Shute Shuts Door, Shamrocks Take Game #1

Written by Ian McNaughton

August 18, 2018

Victoria, BC – The WLA Finals started with a bang on Friday night. The Victoria Shamrocks took down the Maple Ridge Burrards by a score of 9-4 winning Game #1 of their finals matchup. Friday was a solid performance from the Shamrocks who got their first win since beating Nanaimo August 10th in the last round of the WLA semi-finals playoffs. 

This was the 5th straight game that the Shamrocks held their opponent to under 10 goals a game. In fact, the Shamrocks scored the same amount of goals in the 3rd period that the Burrards had all game. This was the second time in the playoffs that Victoria limited to their opponent to just 4 goals in a game, the other being August 3rd. The shots on goal were tight all game. It was 39-38 in favour of the Shamrocks by the end of the night with neither team outshooting their opponent by more than 2 shots in each period. 

The game was slightly sloppy in the first 5 minutes as there were several missed passes and shots that were off target. Play improved as the game went on, especially for Maple Ridge forward Curtis Dickson. He had a hat-trick and added an assist on the Burrards final goal in the third period. Burrards forward Dan Taylor scored the only other goal for Maple Ridge. He has scored in all of their playoff games so far as he has 7 goals in the postseason. Maple Ridge goalie Frank Scigliano stopped 30 of 39 shots that came at him during the game. 

A noticeable difference in this game was the scoring depth for Victoria. 7 different players scored for the Shamrocks, including 2 goal performances from both Jesse King and Tyson Gibson. Second star Steve Priolo had a 3 point night along with King and Gibson as well as Casey Jackson and Rhys Duch. Adam Shute was named the first star of the game for his 34 save performance against on the night. 

The Shamrocks look to improve on their 1-0 series lead in Game 2 of the WLA Finals, which goes Sunday night at 6:30pm in Maple Ridge at Cam Neely Arena. Fans can watch Game 2 on WLA TV here. The Shamrocks return home to Victoria on Tuesday, August 21st to host Game 3. Fans can purchase tickets here. Games will be on every other day up to a Game 7 on August 29th if necessary. Every game will be at 6:30 pm, regardless of venue. Remember, season ticket holders get the right of first refusal for their seats up to 48 hours before the game. Afterwards their seats are released for purchase by anyone. We look forward to seeing on Tuesday night Shamrocks Nation!