Shamrocks Take Series Lead With Road Win

The Jr. A Shamrocks picked up the first road win in their league final series Wednesday, taking a 13-9 victory over the Coquitlam Adanacs in the “Palace on Poirier”. They held period leads of 4-3 and 8-5, fell behind 9-8 in the middle of the third period but responded with 5 straight goals to triumph.

Starting in goal for Victoria was Greyson Beggs and once again Marcus Khan took his spot in the Adanacs’ crease. It was the Rocks getting an early 3-0 lead, Jaden Roach scoring at 1:18 from outside the dotted line. Carter Quested followed up with a power play marker from just inside the dotted line at 8:41. Off the ensuing faceoff it was Ryan Lowe scoring at 9:07 from well out. Coquitlam got the wake-up call and went on a 3-goal run beginning with Matthew Dane’s goal at 9:55, a shot that appeared to be from in the crease. Parker Kennedy closed the gap to a goal at 10:58 with a shorthanded goal, capping a combined run of 4 goals in 2:17. Hansen Peck then knotted the score at 15:13 from outside the dotted line but before the period ended, Lowe picked up his second to regain Victoria’s lead, that goal coming at 18:29.

The Shamrocks again began period 2 on a 3-goal run, Evan Mcdougall starting things off cutting to the net for an unassisted goal at 6:42. Roach picked up his second at 7:14 with a bullet from well out. That drove Khan from the Coquitlam crease in favour of Owen Byers but it made no difference as Jett Klassen scored at 7:26 making it 3 goals in 44 seconds. That was the only shot Byers faced and Khan returned between the pipes. The Adanacs replied with a pair of goals, the first from the stick of Kai Hartley at 11:06 from the side of the crease and the second from Nathan Chalmers coming from behind the net at 13:56. That brought the home team within a pair but Phillip Busenius regained a 3-goal lead for Victoria getting in close at 14:27. That made it 8-5 after 40 minutes despite being outshot 30-28.

Coquitlam got the early jump in period 3, scoring 4 straight goals to take their first and only lead of the game. Ethan Gordon started things off at 3:44 with a power play goal. Dane then picked up his second with a hard, low shot from outside the dotted arc and Kennedy added his second of the contest, getting close at 6:55. Hartley connected at 10:26 to give the home team a 9-8 lead, his second of the game but the Rocks were up to the challenge. Lowe collected his hat trick marker at 13:59 with the man advantage to tie the score at 9. Once again the Shamrocks got a timely goal from a defender, Kurtis Guilbault going coast to coast for a solo effort at 15:41. Lowe added his fourth goa at 16:51 on a run. With the Coquitlam goaltender on the bench for an extra attacker, Luca Pivetta and Quinn Cramb added empty netters at 18:59 and 19:09. Gee, that worked well. Coquitlam had a 51-46 edge in shots on goal but Victoria had the 13-9 victory.

Ryan Lowe led Victoria’s attack with 4 goals and both Jett Klassen (1 goal and 3 assists) and Jaden Roach (2 goals and 2 helpers) also had 4-point games. Carter Quested, Quinn Cramb, Phillip Busenius and Evan Mcdougall each chipped in a goal and an assist. Marcel Carreiro and Dawson Wade contributed 2 assists each with Luca Pivetta and Kurtis Guilbault scoring singles. Greyson Beggs made 42 saves in picking up the win.

Parker Kennedy, Matthew Dane and Kai Hartley each scored twice for the Adanacs.

The series returns to the Q Center for game 6 on Saturday, August 8 at 3:00 pm. A Shamrock win will send them to represent B.C. at the Minto Cup in Calgary while a Coquitlam win sends the series to game 7 on Sunday.

- Janice Huckin