Shamrocks snap out of it against Lakers

VICTORIA 11 BURNABY 5

Rory Smith set the physical tone early, laying on the lumber — or aluminum as it were — and then the offence kicked in as the Victoria Shamrocks recorded their first win of the 2015 Western Lacrosse Association season, 11-5 over the visiting Burnaby Lakers.

Smith was a beast on the back end in front of 2,459 fans at The Q Centre, especially on Burnaby big man Tyler Digby, who stands sixfoot-five and weighs 240 pounds.

The offence took its time catching up to the physical-ness as the Shamrocks fell behind 2-0 on a power-play goal by Dane Stevens, followed by a 4-on-4 goal by Shaun Dhaliwal by the 5:48 mark of the first.

Victoria then rattled off seven goals in a row from the 11:36 mark of the first period to 9:42 of the second, led by newcomer Daryl Veltman who potted the first goal of the night on a Shamrocks’ power play.

Needless to say, the veteran 29year-old, who was picked up from Coquitlam, fit in nicely and presents even more depth in scoring.

“I’m considered a vet in this league, in my ninth year, eight years in Coquitlam,” said Veltman. “Wherever they need me, I feel like I can slip in there and make a positive impact on our front end, be it setting picks, taking the shot, passing or cutting in the middle.

“With the offence we have, anybody could go off on any night. Just keep the ball moving and find that hot stick, whoever it may be. It could be me, it could be Scott Ranger, Rhys Duch, Corey Small, Corey Conway — anybody.”

The sticks were cold early but came alive as the ’Rocks now feature Veltman, Jesse King, Small and Chris Wardle on the left side with Ranger, Duch and Conway on the right. Dangerous Dan Dawson is still yet to arrive.

King, just back from Ohio State University, had two goals and four assists and looked sharp in his first game with the Shamrocks.

Ranger, the captain, had two goals in 39 seconds and Conway added two goals and an assist. Small had a goal and two helpers and Karsen Leung and Mitch Jones had a goal and an assist each. Matt Yager had the other tally.

Duch had three helpers. Leung and King had short-handed goals and the Shamrocks had three power-play tallies.

Stevens and Dhaliwal had two goals each for the Lakers.

Matt Roik got his first start in goal for Victoria and stopped 33 shots, while Joe Bell made 27 saves for Burnaby.

Victoria, now 1-2, is in Maple Ridge on Sunday.