Armstrong Shamrocks still unbeaten after win over Vernon Tigers

The Tigers tied the game shortly after with Logan Strohm serving the only Shamrocks penalty of the game for holding when Brennan Plante notched a power play marker with a pinpoint shot from the top of the dotted.

However, it was a night for first game star Brett Olsen as he potted his first of four goals on some impressive ball control and ball movement by the Rocks’ o-unit.

Jarret Medhurst continued his scoring streak on a blistering point shot from the top of the circle that beat MacDonald low glove side and give the Shamrocks a 3-1 lead after the first period of play.

Shots on goal were 20-10 in favor of the Shamrocks.

The Shamrocks rattled off four straight goals to kick off the second frame. With Plante in the box serving a delay of game penalty, Owen Barker netted his first of two on the evening from the top with another low glove side snipe. Barker scored his second after picking up a loose ball in the defensive end, rushing down floor and fake n’ baking MacDonald to make the score 5-1.

Olsen scored on the power play with Tigers Brett Davies in the box serving two minutes for slashing. Shamrocks captain Steve Clark scored a highlight-reel goal with a twisting Jim Maundrellesque behind the back fakey to make it 6-1.

Tigers star offensive player Jordy Barr potted Vernon’s second goal on a brilliant cut through the middle catching a feeding pass from Jordan Orr and potting a top corner shot to make the score 6-2. The Shamrocks would answer back with a textbook pick n roll run on the lefty side between Barker and Kyle Versteeg with Versteeg depositing the rubber behind MacDonald to make the score 8-2 after two periods.

Shots on goal after the second was 45-16 in favor of the Shamrocks.

The third period was all Shamrocks with a noticeably depleted Tigers bench struggling to keep pace with the high-flying Irish. Defensive police gazelle Nathan Strohm caught an outlet pass and scored his first of the year on a low bounce shot. Clark scored on a sidearm snipe. Olsen ripped his hat-trick goal to make the score 11-2.

The goal of the night came on a sneaky hidden ball trick run by Logan Strohm and Jake Pelletier. The two met at the Tigers attack line and appeared to pass the ball at short range with Strohm disguising as the ball carrier he drifted towards the left side of the floor. MacDonald tracked the ball and set up to cut the angle but realized too late that its highly unlikely for Strohm to diminish his angle to the net. With the defense also following Strohm, Pelletier, with ball casually gracing his stick, slid in from the righty side and fired the ball into a virtually empty net as MacDonald tried unsuccessfully to recover by sliding to his right.

Slick transition player Josh Dumont scored the Shamrocks 13^th Irish Toast of the night and Olsen scored his fourth to make the final 14-2 in favour of the hometown Shamrocks who improve their record to 5-0 on the season.

Final shots on goal were 68-21 in favor of the Shamrocks.

“I guess tonight was my night with the hot stick” joked Olsen, “We are fortunate to have so many talented guys on this team and our success isn’t built on one or two players, we distribute the scoring every game” added Olsen who continued “It all starts on the D end with Conner (Senn) making the stop, or the D unit forcing turnovers then moving the ball up to the O end quickly.”

Shamrocks irreplaceable and appreciated defensive workhorse Clayton Schlaak stepped in front of a moving freight train in Evan Hegelsen who was newly acquired by the Tigers from the Kelowna Raiders. Helgelsen was breaking towards the net at full speed when Schlaak stepped in front of him to make a strong defensive stop but the force of the collision pushed his face-mask up lacerating the bridge of his nose and forcing him to leave the game midway through the third period:

“He’s a strong fast guy and we are committed to defending” laughed Schlaak. “I got glued up and am feeling fine – we don’t want to take any shifts off no matter what the score is so sacrificing some contact to stop an attacker is part of the game” added Schlaak.

The Shamrocks now take their show on the road over the next three weeks with games in Kelowna May 10, May 16 in Kamloops and May 28 in Vernon before returning home to face the Kamloops Rattlers on May 31 7:30 pm at NorVal Sports Centre.

Boxla Bits

Game Stars: 1^st Star – Brett Olsen

2^nd Star – Steve Clark

3^rd Star – Brodie MacDonald

50/50 $212.50 Will McKechnie

Attendance: 245

Scoring:

Armstrong Shamrocks

Conor Webb 1g

Jake Pelletier 1g 3a

Jarrett Medhurst 1g 5a

Nathan Strohm 1g

Logan Strohm 2a

Kyle Versteeg 1g 2a

Josh DuMont 1g 1a

Brett Olsen 4g 1a

Steve Clark 2g 2a

Ethan Dodge 2a

Owen Barker 2g 3a

Cam Nelson 1a

Vernon Tigers

Chet Dennison 1a

Jordan Orr 1a

Jordy Barr 1g 1a

Brennan Plante 1g

by Armstrong Shamrocks

Armstrong Shamrocks still unbeaten after win over Vernon Tigers

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