Burrards Short Shamrocks Season and Take Title

Written by Ian McNaughton

August 26, 2018

Victoria, BC – It was a disappointing night for the Victoria Shamrocks who, despite playing a fine game, fell short in defeating the Maple Ridge Burrards. It was the Burrards taking the win by a score of 9-8 over the Shamrocks, cutting the Shamrocks season short of making another Mann Cup run. Maple Ridge wins the series 4 games to 1 and will be making their 2nd Mann Cup appearance in 3 seasons. The Burrards opponent in the Mann Cup is yet to be determined as the MSL Finals are tied one game apiece between the Peterborough Lakers and the Oakville Rock. 

Game #5 was the best start for the Shamrocks since Game #1 of the series. The Shamrocks broke through and scored 3 straight goals to start the period. After the first 20 minutes, it was the boys in white and green with the lead, holding their own against the Burrards, out in front 4-3. Casey Jackson came back firing on all cylinders after being scratched in Game #4, scoring a hat-trick in the first 12 minutes of the period. Jackson even got the assist on the 4th Shamrocks goal of the night, getting the lead helper for Rob Hellyer’s only goal of the night. 

The second period was where the fans could feel a momentum swing as Curtis Dickson found the back of the net twice to tie the period up after 40 minutes. It wasn’t for a lack of effort as the Shamrocks peppered Burrards goalie Frank Scigliano with 25 shots in the frame, yet only found the back of the net twice. One of the shots that did go in, however, was one by Dallas Wade, who scored his first goal since July 27th. That was his first career WLA playoff goal in 10 playoff appearances and kept the Shamrocks in the game as the final 20 minutes began. 

It was a back and forth final period but the Shamrocks couldn’t handle the Burrards pressure and as a result, it will be Maple Ridge representing the West in the Mann Cup this season. Curtis Dickson’s goal with under a minute left could be used as a symbol for how this series played out. Dickson had to outwork everybody to get to the front of the net where he put a few moves on Adam Shute and beat him to put the dagger in the Shamrocks season. He was the most dynamic player in this series and with that series-clinching goal, the First Team WLA All-Star showed us why he is arguably the best player in the league right now. 

For the Shamrocks, there were several stars of their own in this series. Casey Jackson finished the night with 5 goals and an assist which earned him the second star of the game. Tyson Gibson had 1 goal and 4 assists in the game and was a instrumental forward for the Shamrocks in the playoffs as he scored in every postseason game except Game #1 against Nanaimo. Not enough can be said about Rob Hellyer’s offensive contributions in the playoffs as he finishes the WLA playoffs as the leading scorer with 43 points in 10 games. 

We will have a season in review Shamrocks Report this upcoming week as we recap all of our favourite moments from the 2018 season. The Victoria Shamrocks would also like to thank the continued support of Shamrocks Nation, who bled green with us all season. We appreciate your support and although we didn't get as far as we wanted to this season, we look forward to going even further next year! Thanks and Go ‘Rocks Go!