Shawn Slaght, All Lacrosse All The Time – A Division of the Edge of Philly Sports Network
Jacob Ruest and Chris Wardle were the OT heroes as the Victoria Shamrocks won 12-10 in overtime to even their series 2-2 against the Langley Thunder in the WLA semifinals on Thursday night.
Down one with less than a minute to play, Curtis Dickson scored for the Thunder to make the score 10-10 after regulation. In the 10-minute overtime period, Ruest and Wardle found the back of the net, while goaltender Pete Dubenski stopped all 10 shots he faced in overtime.
After losing the first two games of the series, the Shamrocks now find themselves right back into the series as it heads to Langley on Saturday night for Game 5 of the seven-game series.
Thunder lay the boom in the first
Langley took early control of this game, scoring four times, while Frank Scigliano stopped 14 of 15 shots in net for the Thunder.
Chase Scanlan got the scoring started at 3:46, followed by Dane Dobbie at 4:30 to put the Thunder up 2-0 off the hop. Marshal King got the Shamrocks back within one at 6:01.
Dobbie continued to be a thorn in the side of the Shamrocks. He scored a pair of power-play goals (at 13:29 and 18:28) for the hat trick in the first 20 minutes. Langley held a 4-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
Shamrocks rally late in the second period
Victoria was able to split the lead in half 4-2 off a shorthanded marker from Jackson Nishimura unassisted 2:19 into the second.
Connor Robinson found the back of the net at 3:05 to get the Thunder back up by three. However, Larson Sundown replied right back 1:10 later to make it 5-3.
Langley extended its lead with a two-goal run with goals from Erik Maas at 9:33 and Dickson at 15:49.
Victoria continued to rally and scored three goals in the final minute of the second period. Sundown started it off with 49 seconds left followed by Jesse King eight seconds later.
Sundown rounded out the scoring with nine seconds left on the clock. However, Victoria still trailed 7-6 heading into the final stanza.
Thunder force overtime
Dallas Wade’s goal 3:35 into the third period would finish off a four-goal run to Victoria as they battled back to tie the game 7-7.
Maas would regain the lead for the Thunder at 5:45 and Dobbie would put Langley up by two, 9-7, at the 11:08 mark.
With the extra attacker on the floor, the Shamrocks were able to capitalize at 15:35 with a goal from Brad McCulley. An untimely holding the stick call on Keegan Bell would put Victoria on the power play. Thirty-four seconds into the man-advantage, Marshal King would score to tie up the game. Sundown scored the go-ahead goal with 1:33 left in the game.
Scigliano would be pulled from the net in the dying seconds of the game, which proved to pay off. Reece Callies fed Dicksonwoth 28 seconds left in regulation to tie the game 10-10 and send it into overtime.
The WLA playoff rules state that both teams play a 10-minute overtime period before heading to “sudden victory” overtime.
Well, it never came to that. Ruest scored 2:59 into the overtime period and Wardle added the insurance marker at 7:39 to even up their series with the Thunder.
Three Stars
- Larson Sundown, Victoria Shamrocks
- Dane Dobbie, Langley Thunder
- Jesse King, Victoria Shamrocks
Top Scorers
Victoria Shamrocks
Jesse King, 1g 4a
Marshal King, 2g 2a
Larson Sundown, 4g
Jacob Ruest, 1g 3a
Langley Thunder
Dane Dobbie, 4g 3a
Curtis Dickson, 2g 3a
Dylan Kinnear, 4a
Don’t forget to check us out every Sunday night at 9 pm (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.
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