Shamrocks tangle with Burnaby Lakers

With their offence looking more than a little sluggish halfway through the game, the Victoria Shamrocks came alive courtesy of the usual suspects as captain Corey Small and sniper Rhys Duch sparked a Friday night rally.

Down 5-3 in the opening few minutes of the second period, the Shamrocks roared back with six straight goals — including four in a 3:25 span — on the way to an 11-6 victory over the visiting Burnaby Lakers before another raucous crowd at The Q Centre.

Small finished with four goals and six assists while Duch, playing in his first game, added four goals and two helpers as Victoria improved to 2-0 on the young Western Lacrosse association season. Burnaby is 0-1.

The Lakers got into penalty trouble and the dynamic Shamrocks duo made them pay.

“I think this is going on five or six years now playing together,” said Small of the lethal combination. “It just becomes second nature to know where he is on the floor and for him to know where I am.

“When a team is taking penalties like that in a game, you know Duchee will be in the shooter position or at the top. You just give him some space to shoot the ball and he’s a guy who is always going to find the back of the net. It was great having him back,” added Small.

There was definitely some concern early as the Shamrocks trailed 3-2 after the first period, despite out-shooting the visitors 23-16.

Once again it was goaltender Zak Boychuk who proved to be problematic as the former Nanaimo Timbermen netminder turned aside several glorious chances. Chris Wardle, also playing his first game for Victoria, had three great opportunities by himself, the first in the opening minute, and Sheldon Burns was stopped on a breakaway.

“You want to start the game strong, but sometimes it’s not there. Sometimes you wait for the game to come to you,” said Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes. “The thing is, we built as the game went along.”

They did and the Lakers paid as Wardle finished with a pair of goals while Steve Higgs added another.

Scott Jones and Jason Jones had two goals and two assists each for the Lakers. Dane Stevens and Justin Salt also scored for Burnaby.