Hickey's Shorthanded Thriller Lifts Shamrocks to Game 1 Win Over Adanacs

The Victoria Shamrocks opened the WLA Championship Series in dramatic fashion Saturday night, edging the Coquitlam Adanacs 7-6 at The Q Centre thanks to a shorthanded, unassisted goal from Jacob Hickey with just 43 seconds remaining in regulation.

The best-of-seven series winner earns a berth in the Mann Cup, and the Shamrocks couldn't have asked for a better start in front of 2,287 fans.

Victoria came out flying, building a 5-2 lead through the first period behind goals from Marshal King, a pair from Chris Wardle, Eli McLaughlin, and an extra-attacker marker from Brodie Wade with the period winding down. King opened the scoring just 26 seconds in, setting the tone for a fast and physical opener.

Coquitlam had other ideas in the second period, storming back with four unanswered goals from Thomas Semple, Sean Kriwokon (twice) and Adam Noakes to erase the deficit and take a 6-5 lead into the third.

But the Shamrocks weren't finished. Zach Manns tied the game just 47 seconds into the final frame, setting up a tense finish that came down to the wire.

With the Adanacs pressing on the man advantage late, Hickey read the play perfectly, stripping the ball and finishing on a shorthanded breakaway with 43 seconds to go to give Victoria the lead for good and send the home crowd into a frenzy.

Coquitlam netminder Christian Del Bianco kept his team in it all night, turning aside 45 of 52 shots he faced, while the Shamrocks poured on 52 shots of their own compared to the Adanacs' 41.

Three Stars

  1. Jacob Hickey, Shamrocks (1 G, 1 PT) — the series-opening winner
  2. Christian Del Bianco, Adanacs (45 saves, 7 GA)
  3. Chris Wardle, Shamrocks (2 G, 2 PTS)

The Shamrocks take a 1-0 series lead into Game 2 on the road against the Adanacs Monday at 7pm, streaming live at WLALacrosse.com. Victoria returns home for Game 3 on Wednesday at 6:30pm, with tickets available at VictoriaShamrocks.com.