With a first-round playoff bye up for grabs, the Armstrong Shamrocks came through in style Friday night at Nor-Val Sports Centre.
They snuffed the South Okanagan Flames 7-5 in their final regular-season game, finishing second overall in the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League at 8-5-2.
Paced by Stephen Ringdal’s two-goal performance, including the winner on the powerplay, the Shamrocks used a consistent offensive attack to pressure the Flames all night.
Down a goal early, Brett Hawrys got Armstrong on the board with a nifty cut and quick shot. The Shamrock offence opened up in the second frame with three goals in less than three minutes. Willy Hanley, picking the top corner, Ringdal on the powerplay, and Todd Hoggarth, with his first of the year on a low bounce shot, gave the hosts a 4-1 lead.
The Flames (5-10) rallied with two of their own, but Owen Barker went top shelf on the powerplay to make it 5-3 after two periods.
The Flames continued to rally in the third period, tieing the game 5-5 with less than 10 minutes to play. However, a double-minor for hip checking to the Flames’ Liam Neary allowed Ringdal to let loose on the man advantage. Taking a cross-crease pass from Hawrys, he cut to the middle to score.
With the Flames’ netminder pulled for the extra attacker, Shamrocks’ hustler Kas Boudreau intercepted an errant pass and, chasing the loose ball up the floor, managed to direct it into the empty net for an insurance marker.
Shamrocks’ head coach Pat Nelson had high praise for the team’s effort.
“We played hard right from the opening whistle at both ends of the floor tonight. Our special teams played very well killing off penalties and potting some pretty timely goals.”
“We have to give credit to the Flames team who never quit and chipped away at our lead with good goaltending and tough defence but we were pretty consistent with our attack and managed to get a timely goal on the powerplay.”
General manager Francine Belanger noted this is the highest Armstrong has finished in the regular season.
“This is a very special group of players and a pleasure to manage. They play hard as a team and have worked really hard to get the first-round bye in the playoffs,” she said
“Now we need the community to come out and support these guys as we head into the playoffs.”
The Baby ‘Rocks will have home-floor advantage against the highest advancing seed from the four teams battling in the quarterfinals, with the first game expected to be played after the Canada Day long weekend.
Meanwhile, with the TOJLL title well in hand, the 12-2 Kelowna Raiders could have cruised Thursday night, but decided to send a pre-playoff message with a 13-3 shellacking of the Vernon Re/Max Tigers.
With only 15 runners and trailing 11-2 after 40 minutes, Tigers’ assistant coach Dave McWhirter asked his players “to treat it like a 0-0 game and just give it a go.”
They responded by tying the third frame 2-2 and holding the Raiders’ potent powerplay scoreless.
“They stung us for six in the second and our offence just didn’t produce. It was a hot night; we were short guys and banged up,” said McWhirter.
“For a team that’s already won the league, they must have wanted to send a message because they dressed their A squad.”
The Cats (5-8-1) ended the regular season Saturday night against the host Kamloops Venom at Memorial Arena.
Braden Barr, ripping a shot over the Kelowna netminder’s shoulder, and Darryl Landels and Nolan Frame, running hard to the net after some solid cycle play, handled Vernon’s offence.
Jay Seaton and Mitch Steele each supplied two assists.
