Late Heroics by Jon Harnett give 'Rocks OT Win!

The Victoria Shamrocks visited Maple Ridge Burrards last night in a contest where 'Rocks held off a 3rd period surge by the Burrards to Win the contest 10-9 in overtime.

The Shamrocks, win their sixth straight contest, now sit tied at the top of the WLA with the New Westminster Salmonbellies, each with 6-2 records and 12 points. The loss drops the Burrards’ Western Lacrosse Association record to 2-6.

Sunday’s game was all Shamrocks in the early going, as the visitors built a 3-1 lead after the first period and increased their advantage to 7-2 with a goal from Scott Ranger at the 11:17 mark of the middle frame. 'Rocks starter Cody Hagedorn was ejected from the game with a misconduct and major for slashing at 17:04 in the 2nd. Which left Matt Roik to take his place for remainder of the game.

From that point the burrards capitalized on their advantage and scored the final two goals of the middle stanza and proceeded to stun the visitors in the third frame by scoring four unanswered markers to take an 8-7 lead with 4:39 to go in regulation.

The Shamrocks needed a big goal and it came from Rhys Duch – his third tally and fifth point of the night – with 1:51 to go in the third period to tie the game and send it into overtime.

During the overtime period, teams traded goals. Both teams were deadlocked at 9 with OT winding down. Burrards got the ball and called time out with 17 secs remaining, leaving the them on the attack which what looked like last possession of the game. Maple Ridge emerged from the huddle with their goalie pulled and 6 attackers.

As Burrards worked the ball through their offence to set up the shot, Jon Harnett anticipated the play and created the turn over. With seconds winding down, Harnett ran the floor to seal the deal for the Shamrocks with a buzzer beater, empty net goal - with the official score clock at 1 second remaining.

1st & 2nd Star honours go to Shamrocks Daryl Veltman (4a 2g) who had a six point night & Rhys Duch (3g 2a) with a 5 point night. Full boxscore can be found here: http://www.victoriashamrocks.com/stats/game//137/league/21878

Clover Notes:
The win sets the stage for a big game this Friday @7:45 at the Q Centre vs. rival New West Salmonbellies, which will be a battle for sole possession of  1st place in the Western Lacrosse Association - 'Rocks expect to see their entire 2015 line up present for Friday's game, that include forward Dan Dawson and goalie Aaron Bold.