Toppled 13-12 by the New Westminster Salmonbellies on Thursday night, the Victoria Shamrocks will now set their sights on a tough battle for first place tonight at Bear Mountain Arena.
Kyle Ross鈥檚 goal, with 4:16 to go, held up as the winner as the 5-8-1 Salmonbellies shocked the now 9-5 Shamrocks, who turn their attention to the visiting Langley Thunder tonight.
The game 鈥� billed as alumni night in which the Shamrocks will celebrate 64 years of existence 鈥� begins at 7:45 p.m.
鈥淚t should be a great test and it should be an outstanding game,鈥� Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes said prior to last night鈥檚 effort.
鈥淟ooking at the lineups, seeing what they have and what we have will be a good measuring stick for both clubs.
鈥淚t should give us a good idea of where we sit and where we need to improve.
鈥淓verybody wants first place for home-floor advantage and to play the fourth seed, plain and simple. Whoever finishes second is going to have a tough series. I鈥檓 not saying whoever draws the fourth seed isn鈥檛 going to 鈥� a聽lot needs to be decided still.鈥�
Fans will see a totally revamped Thunder lineup, but they will also be amped up for alumni night. 鈥淚 think with the alumni evening, that will bring familiar faces out,鈥� said Heyes. 鈥淭hat will be something that some of our new guys will see what being a Shamrock is all about, seeing some of the Hall of Famers who will be here.
鈥淏ut the game itself will be a marquee matchup, a heavyweight title bout. It sounded like their game Sunday against Maple Ridge was an outstanding game, that came down to the last five minutes.鈥�
The Thunder scored three goals in the final 4:19 to steal the 13-12 victory as Dane Dobbie, who was acquired in a trade deadline move from Coquitlam, scored the winner with 1:37 to go.
Langley also recently added Damon Edwards and goaltender Nick Rose (who earned the win) in that deal.
It came after securing talented players Mark Matthews, Adam Jones and Jeremy Noble on transfers the week prior. Noble is yet to play with the team.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e a good team, one of many. We expected this and we鈥檒l be ready for it,鈥� said Heyes, who had received a four-goal performance from Corey Small on Thursday.
Tyer Hass, Cory Conway and Mitch Jones, all with a pair each, Tyler Burton, and Scott Ranger had the other Victoria goals.
Keegan Ball had four goals for New West while Jeff Cornwall and Jordan McBride had two goals apiece.
Tom Johnson, Ilija Gajic, Nenad Gajic and Logan Schuss had one goal each.
Matt Flindell suffered the loss in goal for Victoria as Matt Vinc is expected to play tonight.
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