Shamrocks Take Game One of WLA Final
Victoria, BC ~ The Victoria Shamrocks defeated the Langley Thunder 10-8 on Saturday from The Q Centre in Colwood, to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the WLA final.
The Shamrocks started off strong with a goal from Jesse King just 50 seconds into the game to bring the 1,387 in attendance to their feet. A relatively quiet first half of the period would follow however, Matheiu Gauthier would make it 2-0 at 11:07 and Marshal King would extend that lead to three, two minutes and sixteen seconds later.
The Thunder answered back at 14:38 before Chris Wardle retook the Rocks three goal lead less than two minutes later. Langley added a quick one late in the period to make it a 4-2 Shamrock lead after one.
The second period would go to the Thunder as they opened the scoring of the period with a goal at 7:50 making it 4-3. Cole Pickup answered for the 'Rocks at 9:09.
The two teams exchanged goals at the 12:16 and 12:25 marks first the Thunder pulling back within one, before Bennett Smith put Victoria right back up by two. Clay Scanlan scored two goals in less than two minutes for the Thunder at 13:54 and 15:10 to tie the game at six.
With the Shamrocks dominating the flow of play, the game felt like less of a close game than the scoreboard told. Trent DiCicco would echo that by regaining the Victoria lead at 15:21 going into the second intermission.
As has been the case all season, the third period was Victoria's best. Langley would find the back of the net first in the final frame at 1:08 before Jesse King made it 8-7 Shamrocks five minutes into the period. He would tally another marker to make it a hat trick and two goal Victoria lead at 12:19.
Langley pulled back within one at 16:53 however that was as close as they would come with Cole Pickup putting one home with 15 seconds remaining to seal the deal at 10-8 Shamrocks.
With the Shamrocks up 1-0 in the series, the games head over to the Langley Event Centre for games two and three before turning back to the provinces capital for games four and five. Tickets are available here.