Strong Third Period Has Rocks Up 3-0 in Semi Final Series

August 12, 2016

 

Burnaby Lakers 7 @ Victoria Shamrocks 10 Game Recap

Strong Third Period Has Rocks Up 3-0 in Semi Final Series

By Janice Huckin

Never let it be said that the Shamrocks do things the easy way.  The Shamrocks and Burnaby Lakers hooked up at the Q Centre Friday for game 3 in their best of seven semi final series with the Rocks holding a 2-0 lead.  They now have a stranglehold on the series by virtue of a hard-fought 10-7 win.

It was hot in the arena and some of the tempers were apparently pretty hot as well as the game wore on.  The first goal went to the home team as Jesse King got on a break and beat Burnaby starting goaltender Tyler Richards at 5:09.  The Lakers tied things up at 6:49 before the Shamrocks went on a 3-goal run to lead 4-1 after the first 20 minutes despite being outshot 13-11.

Victoria went up by 4 goals 46 seconds into the middle frame, Duch picking up his second of the goal of the night but Burnaby replied with a 3-goal run, including a power play goal and a shorthanded marker to trail by 1 by the 13:52 mark.  The teams traded goals before heading to the dressing room, Corey Small scoring at 14:41, glad to be back in the line-up after serving a 1-game suspension and Church picking up his second for the Lakers at 16:09.  Once again, shots on goal favoured the visitors by a 17-13 margin but they were down by a single goal.

Power plays figured prominently in the early going of period 3, Burnaby scoring with the man advantage at 1:43, then the teams trading power play goals with Jeff Shattler tallying for the Shamrocks at 8:56 and Tyler Digby replying for the visitors at 11:55.  As they have in the previous two games, Victoria really stepped up their play in the second half of the period as they finished with 3 unanswered goals.  Duch once again collecting a fourth goal with Jr. ‘A’ call-up Braylon Lumb adding a goal at 15:20, that being his first ever WLA goal.  Taylor Northway added an unassisted tally into an empty net at 17:45, also his first goal in his rookie season.  The Shamrocks had the edge in shots 18-10 in the final period to outshoot the visitors 42-40 overall.

Rhys Duch once again led Victoria’s offense with 4 goals and an assist to take first star honours for the third straight time.  Jeff Shattler and Cory Conway each had 5-poing nights as well with Shattler scoring 4 and adding 1 assist and Conway chipping in 5 helpers.  Corey Small had a goal and 3 assists with other singles coming from Chris Wardle, Taylor Northway, Braylon Lumb and Jesse King.  Adam Shut picked up the win in goal with 33 saves but it was defensive stalwart Greg Harnett picking up second star honours with another rock solid performance.

Robert Church led Burnaby’s attack with a hat trick and 2 assists while Jason Jones and Tyler Digby each had a pair of goals.  Jones was named third star of the game.

After playing 3 games in 4 days, the teams have 48 hours to recuperate before they take to the floor at Bill Copeland Arena in Burnaby on Sunday.  The Shamrocks can put an early end to the series with a win while the Lakers will be fighting for their playoff lives.

Fans can get tickets at our extended office hours by calling 250-478-ROCK or at victoriashamrocks.com for home games

STATS

Complete game stats: http://www.victoriashamrocks.com/stats/game//307/league/83205

Game video highights: https://youtu.be/MdxnwmxYDvM

Shamrocks playoff stats: http://www.wlalacrosse.com/stats/team/62/307/league//8071

WLA playoff leaders:http://www.wlalacrosse.com/stats/leaders?gametype=playoff

Next game (Away): Sunday August 14, Victoria @ Burnaby, 6pm (Game 4 in best of 7 series)