Victoria Sports Online

The Victoria Shamrocks remain the team to beat in the WLA this season following two more victories this past weekend.

Victoria began the weekend in Burnaby on Friday night and left no questions on who was the better team with a 20-5 drubbing of the Lakers. The final score did not reflect the early part of the game, as Burnaby remained close trailing only 3-2 following the first. But following that, game turned in complete favour of the Rocks as they outscored Burnaby 8-2 in the second and 9-1 in the third.

Over 100 devoted fans were in attendance on Thursday as Victoria's own Steve Nash officially opened the second Steve Nash Sports Club on St. Edwards Drive in Richmond. This facility follows his first Sports Club which opened on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver in 2007.

The new facility includes over 55,000 feet of space, state of the art equipment, a swimming pool with sauna and whirlpool, massage services, an indoor tennis complex and coming soon - a cafe featuring Jugo Juice. The centre is also child friendly as the facility includes a kid’s zone.

The downtown location, which has seen success in its short time of operation, is much smaller in size compared to the new facility, as the overall space of the Granville location is nearly 20,000 feet less than the one in Richmond.

The two time NBA MVP is pleased with the success that the first Steve Nash Sports Club has had, as along with the new Richmond facility, another is said to be coming to South Surrey's Morgan Crossing neighborhood. No information has been released on when or if a centre will be built on Vancouver Island.

These sports centers are just another notch on Nash's humanitarian belt, as some of his other volunteer efforts include creating the Steve Nash Foundation in 2001, donating a street ball court to the City of Victoria at Crystal Pool in 2006 and taking over Vince Carter's Charity Basketball Game from 2005 to 2007.

Redemption is sweet for Victoria' Simon Whitfield. The 34-year-old triathlete picked up $200,000 US on Saturday winning the Elite Cup Triathlon in Des Moines, Iowa. But what was nicer than the paycheck is the fact Simon outraced Jan Frodeno of Germany down the stretch to capture the gold, the same man who beat out Simon in the Beijing Olympics last summer.

The Victoria Seals have returned from yet another Alberta road trip in which they went 2-4 against the Calgary Vipers and the Edmonton Capitals.

Victoria still remains at the bottom of the GBL North Division at 13-21, but have proven they are capable of beating high caliber teams. This was evident when the Seals played their last home game on Father's Day two Sundays ago and trailed the Edmonton Capitals 2-0 going into the bottom of the 9th, before 2 RBI singles set the page for a storybook finish, as Seals outfielder Jamar Hill cranked a walk-off grand slam just months after the death of his father.

The Victoria Highlanders have proven they can score when the want to, as they put up more than five goals for the second time in their short history this year, with a 6-1 drubbing of division foes Yakima on Saturday night.

It didn't look bright for the Highlanders going into halftime however, as Yakima lead 1-0 following the first 45 and seemed to have the game in their control. Coach Colin Miller seemed to light a fire under his players at that point though, as Victoria came out firing in the second half.

The Victoria Shamrocks got back to their winning ways this weekend, as the team was able to shrug off their first loss of the WLA regular season.

In their first game of the weekend at home against Nanaimo on Friday, Victoria came out strong, taking a 9-2 lead by the end of the first period. Victoria only scored two goals in the second period, but didn't allow Nanaimo to get any closer and led 11-4 going into the third. The Shamrocks stayed strong defensively in the third eventually taking the game 15-7.

The Victoria Highlanders failed to pick up any ground in the PDL Northwest Division over the weekend, as they dropped consecutive games to Kitsap and Cascade.

In the first game on Friday, the Highlanders took on the division leading Kitsap Pumas in front of a large crowd of over 1,300 in Bremerton. Coach Colin Miller was pleased with the team's performance throughout the game, calming it was the best game he had seen the team play despite the loss. Defender Paul VandenBoomen scored the team's lone goal of the game.

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.

The Victoria Seals proved that they shouldn't be counted out, even when down, following a four run comeback victory in Calgary Monday night.

The Vipers, who took two of three in a weekend series in Victoria, looked to be on their way to a victory in the first game of the two teams' second straight series, after getting up 6-2 by the fourth inning.

The Victoria Highlanders played the final game of a four game home stand on Saturday, losing 2-1 to the Cascade Surge at City Centre Stadium. Despite the loss, Victoria can take solace in that the local soccer community has welcomed them with open arms, as they once again sold out City Centre Stadium with nearly 1,500 fans.