WLA Finals: Shamrocks have Thunder on brink of elimination

Langley Thunder's Chase Scanlan sets a screen for Robert Church during first period action of Game 3 of the WLA Finals on Aug. 21 at Langley Events Centre. Ryan Molag photo

A second-period barrage from the Victoria Shamrocks has the Langley Thunder on the brink of elimination.

Locked in a one-goal game, the Shamrocks popped in nine goals in a 14-minute span and never looked back, defeating the Thunder 14-9 in Game 3 of the Western Lacrosse Association Finals Wednesday night at Langley Events Centre.

It leaves Langley with no room for error as they trail the best-of-seven championship series 3-0 heading into Game 4 on Friday night (Aug. 23) at The Q Centre in Victoria.

“We have to show up on Friday, ready to go,” said Langley coach Ian Poole. “It is just one game at a time, and we have to put out best foot forward and give it everything that we got on Friday.”

The Thunder led 2-1 at the midway point of the first period before the Shamrocks scored 30 seconds apart to take a 3-2 lead into intermission. The second period was a different story, however, as it was all Victoria.

“We didn’t have an answer; we just came up flat there in the second period, which is disappointing,” Poole said.

The message to the team has been to stay even keeled and disciplined, but that was not the case in Game 3, and it showed, especially in the middle stanza, he added.

The Shamrocks went 3-for-5 with the man advantage in the first 40 minutes while Langley drew just one full power-play opportunity (their other chance was only for 42 seconds) in that same time.

“The guys reset and battled back in the third. Our goal was to play a stronger third period, and we did,” Poole said.

Victoria finished the game 4-for-7 on the power play while Langley was 2-for-4.

Chase Scanlan led the Thunder with four goals and a pair of helpers with Robert Church (2-1), Connor Robinson (1-2) and Graydon Bradley (0-3) each had three-point games. Charles Scanlan rounded out the scoring with a goal and an assist.

Kyle Mooney took over the crease midway through the contest and stopped 18 of 22 shots with Caleb Khan finishing with 25 saves on 35 shots as Victoria outshot Langley 58-41.

Casey Wilson led the Shamrocks with three goals and seven points and both Marshal King (2-3) and Clarke Petterson (2-1) had two-goal efforts. Chris Origlieri made 32 saves in the Victoria goal.

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