Shawn Slaght, All Lacrosse All The Time – A Division of the Edge of Philly Sports Network
The Victoria Shamrocks downed the Maple Ridge Burrards 11-6 on Sunday evening to move into a first-place tie in the WLA standings.
The Shamrocks improve to 12-5 with one more game remaining. They are tied with the Nanaimo Timbermen for first at 12-6, however, Nanaimo is finished for the regular season.
The first-place scenario now becomes a little bit clearer for Victoria: defeat the Langley Thunder on Wednesday night and they claim first place all by themselves. Lose to Langely and we could be looking at tiebreaker scenarios for first.
For the Burrards, it’s a matter of just getting through this last week of play as they are 1-16 and well out of the playoff picture.
Victoria pulls away early
The Shamrocks took control of this game right away. Larson Sundown got the scoring going 2:17 into the first period. Brad McCulley followed that up 21 seconds later to make it 2-0 Victoria.
Maple Ridge battled back. Mitchell Nolet scored unassisted at 3:29 to get the Burrards within one. At the 9:30 mark, Dylan Mcintosh found the back of the net to tie up the game.
The Burrards found themselves in penalty trouble midway through the period and it proved to be costly. Jesse King scored on the power play at 10:14 followed by his brother Marshal on the power play at 13:20.
Dallas Wade rounded out the scoring with six seconds left in the period to make it 5-2 in favour of the Shamrocks.
Second-period action
Maple Ridge got themselves back within one early in the second period. First, Mcintosh added another marker at 2:08. Shorthanded, Nolet scored his second of the game at 3:02 to make the score 5-4.
After that, it was all Shamrocks for the rest of the period as they went on a three-goal run. McCulley scored at 6:45 and Marshal King followed that up at 15:23.
McCulley scored again with 3:21 left in the period to make it 8-4 Shamrocks heading into the final stanza.
First place on the line in the third
Rhys Duch opened the third-period scoring at 6:45 into the frame to extend the Shamrocks’ lead to 9-4.
Ryan Jones got on the board for the Burrards at the 11:17 mark, but Cole Pickup replied 14 seconds later to make it 10-5. Pickup put the final nail in the coffin on the power play at 12:53 to put the game out of reach.
Will Clayton added a power-play goal for the Burrards with 2:01 left in the game, but it was too little too late. The Shamrocks won 11-6 to put themselves into a first-place tie with Thunder.
Pete Dubenski was sharp for the Shamrocks as he faced a lot of rubber. He stopped 48 of 54 shots for the win.
Three Stars
- Marshal King, Victoria Shamrocks
- Pete Dubenski, Victoria Shamrocks
- Gabe Procyk, Maple Ridge Burrards
Top Scorers
Maple Ridge Burrards
Gabe Procyk, 4a
Will Clayton, 1g 2a
Ryan Jones, 1g 1a
Dylan Mcintosh, 2g
Mitchell Nolet, 2g
Victoria Shamrocks
Marshal King, 2g 4a
Larson Sundown, 1g 3a
Brad McCulley, 3g 1a
Cole Pickup, 2g 2a
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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