Cole Pickup鈥檚 strong season continues for the Victoria Junior Shamrocks.
The 20-year-old sits fourth in the sa国际传媒 Junior A Lacrosse League in total points with 56 (before Saturday play), but is tied for the lead in assists with Connor Robinson of New Westminster with 34, four more than Jr. Shamrocks teammate Brad McCulley.
鈥淚 remember growing up, my dad saying an assist was more important than a goal so I鈥檓 pretty happy, individually, with how the season is going,鈥� said Pickup, who also plays junior hockey with the Victoria Grizzlies. 鈥淚鈥檓 one of those players that is team first and I鈥檓 not too happy about our record.
鈥淚 thought we would be, on paper, a top-three team in this league and it鈥檚 been a frustrating first half. Hopefully, it improves for us here down the stretch. It could come down to one big play or one big win to turn around the season.鈥�
The Junior Shamrocks (5-8) are coming off an 11-8 win over Nanaimo on Tuesday and are in Port Coquitlam (6-6) today at 5 p.m. to face the Saints in an important matchup.
Pickup had three assists to go along with two goals in that outing. Nick Preston and Braylon Lumb had also tallied twice each, while Eddie Smith, Colten Merilainen, David Byrne, Adam Jay and Steve Ackinclose added one goal each.
鈥淚 think I鈥檓 usually more of a shoot-first kind of player, but this year we have some good offensive guys on the left side and right side so it鈥檚 been pretty easy to put the ball in their stick,鈥� he said.
Head coach Walt Christianson knows how unselfish Pickup can be.
鈥淐ole has had a great season so far. We鈥檝e changed a lot of things, as far as teaching him how to play lacrosse at the next level. He鈥檚 really bought in and he鈥檚 very coachable,鈥� said Christianson, a veteran who is coaching Pickup for the first time.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a gamer and will do whatever it takes to win and he鈥檚 unselfish so when guys are open, he鈥檒l get them the ball, hence all the assists. But he鈥檚 obviously also a scoring threat and a great leader.
鈥淭he guys really respect him. For example, against PoCo recently, things weren鈥檛 going well, he leapt off the bench, went out and got the ball and scored. I could see, although he never said anything, that he had literally made up his mind that he was going to get that loose ball and score, and he did.鈥�
As for his team鈥檚 record, Christianson isn鈥檛 happy with current log. 鈥淥bviously, we鈥檙e not where we want to be, or envisioned where we would be. We鈥檝e struggled a little and we鈥檝e lost a lot of close games. It seems like we鈥檙e losing every one of those and we need to turn those around,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great group of kids though. They work very hard and they do everything I ask them to do.鈥�
The Junior Shamrocks have lost three two-goal games and once each by three and one. They鈥檝e also been drubbed once each by Coquitlam and New Westminster, the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the league, respectively.
The team has struggled defensively in allowing the most goals in the league (156), which puts added pressure on offence.
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CLOVER POINTS: A typo appeared in the result from the Victoria Shamrocks game Friday. The senior Shamrocks won 13-3 over Langley as goal-scoring in the story had indicated.
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