Lacrosse’s Jr. ’Rocks boast a Pickup artist
Cole Pickup’s strong season continues for the Victoria Junior Shamrocks.
The 20-year-old sits fourth in the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League in total points with 56 (before Saturday play), but is tied for the lead in assists with Connor Robinson of New Westminster with 34, four more than Jr. Shamrocks teammate Brad McCulley.
“I remember growing up, my dad saying an assist was more important than a goal so I’m pretty happy, individually, with how the season is going,” said Pickup, who also plays junior hockey with the Victoria Grizzlies. “I’m one of those players that is team first and I’m not too happy about our record.
“I thought we would be, on paper, a top-three team in this league and it’s been a frustrating first half. Hopefully, it improves for us here down the stretch. It could come down to one big play or one big win to turn around the season.”
The Junior Shamrocks (5-8) are coming off an 11-8 win over Nanaimo on Tuesday and are in Port Coquitlam (6-6) today at 5 p.m. to face the Saints in an important matchup.
Pickup had three assists to go along with two goals in that outing. Nick Preston and Braylon Lumb had also tallied twice each, while Eddie Smith, Colten Merilainen, David Byrne, Adam Jay and Steve Ackinclose added one goal each.
“I think I’m usually more of a shoot-first kind of player, but this year we have some good offensive guys on the left side and right side so it’s been pretty easy to put the ball in their stick,” he said.
Head coach Walt Christianson knows how unselfish Pickup can be.
“Cole has had a great season so far. We’ve changed a lot of things, as far as teaching him how to play lacrosse at the next level. He’s really bought in and he’s very coachable,” said Christianson, a veteran who is coaching Pickup for the first time.
“He’s a gamer and will do whatever it takes to win and he’s unselfish so when guys are open, he’ll get them the ball, hence all the assists. But he’s obviously also a scoring threat and a great leader.
“The guys really respect him. For example, against PoCo recently, things weren’t going well, he leapt off the bench, went out and got the ball and scored. I could see, although he never said anything, that he had literally made up his mind that he was going to get that loose ball and score, and he did.”
As for his team’s record, Christianson isn’t happy with current log. “Obviously, we’re not where we want to be, or envisioned where we would be. We’ve struggled a little and we’ve lost a lot of close games. It seems like we’re losing every one of those and we need to turn those around,” he said. “It’s a great group of kids though. They work very hard and they do everything I ask them to do.”
The Junior Shamrocks have lost three two-goal games and once each by three and one. They’ve also been drubbed once each by Coquitlam and New Westminster, the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the league, respectively.
The team has struggled defensively in allowing the most goals in the league (156), which puts added pressure on offence. CLOVER POINTS: A typo appeared in the result from the Victoria Shamrocks game Friday. The senior Shamrocks won 13-3 over Langley as goal-scoring in the story had indicated.