 |
| Rhys Duch had a hat trick to help the Shamrocks win in overtime for the second straight game. (Photo: Tim Prothero) |
The Victoria Shamrocks won in overtime
for the second straight game to take a 2-1 lead in the Mann Cup.
Victoria came back from 6-2 and 8-4 deficits to beat the Six Nations
Chiefs 12-11 when Scott Ranger scored the only goal of
overtime Monday night.
The Chiefs looked like they had taken
control of the game when they put up a five-goal run in a 5:06
stretch of the second period to go up 6-2. Tyler Hass broke
out of Victoria's defensive zone and raced down the floor for a goal
to get the Shamrocks started on their comeback. The team's combined
for 12 goals in the second period, more than they had scored combined
in either of the first two games.
The Shamrocks kept chipping away at the
Six Nations lead and tied things up at 4:52 of the third when Dhane
Smith replicated Hass' marker by picking off a pass at the top of
the D zone and running away from a pair of Chiefs' players to get an
open look and bury the ball to make it 8-8. Cody Jamieson and
Colin Doyle scored to create another two-goal lead for Six
Nations, but Smith and Corey Small—with one of three power
play markers the Shamrocks would get in the game—tied it up again.
Stephen Keogh for Six Nations
and Rhys Duch for Victoria finished off hat tricks to make it
11-11 heading into the extra frame. At the 4:30 mark of overtime,
Hass created space for Ranger by setting picks on a pair of Chiefs
defenders and Ranger took advantage, firing a low bouncer just
outside of Brandon Miller's foot and inside the far post.
The Chiefs had some chances as time
wound down in the overtime. With Brandon Miller pulled for an
extra attacker, a shot bounced out to Johnny Powless in the
slot. His behind the back shot looked like it had room to sneak in
but Matt Flindell got his leg in the way of it and the ball rolled
off into the corner as the final seconds ticked off and the buzzer
sounded to confirm the Shamrocks' win.
Ranger's goal was his first of the
series, and he said it doesn't matter to him whether he scores or
not. “I don't really care if I score another goal in the series.
It's about those two points at the end of the night. That's the joy
about this team, everybody can put the ball in the net. If you're
struggling the others guys will step up and they have been all series
and I was just lucky enough to put that one in the net and win the
game.”
He gave a lot of credit to Hass for the
work he did on the winning goal. “Our transition and our defence is
solid, they're big boys and we need those big bodies up there every
so often,” Ranger said. “Him working his butt off on defence then
running the floor and helping us out on offence goes a long way for
sure.”
Rhys Duch said the Shamrocks
have been working on keeping their composure since Game 1, in which
he felt they let adversity get to them and create a negative
atmosphere on their bench. “We were so emotionally invested [during
Game 1]. That can be a detriment to your game at some points” Duch
said. “If you get too excited on a goal you forget about your
responsibilities and that's when they get one back. Or if you get too
down after something negative you go out and make a bad play. We
really had a good talk about staying calm and staying confident. We
were down 7-3, 8-4 and at that point there could be a lot of seeds of
doubt. This group, we just came together and said why not try and
win. You can't just fold the tents and accept a loss, not in the Mann
Cup. It was an amazing game and obviously it worked out in the end.”
 |
| Billy Dee Smith checks his cousin Dhane Smith. (Photo: Tim Prothero) |
His team just won't give up, said
Victoria head coach Bob Heyes. “That's a big part of these
guys, there's no quit. Matt Flindell made some unbelievable saves
when we needed them. Our offence was clicking, transition. It was
great. These guys, they kept coming back. I think we play a little
bit better with a bit of adversity on us, a little pressure. I don't
know what'll happen if we ever get the lead with more than five
minutes to play in this series,” he concluded with a laugh.
Six Nations head coach Rich Kilgour
said his club wasn't surprised by the effort the Shamrocks put in to
get back into the game. “We knew they wouldn't lay down and they
didn't. They got that big goal by Ranger there in the overtime. It's
2-1 for them now. I think it was the same thing last year, so we've
been here before and hopefully can draw on that and be ready to go
tomorrow.”
Game 4 goes tonight at 8pm with Game 5
Wednesday, also at 8. You can watch all games in the series via live
PPV webcast by JVI Video. Click on the Webcast Sports logo in the
right hand column of this web site and follow the instructions to
watch the game.
