Stifling Defense Leads 'Rocks To Victory

Victoria, BC ~ The Victoria Shamrocks outscored the Coquitlam Adanacs 6-0 in the final 40 minutes to walk away with an 8-4 win on home soil in front of 2,115 fans at the Q Centre in Colwood.

    The Adanacs strongly began the game, jumping out to a 3-0 lead after 13 minutes on goals from David Charney, Kean Moon, and Adam Noakes. Andrew Kew responded twice for the Shamrocks in 44 seconds, but Coquitlam led 4-2 at the end of the first due to Riley Isaacs finding the back of the net with 12 seconds remaining on the clock.

    The second-period speech from Head Coach Mike Simpson seemed to strike a chord with the ‘Rocks, who would not surrender another goal from there on out. Mathieu Gauthier, Elijah Gash, Patrick Dodds, and Andrew Kew’s hat-trick goal provided the offense for the home side in the second period, who led 6-4 after 40 minutes.

To add insult to injury, Victoria added two more in the third, both by way of Chris Wardle. An 8-4 final against a red-hot Coquitlam team was certainly what the Shamrocks were looking for. Perhaps more impressively, they held an Adanacs team, which was averaging 9.5 goals per game, to just four and none after the first.    

Andrew Kew was named the first star of the game while Chris Origlieri and Chris Wardle rounded out the second and third stars. 

Christian Del Bianco was busy in goal for the Adanacs and made 44 saves on 52 shots while Chris Origlieri was a sensation for the ‘Rocks, making 31 saves on 35 shots.

With the victory, Victoria leapfrogged Coquitlam in the standings and sits in second in the WLA with a 6-1-1 record. New Westminster is yet to lose with a perfect 7-0 record in first place.

Victoria returns to action on Wednesday night from the Langley Events Centre for a visit with the Langley Thunder.