The Victoria Shamrocks (5-1) returned from their first weekend trip of the 2017 Western Lacrosse Association season with mixed results, taking an impressive win against the Maple Ridge Burrards, last year’s champions, but falling short against the Coquitlam Adanacs.
The ‘Rocks opened the weekend in Coquitlam, a week after dominating the Adanacs at The Q Centre. This time, it was Coquitlam that got off to a hot start, taking an early 2-0 lead.
Shamrocks forward Mike Triolo gave Victoria some life late in the first, scoring with four seconds left to cut the Adanacs lead in half.
Coquitlam seemingly took control of the game in the second, notching four of the period’s first five goals, with only Casey Jackson breaking up the Adanacs scoring binge. With Coquitlam sitting on a healthy 6-2 lead, the Shamrocks fought back in the latter stages of the second period with goals from Cody Nass and another from Jackson.
Playing a card from the Shamrocks’ hand, the Adanacs gave themselves a 7-4 lead heading into the break with a last second goal from Vinny Ricci.
Corey Small scored two in the third for the Shamrocks, but that was as close as the visitors would come.
The next night, the ‘Rocks got some revenge on the team that ousted them from the 2016 playoffs, taking a back-and-forth affair with the Burrards by a 12-10 count.
In contrast to the previous night, the first period was a high-scoring one, with the teams trading goals until it was 4-3 for Maple Ridge with just over five minutes to play in the first period.
That’s when the ‘Rocks went on their best run of the night, scoring the game’s next six goals to take a commanding 9-4 lead.
Maple Ridge got a little closer late in the period with a pair of goals against a Small tally, and the visitor’s lead was 10-6.
The Burrards won the third frame, but fell short of a comeback, leaving Victoria with sole possession of first place in the WLA standings.
Rhys Duch led the way for the ‘Rocks with three goals and four assists, while Jackson added a hattrick and a pair of assists of his own.
Cody Hagedorn made 40 saves on 50 shots for the win.
