VICTORIA 9 COQUITLAM 6
(Adanacs lead series 2-1)
Victoria Shamrocks captain Matt Lyons threw out a tweet on his @driftwood19 Twitter account on Friday afternoon.
"Time to see what we're made of. Who wants it. #bleedgreen," read the message, which didn't attract any replies over the twittersphere, at least indirectly.
There was plenty of reaction on the floor, though, as the locals responded with a gritty 9-6 decision over the Coquitlam Adanacs in a must-win scenario at Bear Mountain Arena. The victory cuts the Adanacs' lead to 2-1 in the Western Lacrosse Association best-of-seven semifinal.
Lyons had three helpers in a defensive tussle that featured some spectacular goaltending by both Coquitlam's Nick Rose and Victoria's Mat Flindell and some big hits. A certain nastiness all around, especially late in the game.
"That was huge, we needed this one," said Shamrocks assistant coach Dave Lowdon. "The guys came out, they knew what we had to do and we executed, right from the back end out.
We're right back in it now."
Ryan Benesch had the only goal of the first period for the Shamrocks and he finished the night with the goal and three assists. Corey Small had three power-play goals for the victors, while Kory Kowalyk, Karsen Leung, Jeff Shattler, Mike Pires and Chet Koneczny, on a wonderful short-handed, unassisted effort, added one each. Leung collected four assists.
Dane Dobbie, with three goals, Jason Jones, Daniel McQuade and Kevin Olsen replied for Coquitlam, who trailed 4-2 after two periods, then allowed three goals in the first 3: 33 of the third to trail 7-3.
"They've got gunners. They can go off for five goals in five minutes, easily," said Dobbie, who was happy with his team's efforts the first two games.
"We're just playing hard. A good group of young guys, playing hard, staying healthy and that's the main thing in the playoffs," said Dobbie.
Three of Coquitlam's goals came on backup Chris Levis late in the third after Flindell was run over by Jones, adding to the animosity.
Game 4 goes Sunday in Coquitlam at 7: 45 p.m.
