The Victoria Shamrocks rode the ferry home a bit more battered and bruised than when they went over to face the Maple Ridge Burrards on Wednesday, but they came away with a 12-5 win and a 2-0 series lead in their Western Lacrosse Association semifinal.
The 'Rocks look to take a stranglehold on the best-of-seven affair when they host the Burrards at The Q Centre this Saturday (Aug. 8), starting at 5 p.m.
After hat tricks by Corey Small in the first period and Daryl Veltman in the second helped the Shamrocks build an 8-3 lead at Planet Ice/Cam Neely Arena, things got heated in the final period as the Burrards did their best to try to intimidate the defending WLA champions.
Head coach Bob Heyes is expecting some suspensions may result from a third-period line brawl that saw four players from each team drop the gloves and go toe-to-toe after the final buzzer, earning five-minute fighting majors as well as game misconducts.
Karsen Leung, Rory Smith, Ben McCullough and Matt Yager were the affected players for the Shamrocks, while Creighton Reid, Dayne Michaud, Zack Porter and Kevin Reid got five and 10 minutes for the Burrards. Maple Ridge's Nick Stone also received a gross misconduct and a game misconduct in the melee.
Among the leaders for the Shamrocks, Small (4+1), Veltman (3+2) and Jesse King (2+3) had five points each. Rhys Duch added a goal and three helpers and Cory Conway four assists on the night.
Aaron Bold stopped 29 of 34 shots in the Victoria net, while Carson Michaud turned aside 25 of 37 Shamrocks shots for the Burrards.