Facing a major uphill battle if they lost game 4 of the Mann Cup senior lacrosse championship series, the Peterborough Lakers gutted out an 8-6 win over the Victoria Shamrocks on Tuesday night at The Q Centre.
Curtis Dickson scored four goals to lead the visitors’ attack in the see-saw battle. The Lakers hung with the Shamrocks for most of two periods before taking their first lead of the game, 6-5, on a Mark Steenhuis goal at the 18:37 mark of the second.
Dickson’s final goal made it 7-5 Lakers 7:08 into the third, after which it was the Shamrocks who were playing comeback lacrosse. Jesse King scored his second of the game on the power play at 11:55, but the Peterborough defence tightened up after that. A Brad Self empty netter rounded out the scoring for the Lakers.
Rhys Duch, Dan Dawson, Scott Ranger and Greg Harnett also scored for Victoria.
Game 5 goes tonight (Sept. 9) at 7 p.m., with games 6 and 7, if necessary, scheduled for Friday and Saturday night, respectively.
Shamrocks took series edge with game 3 win
A 14-8 win over the Lakers on Monday night had the Shamrocks in good position heading into game 4.
Corey Small turned in a big performance, leading the Shamrocks with five goals and three assists, helping the home team take a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-seven series.
Victoria gave up the first goal Monday to Peterborough’s Brad Self 1:48 in, but that was the only lead the Lakers would enjoy all night. It was 3-2 Shamrocks after one period and 10-4 after two, with Small bagging all of his goals by the second intermission and goaltender Aaron Bold looking strong, turning aside 21 of 25 Lakers shots.
Bold, who wasn’t at his best in a 14-7 game 2 loss last Saturday, was on his game Monday, finishing with 31 saves including many timely shutdowns of Laker attackers.
Rhys Duch scored three times and added a pair of helpers for the Shamrocks. Dan Dawson, held off the scoresheet in game 2, was a dominant force again, contributing a goal and four assists. Jesse King, Daryl Veltman and Scott Ranger chipped in a goal and three assists each, with the team’s other goals scored by Mitch Jones and Karsen Leung.
The Lakers, outshot 45-39, were led by Shawn Evans with a goal and two assists. Holden Cattoni and Mark Steenhuis each scored twice for the visitors while Cory Vitarelli and Chad Culp had Peterborough’s other goals.
Lakers goaltender Matt Vinc, who played a big role in his team’s weekend win, was proved fallible on Monday. He was chased from the net early in the third having given up 12 goals on 36 shots. Evan Kirk finished the game for Peterborough, allowing two goals on nine shots.
Victoria is gunning for its first Mann Cup national title since 2005, when they beat the Lakers four games to two at the former Bear Mountain Arena. The Shamrocks have appeared in three Mann Cup series since, losing the past two years to the Six Nations Chiefs.
