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At one point during a timeout in the first period on Friday night, Nanaimo Timbermen goaltender Zack Boychuk did a face plant, tripping while trotting back to the bench, which brought about some chuckles at a sold-out Q Centre.
It was about the only time the netminder fell on his face in an 8-6 upset victory for the Timbermen over the Victoria Shamrocks.
Making 44 saves, Boychuk played a big part in Nanaimo鈥檚 win. But so, too, did Victoria鈥檚 undisciplined play that also showed a lack of chemistry early in this Western Lacrosse Association season.
The Shamrocks (0-1) will get a second chance to get it right tonight at 7 in a rematch against the Timbermen (1-0) at Frank Crane Arena in Nanaimo.
鈥淲e have to be smarter,鈥� said Shamrocks sniper Rhys Duch, who scored three of the six goals. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 say they outworked us. You can鈥檛 say they outplayed us. They outsmarted us.
鈥淭hey took advantage of our mistakes. We took a lot of dumb penalties and they capitalized. Special teams killed us. We have to be a little bit better in transition. I don鈥檛 think we got any transition goals, but when you out-shoot a team by that much, you have to give kudos to their goalie. Boychuk had a great game.鈥�
Duch wrapped it all up in that statement as the Timbermen scored three power-play goals on the night. Former Junior Shamrocks star Brody Eastwood was spectacular for Nanaimo with four goals and an assist to lead all point-getters.
鈥淲e knew they鈥檙e a much better team than they have been. They have a lot of young guys who are going to work hard and have a lot of skill. Maybe chemistry-wise we need to be a little more responsible when it comes to practice and things,鈥� said Duch, who had a short-handed goal among his three tallies.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e been practising hard, looking to build for that game and we had some guys just show up this week [back from the National Lacrosse League]. So I think our chemistry was a bit off and we have to be smarter.鈥�
Surely the defensive focus will shift to Eastwood for tonight鈥檚 matchup.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a great player,鈥� Duch said of Eastwood. 鈥淗e鈥檚 going to be a good player in this league and he鈥檚 going to be a great player in the pro leagues. And he was an amazing player at Stony Brook. Sunday, we have to pay more attention to players like him and we have to stay out of the [penalty] box.鈥�
Shamrocks assistant coach Art Webster echoed that sentiment.
鈥淚 think we have to pay a little more attention to him. We know he鈥檚 a solid left-hand player and that he likes to play low on the crease,鈥� Webster said of Eastwood. 鈥淲e need to box him out and be aware when he鈥檚 on the floor and do a better job of that.
鈥淲e were a little bit flat. We knew they were going to come into our building with lots of energy and they did. And I don鈥檛 think we played all that intelligent,鈥� Webster added. 鈥淏ad penalties at bad times and we couldn鈥檛 get on top of it. In the first period, we probably should have had them at 5-1, but our shot selections were terrible, really.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a good goaltender,鈥� Webster said of Boychuk.
鈥淗e鈥檚 going to give them 60 solid minutes, so we have to shoot the ball better.鈥�
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