听
The Western Lacrosse Association championship final is all about opportunities 鈥� and making the most of them.
The Victoria Shamrocks did just that with a clutch road win on Friday to even the best-of-seven series at 1-1, and hope to continue along that path to what could be a fourth straight league crown should they manage to fend off the stubborn Maple Ridge Burrards.
Veteran Jeff Shattler took advantage of his opportunities in Friday's 11-9 win, recording four goals and three assists.
鈥淪hats was great in Game 2. It鈥檚 good to see that experience come through,鈥� said relieved Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes, who has needed scoring from others not named Rhys Duch.
Duch led the regular season scoring parade with 101 points and 43 goals. In the playoffs, he remains No. 1 with 24 goals and 26 assists. He had six helpers as the Burrards keyed on Duch on Friday after he was kept to two goals and two assists in Game 1.
鈥淵ou look at his point totals in the playoffs, he鈥檚 definitely been our go-to guy. They鈥檝e focused on him and we needed other guys to step up, which was good,鈥� Heyes said.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e got a lot of weapons. I鈥檓 not going to lie,鈥� Burrards head coach Rob Williams said earlier in the series. 鈥淭hey have Rhys and if you shut Rhys down, they swing it to Corey Small, and if you shut Corey down, he swings it to Shattler and if you shut him down, they move it to [Chris] Wardle.
鈥淭hey have a good offence, so I can鈥檛 say shutting one guy down is going to win it for you.鈥�
It didn鈥檛 on Friday and how teams adjust tonight with be a key to the series.
鈥淎bsolutely, it opens other things up and those guys have to produce,鈥� said Heyes, who got three goals and two assists from Small and two of each from Cory Conway.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the sign of a good team, that we haven鈥檛 relied on just Rhys or Smallsy all year. It鈥檚 been spread around. Look at Conway [in Game 2], he had the four points. Those are the contributions that we need.鈥�
Tyler Burton was huge on faceoffs, too, winning 18 of the 22, muscling the ball from the likes of Maple Ridge鈥檚 Zack Porter who was 4-15 and Dayne Michaud (0-4) on the dot. Victoria鈥檚 Josh Fagan was 1-0 in that department.
Heyes also made the bold move of pulling starting goalie Adam Shute for the third, which turned the game around for the Shamrocks.
鈥淭he defence was good, but they seemed to have Shuter鈥檚 number on a couple of outside shots. I thought I would throw Hags [Cody Hagedorn] in and give it a whole different look that their offence sees,鈥� said Heyes. 鈥淭heir shooting doesn鈥檛 change, they keep going to the same things they鈥檙e doing and Hags plays a different style. It was a hunch that paid off.鈥�
Now the Shamrocks earn back home-floor advantage, which is truly only a benefit if the building is full and loud. The support has been good, but sellouts like last year have yet to occur, strange considering the team is playing for a fourth straight league title and a chance to defend their Mann Cup out East.
鈥淚 would expect that Sunday at 6 that our barn would be filled with lots of that emotion that we want,鈥� said Heyes, who did not want to return down 0-2 in the series.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important we didn鈥檛 lose that second one because that would have been added pressure.鈥�
Twitter/tc_vicsports
