6 with his second of the game at 13:40.  That had Victoria up 11-7 heading into the second intermission.

The final frame saw no goals until the 13:40 mark and it was Lowe getting his hat trick for Victoria on the power play.  The wheels fell off for the Raiders as they lost their cool and began a steady parade to the penalty box resulting in 2 more Shamrocks goals.  Quested picked up his second of the game at 15:25 on a bullet from outside the dotted line and Thompson rounded out the scoring with his hat trick goal at 18:40 on a 5-on-3 man advantage to make the final 14-6.  Shots were 50-34 in favour of Victoria.

As they have done all season the Shamrocks scoring was spread around but it was Greysen Thompson leading the way with 3 goals and 4 assists.  Ryan Lowe also had a hat trick and chipped in 2 helpers while Carter Quested and Marcelo Carreiro each contributed 2 goals and 2 assists.  Phillip Busenius and Dawson Wade had 1 of each with Parker Sorenson adding a goal and Luca Pivetta and Jett Klassen had 2 and 3 assists respectively.  Greyson Beggs had 28 saves to pick up the win.

For the Raiders it was Wyatt Viste with 3 goals and Cash Frijtas adding 2 goals and 2 assists.  Mitchel Carik had the other goal and added an assist.

As noted the Victoria win forces a third and deciding game – winner take all – on Sunday.  Game time is a bit earlier with a 6 pm start local time (5 pm here on the coast). 

-      Janice Huckin