Rocks Drop First Game of Season to Langley
The Victoria Shamrocks consecutive winning streak was snapped this weekend, as the Langley Thunder stole a 13-12 victory at Bear Mountain Arena Friday night.
Despite 7 points from Lewis Ratcliff and a 6 from Rhys Duch, the Shamrocks managed only 12 goals on 52 shots on net. Victoria goalie Nick Patterson, who has been spectacular for the Shamrocks all season, was shaky at points as he allowed 13 goals on only 38 shots.
Victoria seemed well on their way to another victory early on in the game, as the Shamrocks held 2-0, 4-2 and 5-3 leads in the period, before Langley stormed back to take a 8-5 early in the second. The Shamrocks then rallied themselves, scoring six out of the next seven goals, to take 11-9 lead midway through the third. But following that, Victoria could only manage one more goal, as the Thunder dominated the remainder of the game to pull of the close one goal victory.
Thunder goalie Joe Bell picked up the win in net, while Garrett Billings had 4 goals and 8 points to lead the Langley offensively.
The Shamrocks will now try to put that loss behind them as they move forward to take on Nanaimo at home on Friday and Coquitlam on the road on Saturday.
