The Shamrocks are joined by the Langley Thunder, Coquitlam Adanacs and Maple Ridge Burrards in the round-robin tournament.
鈥淚t puts a little bit of pressure on us and I think it鈥檚 good. Two years ago we won the silver and last year we won the gold, so we just want to keep building the program. The pressure isn鈥檛 to win provincials, the pressure is to legitimize our program,鈥� said Intermediate Shamrocks head coach Tim Dennett.
Victoria finished tied for third in the regular season with the Burrards at 13-5, just behind the Adanacs and Thunder at 14-4.
The Shamrocks will play Langley on Friday at 8 p.m. before competing against Maple Ridge on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and closing out the round-robin against Coquitlam on Sunday at 2 p.m. Medal games will go holiday Monday with the top two squaring off for gold and bottom two for bronze.
Victoria鈥檚 Ben Preston finished second in league scoring with 34 goals and 45 assists for 79 points, behind Maple Ridge鈥檚 Dylan McIntosh, who tallied 52 goals and 37 assists for 89 points.
Dennett will draw on the experience of Preston, who is competing in his third Intermediate provincials. He also has veterans Brian Robb, Jake Campbell and Spencer Erwin.
鈥淭he guys have been to the dance before,鈥� said Dennett, who says the league featured tremendous parity among the top five teams with the Delta Islanders at 12-6. Victoria swept the Islanders in the opening best-of-three playoff series with 16-12 (in overtime) and 19-14 victories.
鈥淭his year is probably the toughest we鈥檝e seen it. Everybody has beaten everybody,鈥� said Dennett. 鈥淚t will be interesting. For us, I think we have an advantage of having travelled every weekend. We have played the back-to-backs.鈥�
This will be a gruelling tournament, having to win every time out, he added.
鈥淚t鈥檚 whoever gets hot first,鈥� said Dennett. 鈥淲e鈥檙e fit and strong and fast. When we want to play, we can play, but Langley is in the same boat and Coquitlam is good and Maple Ridge is definitely good, too. It鈥檚 actually nice to see [the parity].
鈥淭he last couple of years there have been only one or two horses. Last year, it was us and Coquitlam who were the top two teams. I think we beat Langley 18-5 and there won鈥檛 be any of that this year,鈥� he explained.
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