The Armstrong Shamrocks could have used a little WD-40 heading into Game 1 of their best-of-three Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse playoff semifinal Monday night at Nor-Val Sports Centre.
After a first-round playoff bye and a two-week layoff, the host Shamrocks showed all kinds of rust in a 6-2 loss to the Kamloops Venom.
Dropped passes and poor outlets were a recipe for disaster, allowing the Venom to capitalize on offence.
If not for Armstrong’s rugged defence, Shamrocks’ assistant coach Ryan Nitchie said the scoreline could have been worse.
“We played with real intensity in the first two periods but we still took some mental breaks that cost us,” said Nitchie.
“For a lot of our boys, this was their first playoff game and they were squeezing their sticks and not playing as loose as they normally do.”
Brett Hawrys potted the two Shamrock goals.
During the game, the Armstrong Kraft Celebration Tour organizing committee hosted a barbecue and set up computers for online contest voting at Nor-Val.
