PETERBOROUGH聽 14
VICTORIA聽 7
Series tied at 1-1
Nobody said it was going to be easy.
Curtis Dickson had four goals and three assists, and Adam Jones provided a hat-trick and three helpers to lead the Peterborough Lakers to a lop-sided 14-7 victory over the Victoria Shamrocks in Game 2 of the Mann Cup lacrosse championship at The Q Centre.
The best-of-seven series between the East and West champions is now knotted at 1-1 with Game 3 on Monday, followed by outings on Tuesday and Wednesday. All games start at 7 p.m.
It was a pivotal game in which the Shamrocks could have grabbed a stranglehold. Instead, it was the Lakers who reeled in their first victory and now have a day off to rest and feel good about earning the split in the first two.
鈥淵ou never want to go down 2-0, especially on the road,鈥� Dickson said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a tough hole to claw out of so it was definitely a big game for us to take. We have the day off, which is nice, and hopefully we grab that 2-1 lead on Monday.鈥�
It was the first loss of the entire playoffs for Victoria in a game played before 2,748 fans.
The Shamrocks struggled in goal, with offence and discipline in this one as they never really seemed to get untracked.
Down 2-0 on a pair of Jones goals in the first 3:12, the Rocks battled back to tie it by the 10:58 mark, but went to the dressing room down 4-2. A penalty-marred second period had Peterborough up 9-5 on three straight goals to wrap up the middle session and they ran off and hid in the third with five more goals.
鈥淲e played a team that had to play a good game tonight. They didn鈥檛 want to go into the break down two games,鈥� Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 come out with that same intensity.鈥�
Jesse King led the way with two goals for the Shamrocks. Karsen Leung, Matt Yager, Greg Harnett, Daryl Veltman and Rhys Duch added one apiece. Corey Small, Dan Dawson, captain Scott Ranger and Cory Conway were all kept quiet by the Lakers鈥� stubborn defence and goalie Matt Vinc.
Goalie Aaron Bold struggled with 25 saves for Victoria while Vinc stopped 35 for the winners. Matt Roik replaced Bold late and allowed a goal.
鈥淪ome of their best players were their best players and ours weren鈥檛,鈥� Heyes said. 鈥淚 think Aaron Bold will know he can be better, absolutely.鈥�
Mark Steenhuis and Chad Culp each had a pair for the Lakers, while Scott Self, Cory Vitarelli and Brad Self also tallied in a game that was extremely chippy. The Lakers were not pleased with late liberties being taken.
The Lakers now lose Jones for four games as he heads back to Ontario to begin a teaching job.
鈥淗e鈥檚 one of our better players, obviously,鈥� Dickson said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big loss for us, but we have the bench to take care of it.鈥�
