A scan of the Victoria Shamrocks鈥� roster usually forces one鈥檚 eyes to stop at the star quality offensive names on the lineup.
But it鈥檚 the name near the top of the handout sheet that has stood out most four games into the Western Lacrosse Association season.
Goaltender Matt Flindell has earned more than his keep, along with some solid help from the defensive corps.
Flindell and Co. will face their stiffest test so far tonight at 6:45 p.m. in travelling to face the Maple Ridge Burrards in an attempt to extend the Shamrocks鈥� perfect 4-0 campaign.
The Burrards, who are right behind at 3-1 along with the Langley Thunder, are led by Curtis Dickson who is already threatening to run away with the scoring title, averaging eight points per game. Dickson has 18 goals and 14 assists and his 32 points are 11 ahead of Victoria鈥檚 Scott Ranger and Cory Conway, regulars at the top of the WLA scoring lists.
鈥淭hey have a lot of firepower. Curtis Dickson is lighting up the league right now,鈥� said Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes. 鈥淗e鈥檚 the key guy. As he goes, they go so we鈥檒l be aware of him. But if you look at him too much, somebody else steps up.鈥�
The Shamrocks are coming off a gritty 8-7 win over Langley on Friday in which Flindell was outstanding. To date he is averaging just seven goals against, second best to the Thunder鈥檚 Brodie MacDonald who is at 6.50, whom Flindell outshone in Friday鈥檚 win.
鈥淢atty played a great game,鈥� said Heyes, who watched him turn away Alex Turner in the last minute to preserve the victory. 鈥淗e made some huge saves for us, which is great. Right now, there鈥檚 a lot of confidence in our defence, which is playing great, but when the goaltender is stopping the ball it just makes everything else easier.鈥�
And Flindell is doing it on borrowed time as Matt Vinc 鈥� who just led the Rochester Knighthawks to a second straight National Lacrosse League title 鈥� is expected to take over starting duties later this month.
Defensively, the Shamrocks are getting great work out of the likes of Noaan Heavenor, Dan MacRae, Tyler Burton, Ben McCullough, Scott Carnegie and others in allowing just 28 goals against so far this season. Offensively, Victoria has tallied 42 times, behind Maple Ridge鈥檚 49 and 45 by New Westminster. The Burrards have allowed 42 however, second highest in the league.
Today鈥檚 game marks the first of three this week as the Shamrocks also head to Nanaimo on Wednesday before returning home to face Maple Ridge again Friday at home.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a tough week with [today], Wednesday and Friday with no practices in between,鈥� said Heyes. 鈥淪o a lot of guys will be seeing the lineup, keeping things fresh.
鈥淪ure, four wins is great and we鈥檙e developing a good defensive system. The offence has to come yet, but 4-0, hey, you win them when you can because you鈥檙e not going to win them all this year.鈥�
But they will certainly try.
Twitter/tc_vicsports
