Shawn Slaght, All Lacrosse All The Time – A Division of the Edge of Philly Sports Network
A late third-period goal by Cole Pickup stood as the winner as the Victoria Shamrocks downed the Langley Thunder 12-11 on Friday night.
Victoria came with a balanced attack as they used nine different goal scorers. Thomas Vaesen, who was traded from Langley to Victoria, burned his old team with two goals and four points.
For Langley, their big three players had huge games. Curtis Dickson had eight points followed by Dane Dobbie with seven points and Robert Church with six points.
Between the pipes, Pete Dubenski got the nod for Victoria and stopped 38 of 49 shots. Kyle Mooney saw the majority of the time in net for Langley, stopping 40 of 52 shots. Aiden Walsh saw 1:40 of playing time and stopped both shots he faced.
Low-scoring opening period
Victoria jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter with goals from Vaesen and Liam Phillips.
With 4:30 left on the clock, Dickson buried a feed from Church to make it 2-1 after the opening quarter.
Floodgates open in the second
Victoria ran into penalty troubles early in the second period and Langley made them pay for the mistakes.
With Dylan Rahman in the box for holding, Dobbie capitalized to tie up the game 2-2.
Jake Foster would then take a cross-checking call. Eleven seconds into the power play Church would score the go-ahead goal.
Bennett Smith was called for roughing at 7:43. Eleven seconds into the power play Dobbie would score to round out a four-goal run for the Thunder to make it 4-2.
Victoria battled right back with a two-goal run by Vaesen and Lyndon Bunio to tie the game up again.
At 12:38, Dickson scored shorthanded as Langley took back the lead 5-4.
Nick Preston tied up the game for the Shamrocks with just under three minutes to play in the period. Seventeen seconds later Tristan Kirkham put Langley up by one.
With nine seconds left in the second, Jake Foster scored to make it 6-6 coming home.
Pickup the hero with a late third-period goal
Jake Bowen gave Langley the lead 1:58 into the third quarter, but the Shamrocks would battle back.
A four-goal run with markers from Phillips, Patrick Dodds, Jacob Ruest, and Davis McCulley gave the Shamrocks a 10-7 lead.
The back-and-forth battle continued as Langley replied with their own three-goal run to tie the game. Scoring was Church with two and Dobbie with a single.
Ruest regained the lead for Victoria with 4:43 left on the clock. Twenty seconds later Dobbie tied the game and it started to look like overtime loomed.
However, Cole Pickup scored a later third-period goal with 1:09 left on the clock that stood as the winner.
Three Stars
- Pete Dubenski, Victoria Shamrocks
- Jacob Ruest, Victoria Shamrocks
- Curtis Dickson, Langley Thunder
Top Scorers
Victoria Shamrocks
Patrick Dodds, 1g 4a
Thomas Vaesen, 2g 2a
Jacob Ruest, 2g 2a
Langley Thunder
Curtis Dickson, 2g 6a
Dane Dobbie, 4g 3a
Robert Church, 3g 3a
Don’t forget to check us out every Sunday night at 9pm (ET)
Shawn Slaght has been a sports reporter across the Canadian prairies for over 10 years and has experience covering everything from junior hockey to World Cup skiing to all levels of lacrosse. He is the Saskatchewan correspondent for All Lacrosse All The Time.
Latest Articles
2023-24 Player Spotlight: Travis Sanheim/ Marc StaalFlyers
Phillies Clinched the Top NL Wild Card SpotPhillies
National Lacrosse League Adopts Unified Standings Format and Updated Playoff Structure for the 2023-24 SeasonLacrosse, NLL
2023-24 Player Spotlight Tyson FoersterFlyers
Schreiber The Hero As Archers Outlast Waterdogs For The PLL TitleLacrosse, PLL
