Shamrocks Sweep Timbermen, Punch Ticket to Next Round

The Victoria Shamrocks only needed three games to close out their best-of-five series, and did so in dominant fashion, sweeping the Nanaimo Timbermen with an 11-6 win on Friday night at the Q Centre, powered by a six-goal second period and a pair of empty-net goals late in the third.

Nanaimo grabbed the early lead, with Ryan Sheridan scoring twice in the first period, including a power play marker at 11:31, to put the Timbermen up 2-0. Luke Pilcher got Victoria on the board on the man advantage before the period ended, cutting the deficit to 2-1 after 20 minutes.

The second period was where the game turned. Noah Manning restored Nanaimo's two-goal cushion just over a minute in, but the Shamrocks answered with four unanswered goals from Brodie Wade, Zach Manns, Chris Wardle and a shorthanded tally from Marshal King to take a 5-3 lead. Andrew Bowman got one back on the power play for the Timbermen and Matt Abbott tied it at 5-5, but Victoria closed the period on a run, getting a second Wardle goal and a second shorthanded goal, this one from Pilcher, before Jeremy Wudrick pulled Nanaimo back within one heading into the third.

Victoria took over from there. King struck again at 10:13 of the third to make it 8-6, and Eli McLaughlin extended the lead to 9-6 at 16:16. King completed his hat trick into an empty net at 19:02, and Manns capped the scoring with another empty-netter 33 seconds later to seal the 11-6 final and the series sweep.

The Shamrocks also won the shot battle convincingly, outshooting the Timbermen 61-42, and got key contributions on special teams with two shorthanded goals to Nanaimo's none.

Three Stars

Nick Chaykowsky, Shamrocks (1 assist)

Ryan Sheridan, Timbermen (2 goals, 2 assists)

Chris Wardle, Shamrocks (2 goals)

The Shamrocks move on with a clean sweep and a full head of steam, waiting to find out whether Maple Ridge or Coquitlam will be standing in their way next. Game dates, times and ticket information for the next round are coming soon to the website and social media — stay tuned.