The Victoria Shamrocks rode a smothering defence and clamp-down goaltending to a 9-4 victory over the Maple Ridge Burrards to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven Western Lacrosse Association championship series Friday night at The Q Centre.
“Our team defence was great tonight,” said Victoria head coach Bob Heyes.
So was Shamrocks goaltender Adam Shute, a Calgary microbiologist who flies in for games, with 34 saves. Shute outperformed the more heralded Maple Ridge goaltender and WLA first-team all-star Frank Scigliano, who had 30 saves before 1,587 fans.
“[Shute] made the saves when he had to,” said Heyes, himself a former goaltender, who has guided the Shamrocks to the WLA final for the sixth consecutive season.
The other hero of the piece was Steve Priolo, with his goal and two assists, and uncanny ball-ragging abilities. Modern box lacrosse, with its offensive and defensive units, has been slowed to a half-floor game. But not when Priolo, one of the few remaining two-way players in the sport, is on the floor.
“I’m a big fan of the full-court game and I like to stretch the floor,” said the six-foot-five, 225-pound handful out of St. Catharines, Ont.
“The Burrards pressed us tonight, and that left gaps for me.”
And Priolo exploited those to race up the floor.
“Steve Priolo has experience and is just a force out there on defence,” said Heyes. “He brings confidence. He’s our glue.”
Heyes noted Maple Ridge got off to substantial leads in the semifinal sweep of regular-season champion New Westminster, leaving the Salmonbellies chasing the series throughout. So three unanswered first-period goals by Jesse King, on the power play, junior call-up Brad McCulley and rookie Tyson Gibson got Victoria off to the start it wanted in the final series.
The Shamrocks played a swarming defensive stretch of shutout lacrosse before Maple Ridge sniper Curtis Dickson finally scored on the power play at 6:12 of the second period and quickly followed up with another goal at 7:54. Dickson beat a double team to score short-handed in the third period for lacrosse’s version of hitting for the hat-trick cycle. But not even the player nicknamed “Superman” was enough on this night for Maple Ridge.
The tide-turning moment came after Dickson brought the Burrards to within 3-2 as former Ohio State Buckeyes field lacrosse star King beat two defenders to score shorthanded at 13:48 to make it 4-2 for Victoria. Shamrocks captain Matt Yager gave the hosts a 5-2 lead into the second break. Two goals off dazzling assists, one from Priolo to Rhys Duch, and the other short-handed from Rob Hellyer to Chris Wardle, put it away for Victoria in the third period.
Gibson, an offensively gifted rookie out of NCAA Div. 1 Robert Morris and Ontario Junior A Brampton, scored on the power play for his second goal of the night for Victoria in the third period with Priolo following up by zagging around an out-of-position Scigliano.
“Composure will be the key to the rest of the series,” said Priolo.
“They were trying to suck us into penalties near the end of the game.”
Game 2 is Sunday evening at Cam Neely Arena in Maple Ridge, Game 3 on Tuesday at The Q Centre and Game 4 on Thursday at Cam Neely.
BOXLA BITS: Named to the 2018 WLA first all-star team were Scigliano in goal, Dickson, Casey Jackson of Victoria and Logan Schuss of New Westminster at forward and Mike Messenger of the Salmonbellies and Drew Belgrave of Nanaimo on defence. … The league second team consists of New Westminster’s Alexis Buque in goal, Victoria’s King, Nanaimo’s Chase Fraser and Burnaby’s Eli McLaughlin at forward and Jordan Gilles of Nanaimo and Priolo on defence. … Shamrocks legend Fred “Whitey” Severson, whose retired No. 8 jersey hangs from the rafters of The Q Centre, celebrated his 90th birthday Friday.
