Shamrocks Down Timbermen For Season Sweep

Victoria, BC ~ The Victoria Shamrocks got a five-goal night from Andrew Kew to hang on for an 11-9 victory at the Q Centre on Wednesday night in Colwood in front of 2,029 'Rocks faithful.

Victoria led 3-2 after twenty minutes thanks to goals from Zach Manns, Andrew Kew, and Mathieu Gauthier, while Nanaimo's offense came by way of Colton Lidstone and Luke Pilcher.

In the second period, it looked like the 'Rocks would pull away after Kew scored three straight goals in the first 8:41 of the frame to make it 6-2 for the home side. Nanaimo, however, would score three unanswered goals of their own from Ryan Sheridan, Lidstone (shorthanded), and Pilcher. The two squads would exchange tallies in the final six minutes (Kew again for Victoria and Noah Manning for Nanaimo) to see the Shamrocks lead again by one at the end of a period. This time 7-6.

Alex Simmons got his first WLA goal for the Shamrocks on his debut just one minute into the third, but the Timbermen pulled back within one on Colton Lidstone's hat-trick goal just over five minutes later. Shamrocks captain, Jesse King, and Mathieu Gauthier would then score 16 seconds apart for a 10-7 Victoria lead with 7:07 gone in the third.

The pesky Timbermen would refuse to go away and get two goals in two minutes from first Luke Pilcher and then Ryan Sheridan to make it a one-goal game with 16:19 played.

Nanaimo pulled their netminder for an extra attacker but gave the ball away just moments later, and Victoria's Nick Preston would seal the deal off the rush into an empty goal with 22 seconds remaining on the game clock. That 11-9 score would hold up to the end with some rough stuff to close out.

Wednesday night's victory was far from perfect for the first-place Shamrocks, but the win improves their record to 9-1-1 on the season while the lowly Timbermen fall to 1-11-0.

Andrew Kew was named first star of the game with five goals and an assist, while Nanaimo's Colton Lidstone's three-goal and two-assist performance netted him the second star of the evening. Jesse King rounded out the stars with a goal and five assists affair.

Devlin Shanahan was the much busier goaltender, making 56 saves on 66 shots while Victoria's Cam Dunkerley made 40 saves on 49 shots to improve his season record to 4-0-0.

The Shamrocks are back in action on Friday night in Burnaby for a date with the Lakers. They are also out on the road next Wednesday against Langley and returning to the Q Centre on Friday, the 11th, for a second meeting in three days with the Langley Thunder.