It’s been two years since the Vernon Tigers defeated the Kelowna Raiders in Okanagan X-Treme Lacrosse League play.
The streak ended Friday at the Wesbild Centre.
Bryan Cope came out of retirement to fire four goals, while former junior standout Rob Short added 3+2 to lead the Tigers to an 11-10 win over the Raiders.
“The team is looking good,” said Tigers assistant coach Steve Latimer. “We certainly have some things to work on, but we have a good core of guys and I think we will surprise some people this season.”
With only 14 runners, the Tigers showed heart and determination in shutting down a potent Raiders offense.
Tanner Skolrood had a breakout game with two goals and an assist, while captain Kirk Krause chipped in with a goal and two assists. Shane Sargent collected four helpers while goalie Ivar Sandaker stood tall between the pipers for Vernon.
Scott Renner led the Raiders with a hat trick.
In Armstrong, the Shamrocks used a 43-save performance from first star Chad Pieper and survived a parade to the penalty box to edge the Kamloops Rattlers 4-3.
Armstrong took a 2-0 lead in the first on a powerplay goal from Logan Strohm and a marker from junior call-up Milan Marcetta.
Then the penalty trouble started for the ‘Rocks.
Two men short, the Irish put on a great effort, killing the entire penalty highlighted by Pieper’s desperation save by throwing out his stick to stop Kamloops from shooting the ball in a wide open net.
Kamloops did get on the board on another powerplay courtesy of a nice shot by former Shamrock AJ Lockwood, then tied the game when Ryland Derose snuck behind the defence and beat Pieper.
Stu Williamson’s first of the year early in the third gave Armstrong a 3-2 lead, only to see Derose score his second on a nice pick-and-roll.
With five minutes left in the game, Steve Clark scored the winner for Armstrong on an outside screen shot that beat Rattlers netminder Mike Smith.
“We took way to many undisciplined penalties tonight,” said, Shamrocks player-coach Chad Pounder. “However, our shortman unit and our goalie held us in it.”
In Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League play Thursday the visiting Kelowna Raiders exploded for seven goals in the third period to subdue the Armstrong Shamrocks 15-10 at Nor-Val Sports Centre.
Brendan Urban paced the Raiders in the penalty-filled affair with five goals and an assist while Tyler French had a seven-point night (3+4), and Jordan Urban also added three goals for the winners, who led 5-4 and 8-7 at the period breaks.
“We were right in it at the end of the second period, then we took some penalties in the third and lost our focus,” said Shamrocks head coach Pat Nelson, whose squad took 68 penalty minutes in the game, compared to 63 for the Raiders.
Brett Hawrys led the Armstrong attack with five goals and an assist while Owen Barker had 1+4.
The ‘Rocks forced Kelowna keeper Cody Taschuk to make 56 saves on the night, including 26 in the middle frame. Cole Macfarlane made 50 saves for Armstrong.
The Vernon Tigers entertained the South Okanagan Flames Saturday night at the Wesbild Centre.
