The Victoria Shamrocks now feel they can handle just about anything. On Sunday night, the Shamrocks swept the Burnaby Lakers out of the Western Lacrosse Association playoffs in a 10-7 victory, and they did it playing most of the third period without starting goaltender Matt Vinc and backup Matt Flindell.
The two goalies were both tossed for using illegal equipment.
“I got a little more emotionally attached to the game than a head coach should have,” said Shamrocks coach Bob Heyes, a goalie in his playing days. “I did ask referee Greg Pepper if I could play goal.”
Heyes didn’t wind up in net, he called on forward Derek Lowe, who had experience as a field lacrosse goaltender. Lowe hadn’t originally been slated to play at all, but was a last-minute replacement for the injured Greg Harnett. The Shamrocks taped Vinc’s equipment on Lowe, making the pads slightly smaller than the ones deemed illegal, when Burnaby called for first Vinc’s, then Flindell’s, pads to be measured.
“I give full credit to Derek Lowe for not batting an eye,” Heyes said, unimpressed with the Lakers’ strategy. “It’s kind of a cheap way to win a game.”
With a WLA championship series against the Langley Thunder waiting in the wings, the Shamrocks rallied around their new goaltender. Victoria had led the game by period scores of 4-1 and 8-2, but it had been a fairly lacklustre affair, until that point.
However, With Lowe between the pipes and the score 9-4, Burnaby poured it on, and the Shamrocks responded. Lowe’s teammates blocked shots, put up a wall of defence, cheered his every save and spent 14 minutes holding off a desperate team.
“We couldn’t give them any free shots,” Heyes said. “We put an exclamation mark on the whole thing, and what it takes to win.”
The crazy victory has the Shamrocks riding a wave of momentum into Langley for Game 1 of the best-of-seven final series Wednesday, starting at 7:45 p.m.
