VICTORIA 12
MAPLE RIDGE 5
听
A first-period hat trick from Corey Small and three assists in the opening session from Rhys Duch gave the visiting Victoria Shamrocks the quick start they were looking for in an eventual 12-5 win over the Maple Ridge Burrards on Wednesday night.
For good measure, Shamrocks teammate Daryl Veltman added a second-period hat trick in the win at Planet Ice鈥揅am Neely Arena, which gave the Green and White a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven opening Western Lacrosse Association playoff series.
Victoria won Game 1 at home by a 13-9 count on Monday. Game 3 is slated for 5 p.m. on Saturday at The Q Centre in Colwood. Game 4 is at the same time on Sunday back in Maple Ridge.
The game got out of hand with rough stuff, as most had anticipated after the Shamrocks took an 8-3 lead into the third.
鈥淚t was a little bit of a [crap] show,鈥� said Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes. 鈥淵ou know, we put this team together this year to play any style of lacrosse, whether it鈥檚 pure lacrosse or the stuff that happened tonight.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 their style,鈥� he said of the Burrards鈥� intimidating antics. 鈥淚t was a little chaotic.鈥�
The game deteriorated into a chippy affair and included a handful of game misconducts to the Shamrocks and Burrards. Suspensions will surely come out of it later in the week.
It likely will get worse on the weekend, as Daniel Amesbury is slated to return from his five-game suspension for a dangerous hit on New Westminster鈥檚 Shane MacDonald.
Heyes was delighted with how his team played and held its ground.
鈥淥ur defence was relentless and challenged them all night,鈥� he said.
鈥淎ll in all, we played a smart lacrosse game. I鈥檓 not sure what will happen with suspensions. In the last 10 minutes, emotions got the better of a lot of players.鈥�
Small finished with four goals and an assist on the night, while Duch tallied one goal to go with the three assists. The Shamrocks also welcomed Dan Dawson back and the big forward collected two helpers in the first period of his first appearance in the series.
Jesse King had a pair of goals and three assists to join Small and Veltman with five points each. Scott Ranger and Matt Yager (empty-net) also scored for the Shamrocks. Cory Conway, who had 10 points in Game 1, had four assists on Wednesday.
Ben McIntosh , with a pair, Connor Goodwin, Zach Porter and Riley Loewen replied with goals for the Burrards, who are creeping into must-win territory if they want to stay alive.
Aaron Bold had a much stronger outing in net for the Shamrocks to earn his second- straight playoff win.
Carson Michaud took the loss in goal for the Burrards, who continue to miss starter Frankie Scigliano. He broke his thumb in a regular-season game against Victoria and is listed as day-to-day as his cast just recently came off.
Some sources said he will not return in time, but the team has not officially commented.
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