The Armstrong Shamrocks prepared for their upcoming first-place showdown with the Kelowna Raiders by taking a full squad to Kamloops, and dismantling the hometown Rattlers 14-3 in Thompson Okanagan Senior Lacrosse League play Friday.
The Shamrocks welcomed back two-way phenom Milan Marcetta, whose long-range submarine shot was dialed in as he opened the scoring taking a sweet pass from Steve McIlwrath. Steve Clark ripped a Stu Williamson-esque 60-foot zinger to make it 2-0, then Jorge Sam ripped a shot that deflected off a defender’s leg to make it 3-0.
It was 3-1 Armstrong after one.
The Shamrocks made some minor adjustments during the intermission and broke the game wide open scoring six unanswered goals,. Brett Hawrys scored what was possibly his slowest point shot ever just as the Rattlers were coming back to even strength. Then while short-handed, Hawrys split two defenders that were converging on him, streaked to the net unobstructed and faked the goalie from his shoes to give the Rocks a 5-1 lead.
Goal of the night went to veteran defender Devin Rodger, who streaked out of the penalty box and snagged a perfect pass from McIlwrath. With a lone defender to beat he made a tidal wave-like full body fake that stunned the defender and equally baffled the goaltender and proceeded to rifle a five-hole bounce shot to dent the hemp for his first of the season.
McIlwrath scored on a breakaway after Carston Schlaak used some spider monkey-style defence to strip a Rattler player of the ball, then flipped a pass to a streaking McIlwrath who used about five fakes before burying the ball top cheese. With the Shamrocks on a long possession running circles around the labouring Rattlers’ defense, Hawrys scored his hat trick goal to make it 8-1. Marcetta added another patented elongated sub-shot to make the score 9-1 after two periods.
Early in the third period while shorthanded, rookie speedster Sam used his quick first step to turn his defender inside out then used a fancy deke and dunk move to score his second of the game. The Rattlers scored on a two-on-one but the Shamrocks answered right back when Joel Castle ripped a one-timer on the powerplay after a nice pass from Clark. McIlwrath sniped a long distance sub-shot that nearly tore the net off its ties to make the score 12-2.
Sam potted his first-ever hat trick with the Shamrocks sniping a sub-shot five-hole on the Rattlers goalie. Kamloops scored on a missed assignment on the ensuing faceoff. Clark scored his second of the night on a feed from Sam while on the powerplay to make the final 14-3 for the Shamrocks.
“It was great to finally take a full team up to Kamloops and play to our potential on the road,” said Armstrong .coach Ryan Nitchie. “This game was a good warm up for our next two important home games starting next week.” I like seeing progress and the team building game after game as we close out the regular season and head into playoffs.”
Added captin Clark: “We are improving every game and that’s the best situation to be in late in the season but we still have something to prove.”
The Raiders kept pace with the Shamrocks (both teams are 5-1) with an 8-4 win at home over the Vernon Tigers who, like the Venom, drop to 1-5.
Kelowna broke open a game that was tied 2-2 after one with three more powerplay markers in the second period (scored twice with man advantage in ffirst) for a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.
The Tigers play their final regular season home game Friday against the Venom (8 p.m. Kal Tire Place).
The Shamrocks play home games in Week 7 and Week 8 of the TOSLL season as they face the second place Kelowna Raiders next Friday night 8 p.m. at Nor-Val Sports Centre. A large crowd is expected to be on hand as these two rivals tangle for the last time in the regular season in a game that will most likely determine top spot in the league after the regular season.
Armstrong closes out the regular season June 21 against the Tigers in what will be Alumni Night as former stars from both teams will be honoured during the second intermission.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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