Do or Die Time

Last Sunday the Lakers hopped the ferry and crossed over to the Island for a very important game three of the BCJALL finals. Winning against Victoria at Bear Mountain Arena is no easy task, yet Burnaby managed to take a series lead by edging the Shamrocks 8-7 in overtime.

This weekend would be it for the Shamrocks and Lakers- either over in one game on Saturday, or a thrilling game seven on Sunday. Game four started in Burnaby with Victoria jumping out of the gate. 

Cayle Ratcliff scored first for the 'Rocks on the power play just five minutes into the period, with Cory Conway and Mike Pires following suit. Burnaby had quite a few chances to break the score board in the opening period, but each time Matt Flindell closed the door to keep them at zero. 

The break between periods did the Lakers good as Shaun Dhaliwal opened scoring for Burnaby just a couple of minutes into the middle frame; however, two quick goals from Kory Kowalyk and Joel Henry would be enough for Laker keeper Scott Lowe, and Tom Wray would come in to relieve. 

After a run of six penalties for both teams, scoring would continue for Victoria with Dylan Benard scoring short handed, and Miles Kenny showing impeccable patience before threading the ball past Wray. 

Dane Stevens had an unassisted goal to end the period for Burnaby but the goal was overshadowed by Victoria's performance and commanding 7-2 lead. 

With seven different Shamrock players scoring goals so far in the game, the third would be about doubling up. Joel Henry added two to his total for a hat trick, and Dylan Benard had a gaping net while Wray was racing back to the net for his second of the night. 

Shaun Dhaliwal upped his goal tally to two, scoring a couple of minutes into the final period, and Brock Armour had a spectacular goal diving across the crease but just like the second period- it just wasn't enough to counter Victoria's performance on the night. 

After much built up tension between the teams there was a great scrap in the third between Shaun Dhaliwal and Sean Nugent. When I first saw these two sizing each other up I jumped to instinctive conclusions and thought 'instant win' for Nugent. He has Dhaliwal beat in all size categories and in two years of covering this league, I don't think I've ever seen Dhaliwal actually fight. To start things off Nugent didn't have his helmet off, but Dhaliwal took care of that quickly, and before you knew it- he landed two blows on the Shamrock. After a couple of good trades they both fell to the floor and were broken up but the fight definitely goes to Dhaliwal- hats off for not backing down from a bigger guy, and showing him you were up for the fight. Great way to end the game and give the Laker fans something to cheer about.

Final score from Bill Copeland was 11-4 for the visiting Shamrocks, shots were low on the night registering 43-41 in Burnaby's favour. 

The coveted game five goes down Sunday night in Victoria, keep your eyes peeled on bcjunioralacrosse.com for game details and your BCJALL Champion!