Shamrocks receive boost from three key players
The Victoria Shamrocks have welcomed back a trio of award winners for the 2017 Western Lacrosse Association season, re-signing Rhys Duch, Corey Small and Chris Wardle over the weekend.
Duch — the WLA’s most valuable player, regular-season scoring leader, three-star award recipient and a first-team all-star in 2016 — will be back for his ninth season with the senior Shamrocks. He has scored 374 goals added 442 assists in his 191 regularseason and playoff games. Duch had 101 points last season, including 43 goals.
This will be the seventh season for Small, the captain of the Shamrocks, who last season posted 75 points (33 goals). He has placed in the top three in league scoring for the past five campaigns and won the scoring title in 2015.
Together with Duch, Small forms one of the most formidable right-left combinations in all of lacrosse as they are also teammates with the Vancouver Stealth of the National Lacrosse League. Small was also a first-team all-star last season and was voted the Shamrocks’ most popular player four times, including the last three straight.
Wardle, like Duch a Victoria native, is entering his fourth season with the senior Shamrocks and last year collected 65 points in 31 games on his way to earning the WLA’s Unsung Hero award winner in 2016. “Obviously, we’re very happy to bring back three of our core players in Rhys, Corey and Chris,” Shamrocks general manager Chris Welch said. “These are the three guys in our group that the league recognized last year with individual accolades so I figured that was a good place to start.
“This announcement signals that the Shamrocks will be gunning for the top again in 2017,” added Welch, who is hoping to land some transfers for 2017 as the West will once again play host to the Mann Cup.
The Shamrocks will be without the services of Jesse King as the talented offensive player is still recuperating from torn ligaments and cartilage in his knee.
“That’s a huge setback,” Welch said. “That hurts a lot, in terms of our position. He’s a very important player for us, a deadly offensive threat and he’s one of the best in the game in cutting off transition and he can even get back and play defence if he has to.
“He’s a leader, on and off the floor, and that’s a huge loss for us and, especially for him, that he’s not able to get in there this year. He lives in the gym and he’s going to physio, doing all the right things. If the opportunity was there, of course, we wouldn’t say no, but we’re not counting on that or pressuring for that. We’re of the mindset that he’s out for the year.”