Shamrocks Topple Timbermen

Two island rivals tangled in a rare mid-week Junior A lacrosse battle as the Nanaimo Timbermen came into the Q Center Tuesday. The Shamrocks rebounded from a home floor loss to hand the T’Men a 14-4 loss. It’s been a tough season for the Jr. Timbermen who saw the majority of last year’s team age out. They had 8 Jr. B Tier 1 call-ups in their line-up for the game.

Starting in goal for the visitors was Bostyn MacDonald while Grayson Beggs, newly acquired from the Delta Islanders, guarded the Victoria crease. Nanaimo got off to a very quick start, Dan Bishop scoring 8 seconds into the first period off the opening faceoff. Victoria responded by rattling off 6 straight beginning with Dawson Wade’s hard shot from outside the dotted line at 5:45. A double minor penalty to Nanaimo’s Cole Prontak resulted in two Shamrocks power play goals, both off the stick of Dylan Anderson, the first on a soft bouncer from in close at 13:05. His second came just 22 seconds later on a quick stick from the side of the crease. Marcelo Carreiro made it 4-1 at 16:40, cutting to the net. Evan Mcdougall, another newcomer to the Victoria lineup, netted his first as a Shamrock at 19:18 and Dylan Anderson got his hat trick marker with 4 seconds left in the period to give the home team a 6-1 lead after 20 minutes.

Just 4 goals were scored in period 2, the first 3 by the Rocks to make it a 9-goal run before Nanaimo solved Beggs. Jett Klassen opened the scoring at 2:13, that goal coming shorthanded. Carreiro picked up his second of th game a minute later and that drove MacDonald from the Nanaimo crease in favor of Jace Stewart. At 10:34 after a successful Victoria penalty kill, Mcdougall bolted from the penalty box to pick up a pass and make the score 9-1. Archer Irving finally came up with an answer for the Timbermen at 14:17. Victoria was outshooting the visitors 39-20 over 40 minutes.

Nanaimo came out with some fight in period 3 and scored the first 2 goals. Reid Johnson tallied at 1:36 unassisted off a rebound in front. Ryan Maugham added a power play goal at 4:16 from the dotted line. The Rocks got a power play goal of their own at 5:24 – Dylan Anderson’s fourth. They would add 4 more unanswered to end the game, Wade picking up his second, then Carreiro adding his third and fourth, one on a nifty backhander and finally defender Ollie Pemberton with a shorthander at the 19:49 mark. Shots on goal were 55-32 in Victoria’s favor.

Marcelo Carreiro had a 9 point night on 4 goals and 5 assists while Evan Mcdougall chipped in 2 goals and 5 helpers for 7 points. Dylan Anderson had 4 goals and Dawson Wade also contributed 4 points on 2 goals and 2 assists. Quinn Cramb and Ben Pawluk each had 3 assists, Jett Klassen and Ollie Pemberton a goal and an assist with Greyson Thompson and Phillip Busenius each chipping in 2 assists. Cooper Anderson was once again dominant in the faceoff circle winning 13 of 20 and goaltender Grayson Beggs in his first start as a Shamrocks made 28 saves to pick up the win.

The Jr. A Shamrocks will wind up the home part of the regular season Saturday hosting the Port Coquitlam Adanacs at 3:30 pm at the Q Center. PoCo currently trails the Rocks by 2 points but has 2 games in hand. Victoria wraps up the season Monday July 13 in Delta.

Meantime if you want even more great junior lacrosse action, the Tier 1 Jr. B Shamrocks host the Langley Thunder in game 1 of their best-of-three league semi-final Saturday at 12:30 pm. Come out for a double header at the Q Center Saturday.

- Janice Huckin