T’Men Go Down to Rocks

2010-06-05

Newcomer Ryan Benesch endeared himself to the home fans as he notched his first goal in The Cave at the 2:25 mark of the opening period, Nick Llord digging up a loose ball and making the pass.  Nanaimo roared back, quieting the Shamrock part of the crowd as they scored four consecutive goals, 3 of them in a minute and 37 seconds.  Lewis Ratcliff got the party started at 3:10.  Another former Shamrock, George Westwood, got a goal off a rebound at 4:28.  The other Ratcliff brother, Cayle, got in close off the ensuing faceoff and scored at 4:47 and suddenly it was 3-1 for the visitors.  At 8:32 Danny Farmer extended the lead to 3 goals.  Matt Flindell came in and took the 2-minute warm-up in goal for the Shamrocks but as soon as play started, switched off with Patterson again.  A Victoria power play resulted in a goal off the stick of Curt Morwick at 9:31 but just 13 seconds later, Scott Ranger restored the 4-goal lead and at 12:50 Ranger collected his second on a Nanaimo power play giving Patterson a couple of fakes before putting the ball behind him.  No doubt some of the fans were a little worried by what they had witnessed so far but no need.  The Shamrocks went on a 4-goal streak of their own.  Rhys Duch bowled his way in and scored unassisted at 13:53.  Curt Morwick followed up at 14:16 with his second of the night and 21 seconds after that, Benesch got his second to put the home team within a goal.  At 17:54 defender Rhys Jones showed he has some speed as he came in on a breakaway and beat King to knot the score at 6-6.  That was the score after 20 minutes as Nanaimo outshot the Shamrocks by a slim 18-17 margin.  Only 2 penalties were called in the period, one to each team and each team scored on their power play opportunity.

The Shamrocks continued their streak with the first 4 goals of period 2.  Duch converted a pass from Benesch on a 2-on-1 break at 1:37.  Benesch then came through with his hat-trick goal at 2:05 and followed it up with his 4^th at 5:38, just 3 seconds after the expiry of a Nanaimo penalty.  Big Tyler Hass turned things up a notch and scored unassisted at 6:37.  Kane Swartout came in and warmed up in the Nanaimo net but, as Victoria had done, he was quickly replaced by King when play resumed.  The Timbermen did score the next 2 goals as the Ratcliff brothers both scored, Lewis at 10:45 and Cayle at 11:30.  The Shamrocks put two more on the board before the buzzer rang as Duch notched his third at 14:37 and Dean Hill finished off a great passing play at 15:38 to send the ‘Rocks to the dressing room with a 12-8 lead after 40 minutes.

Early in the final frame the Ratcliff boys each connected once more, Cayle at 1:38 and Lewis at 2:20 to give each of them the hat-trick.  Patterson and his defense shut them down the rest of the way as Hill, Duch with a bullet and Benesch with a nifty backhander scored at 10:17, 12:39 and 13:17 respectively to provide the margin of victory.  These two teams really don't seem to like each other a lot but there were very few penalties in the game and things only seemed about to erupt after the final buzzer.

Ryan Benesch finished the game with 5 goals and 3 assists and Rhys Duch chipped in 4 goals and 2 helpers as they were named the game's first and second stars respectively.  Curt Morwick and Dean Hill each had a pair of goals with singles coming from Rhys Jones and Tyler Hass.  Jeff Shattler and Dylan Llord contributed 4 and 3 assists respectively.  Nick Patterson made 38 saves to get the victory.

For the visiting Timbermen it was Cayle and Lewis Ratcliff each with 3 goals and Lewis with 4 assists as well to be named the game's third star.  Scott Ranger scored twice with Danny Farmer and George Westwood getting the other two goals.  Joel Henry and Callum Crawford had 3 and 2 assists respectively.

Next action for the Shamrocks is next Friday in Burnaby against the Lakers, a game which will be webcast via the WLA website (http://www.theboxrocks.com/).  Next home game is Friday, June 18 when the visitors will be the New Westminster Salmonbellies.