Victoria’s Jr. ‘A’ Shamrocks fell to 1-1 on the season following a hard-fought weekend battle with the Delta Islanders Saturday.
The Rocks fell on home floor 18-16, dropping their second game of the season after a 13-11 score buoyed them to victory over the Nanaimo Timbermen in the season opener.
Delta opened up big leads at two points in the game, taking an 8-2 lead to start and a 14-7 lead into the final minutes of the game. The Shamrocks proved their mettle however, with a late salvo, notching six goals in the final 2:53 of the final period to get close.
The Shamrocks’ Brad McCully scorched the Timbermen with 10 points on the strength of four goals and six assists, followed by hat tricks by Cole Pickup and Colten Merilainen. Two-goal efforts by Matt Hamilton and Guy Cullen rounded up Victoria’s top scorers. The Jr. Shamrocks’ next home game is this Saturday, May 7 against the Coquitlam Adanacs with a 5 p.m. game start.
In Intermediate 'A' action, the Victoria side lost a gritty 11-10 affair, falling to the visiting Maple Ridge Burrards in overtime at home.
The high-scoring first period saw a total of 14 goals in the opening 20 minutes with the visitors staking a 4-0 lead to start the game.
The second period proved to be a stark contrast to the first with no scoring at all, heading into the third, where the Shamrocks turned on the afterburners for the home crowd. Down 9-5, they streaked to a 5-1 scoring run, leaving the teams tied after the first 60 minutes of action.
Sudden death overtime would prove to be less fruitful for the green side, with the visitors scoring 5:38 into the extra period to emerge victorious. The Shamrocks fell to 2-1 on the season, but followed up Sunday with a 16-10 road victory against the Richmond Roadrunners to boost their record to 3-1.
Ben Preston and Caleb Kuber led the offensive charge for the Shamrocks against Maple Ridge with a hat trick a piece, followed by Nick Murray with a pair and singles by Garrett Wicks and Braydon Brown. The next opportunity to get back in the win column at home goes against the Delta Islanders May 14 at 1:30 p.m. at The Q Centre.