Goaltenders Steal the Show as Adanacs Edge Shamrocks 5-4, Take Series Lead

Christian Del Bianco stood on his head Wednesday night at The Q Centre, stopping 55 of 59 shots to outduel Victoria's Chris Origlieri as the Coquitlam Adanacs edged the Shamrocks 5-4 in game three of the WLA Championship Series. Coquitlam now leads the series two games to one, and it took a standing-room-only crowd of 2,570 to watch it happen.

Del Bianco was the story of the night. Facing a Victoria attack that piled up 59 shots, he kept the Adanacs in front from start to finish and was named the game's first star for his effort. Origlieri was no slouch at the other end, stopping 34 of 39 shots and pushing the game to the final horn despite the loss, earning second-star honours himself. With both goalies picking up the top two stars, it's about as clear a signal as there is that this one was decided in the crease.

Victoria opened the scoring just 2:15 into the game on a goal from Brodie Wade, assisted by Zach Manns. Thomas Semple answered for Coquitlam a minute later off a Jordan Roberts feed, and Patrick Dodds restored the Shamrocks' lead at 8:28 with helpers from Koen Block and Marshal King, sending Victoria into the first intermission up 2-1.

Adam Noakes tied it for Coquitlam just 30 seconds into the second period, finishing a feed from Riley Isaacs. The teams traded power-play goals from there, Manns scoring with the man advantage at 5:54 off a Dodds assist to put Victoria back in front, before Kean Moon answered on Coquitlam's own power play at 7:53, assisted by David Charney. Denton Macdonald put the Shamrocks up again at 11:54 with Derek Lloyd drawing the helper, only for Jalen Chaster to tie it once more at 13:18 off a Parker Kennedy assist. The back-and-forth second period ended knotted at 4-4.

The third period belonged to Del Bianco and the Adanacs defence. Noakes struck for his second of the night at 9:50, assisted by Sam Charbonneau, and neither team found the back of the net again the rest of the way. Noakes finished with two goals and two points and was named the game's third star, while Del Bianco made it stand up despite Victoria out-shooting Coquitlam 59-39 on the night.

Game four goes Friday night in Coquitlam, streaming live at WLALacrosse.com. The Shamrocks are back home at The Q Centre for game five on Sunday, with an earlier 5pm start. With tonight's game standing room only, fans are encouraged to get their tickets early at VictoriaShamrocks.com.