'Bellies Extend Series Lead

Submitted by League Reporter, Jen Mutas

After a hard fought game one in Victoria which saw the Salmonbellies come back to the mainland with an impressive 10-8 road win, New West was expecting game two of the second round of playoffs to be just as hard if not harder, considering their opponents.

The game started out with Victoria looking a little sharper than the 'Bellies; back-to-back carbon copy goals from Kory Kowalyk would give the Shamrocks the start they wanted, but penalty trouble would soon follow and change the flow of the game. With a party in each of the penalty boxes Kevin Crowley would get the first goal for the 'Bellies while playing three on three ball, and was followed closely by Leif Mydske on the power play. With half a period left to play, Karsen Leung would give the 'Rocks the edge sending Victoria to the break with a one goal lead.

There was more of the rough stuff to start the middle frame and after some penalties were said and done it was New West who would once again capitalize with the man advantage, this time Kevin Crowley would get the tying goal and two minutes later it would be Crowley again, this time with the go-ahead-goal. Victoria peppered New West goalie Neil Tyacke with seventeen shots in the second, but Tyacke was on his game and from the looks of things certainly up for the challenge to try and give the 'Bellies the ever important second win in the series. Two more goals from Ben Davies and Jordan Catton would bring the 'Bellies goal total to six after forty minutes, and the play of Tyacke would keep Victoria at the three goals the scored in the first.

After an uncharacteristic thirty five minutes without a goal Joel Henry would finally get Victoria back on the scoresheet, scoring from way outside the shooting circle on a goal that seemed to trick Tyacke. At this point the Shamrocks would take any kind of goal, fluke or not. Unfortunately for the 'Rocks that would be the last goal of the night and New West would put two more power play goals past Adam Hickey, putting the nail in Victoria's coffin for game two. There was no shortage of emotion in this game, and with all the rough stuff going on for pretty much the full sixty minutes, there was one fight worth sticking around for. With just one minute left in the game New West sniper Curtis Dickson paired up with Victoria's Rhys Jones in a pretty good fight with some big blows and my personal favorite- no helmets. Both managed to stay on their feet for a good while to give the crowd a good showing, but after three huge lands on Jones the nod went towards Dickson. Final score from Queens Park Arena would see the 'Bellies double the 'Rocks 8-4 and take a 2 game series lead in round two of the playoffs.

Despite the final score Victoria managed to outshoot the 'Bellies just like game one, proving a big reason for New West's win is because of the play of their sixth man between the iron. Tyacke made key saves at all the right times tonight, and looked calm and collected for the full game even with Victoria bearing down on him in the first period. In addition to stopping the ball, Tyacke registered three assists in the second period, showing he has the eye for starting the offense rush. When it came down to it New West had the desire over Victoria, the 'Bellies wanted it for the full game whereas Victoria let frustrations get them down and their emotions get the best of them. Game three of the series will be interesting to see just how much of a fight the Shamrocks will put up, and on the other hand see if New West has the drive to put it away in the sweep and put themselves into the BCJALL finals against Burnaby or Coquitlam.

As for the Lakers/Adanacs series they were also in action on Sunday night, after the A's took game one by a score of 11-8 last Wednesday night. Game two would go to Coquitlam thanks to regular season points leader Robert Church's four goals and four helpers, paired up with Trevor Moores six point night with three and three. After falling 11-4 after two periods Burnaby would score four goals in the third to creep closer to the A's but the damage was done and Coquitlam would take the two nothing series lead as well.

Game three for the A's and Lakers goes down this Wednesday at Poirer Arena at 8PM, and game three for the Shamrocks and Salmonbellies goes back to the Island on Saturday the 25th at 5PM at Bear Mountain Arena.