Victoria Shamrocks coach Bob Heyes expected his team to turn on a playoff light switch on Wednesday, and the ’Rocks responded by shining a floodlight all over Bear Mountain Arena.
The Shamrocks blazed past the Burnaby Lakers 12-8 for a Game 1 victory in the best-of-seven Western Lacrosse Association semifinals.
“We wanted to peak at the right time, and this was obviously the right time,” said Shamrock Cory Conway, who picked up two goals and four assists. “It was a good team effort.”
The battle continues in Burnaby next Wednesday, and Game 3 is back at Bear Mountain Arena on Aug. 9.
The other semi, between the Langley Thunder and Coquitlam Adanacs, begins tonight.
Before the game, Heyes said: “Playoffs is a light switch, and we’re going to be the team we always thought we’d be. There’s no excuses tonight, everyone’s got to go.”
And go they did, although the Lakers drew first blood, when young Robert Church beat Victoria goalie Matt Vinc at 2:46 of the opening period. Church was the latest player-of-the-week in the WLA, after picking up 10 points in two games last weekend. He was also an All-American in his senior season of field lacrosse at Drexel University.
“We have a lot of young guys coming into their own right now,” Lakers coach Rory McDade said. “I’m anxious to see who’s going to step up.”
With sniper Jeff Shattler out with an injury, the Shamrocks pulled out their own young guns. Recently-graduated Junior Shamrocks Brody Eastwood and Jesse King were thrown into the fray, and came out shooting. Eastwood finished with a goal and two assists, and King had a trio of assists.
“We had two junior guys step up big time,” Conway said.
Taking a few minutes to find their rhythm, the Shamrocks, who also called up Nanaimo Senior B player Blair Pinnock, got things rolling when captain Scott Ranger evened the score at 9:31. Jackson Decker, with his first of two on the night, replied immediately for the Lakers, who then gave up five straight goals to the home team. The Shamrocks tightened up the back end and life got a bunch more uncomfortable for the Burnaby attackers.
Rhys Duch fired a smooth rocket from the point, and Pinnock gave the Shamrocks their first lead of the game, at 12:32. Two goals by Corey Small, his second one flipped past Lakers goaltender Dan Lewis as time ran out in the first period, had Victoria up 5-2 at the end of 20 minutes. Shorthanded to open the middle frame, Tyler Hass scrambled to scoop a loose ball and got it down the floor to Small, who made it three in a row.
“Transition’s going to be key for us,” McDade said. “Taking away their transition, and getting ours going.”
Burnaby’s Casey Jackson halved Victoria’s lead on the power play, but the Shamrocks kept surging. Conway, Eastwood, with the man advantage, and Ranger added second-period goals, and the Shamrocks were up 9-4 to begin the third period.
“We tried to keep our foot on the gas the whole game,” Conway said.
Church picked up another couple, as the Lakers fought back, but Conway and Duch both scored on power plays, and Duch made it 12-7 at 8:37 of the third.
Other scorers for Burnaby, who were outshot 48-34, were Bryan Safarik and Peter McFetridge.
