Victoria Shamrocks outshoot the Lakers 57-37 on Friday in Burnaby but come away with 7-4 loss

July 21, 2017

Victoria Shamrocks 4 at Burnaby Lakers 7 game recap 

Written by Justis Doucet

Burnaby - The Victoria Shamrocks visited Burnaby for the only time this season, looking to clinch the tiebreaker against the Lakers, and take over top spot in the WLA. Standing in their way was Burnaby goalie Eric Penney.

The Lakers scored two minutes into the game as Jackson Decker was sprung on a breakaway by Brendan Rouse. Burnaby added two more in the opening ten minutes to take a 3-0 lead with goals from Dane Stevens and Eli McLaughlin. Victoria found the back of the net just thirteen seconds into their first power play on Chris Wardle’s eighth of the season. Stevens then scored his second of the game to make it 4-1 two minutes later again for Burnaby. Victoria cut into the lead with a pair of goals just over a minute apart, Wardle scored his second of the game sixteen seconds on another Victoria power play, then Small trimmed the deficit to one with his league-leading thirty-fifth of the season. Burnaby scored the final two of the frame, a minute and fifteen seconds apart to jump out to a 6-3 lead after twenty minutes. Victoria held a 20-15 advantage on the shot clock.

In the second, it took twelve minutes for either team to find the back of the net, and it was McLaughlin from Burnaby that scored his third of the game increasing the Lakers lead to 7-3. Rhys Duch cut into the lead with just over four minutes left in the second, returning the game to a three goal spread. Burnaby outshout Victoria 15-14 in the period.

Victoria came out flying and outshot the Lakers 12-4 in the first ten minutes of the third period, but was unable to trim into the lead.  Neither team found the back of the net in the third and the Lakers held on to a 7-4 victory, even though the Shamrocks outshot them 57-37 on the night.  

Chris Wardle finished with two goals for Victoria, while Small and Duch added singles. Cody Hagedorn stopped twenty-nine of thirty seven shots.

With two games left in the season Victoria sits second in a tight playoff battle, one point behind Maple Ridge for first in the league, and two points up on both Burnaby and New Westminster, who they face in their final two games.

Season ticket holders have their playoff seat(s) guaranteed providing they are pre purchased individually or for the entire series. Fans that don't have season tickets can secure their seats throughout the playoffs with a deposit towards a 2018 season ticket, and can be purchased by phoning 250-478-7625 or emailing [email protected].

Complete Game Stats: http://westernlacrosse.wttstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=3102289

Shamrocks player stats: http://westernlacrosse.wttstats.pointstreak.com/teamplayerstats.html?teamid=31984&seasonid=17042

Next game (AWAY): Thursday July 27th at New Westminster Salmonbellies, 7:30pm, Queens Park arena

Next HOME game: Friday July 28th vs Burnaby Lakers, 7:30pm at The Q Centre. Fan Appreciation night presented by SLEGG Building Materials with a tailgate at 5:30 and lots of prizes all night; Tickets at www.victoriashamrocks.com or by calling 250-478-7625.