Story courtesy Ian McNaughton/Victoria Shamrocks. Photo credit Jesse Gibson/Victoria Shamrocks.

They could taste victory. They could smell it. This game just felt like this was the Shamrocks chance to steal one away from home. Instead, it is the Shamrocks loss in double OT 8-7, heading back home asking what could have been. This is the third straight loss for the Shamrocks, who now find themselves down 3-1 in the WLA Finals with Game 5 being a must win to keep the season alive.

The Shamrocks went scoreless in the first-period for the second straight game. Ben McIntosh continued his impressive streak of scoring first-period hat-tricks. The Shamrocks were the better team offensively in the first, outshooting the Burrards 14-11. If it wasn’t for Burrards goalie Frank Scigliano, Tyson Gibson might have had his own first period hat-trick. Scigliano robbed Gibson on 3 separate occasions in the period and thanks to Scigliano, the ‘Rocks found themselves behind going into the second period.

The second period was an improvement, as the ‘Rocks put up 4 goals in the period. After being down 5-1 at one point, the Shamrocks bounced back to score three unanswered goals to cut the deficit to 1 heading into the third. Chris Wardle scored for the first time since Game #1 and Steve Priolo scored an unassisted goal on the power play, giving the Shamrocks scoring depth they need to win lacrosse games.

The third period featured another goal from Priolo, his first two-goal game since July 27, 2017. Jesse King also scored in the period, getting his second two-goal game in the Finals (the first being in Game #1). With Burrards forward Curtis Dickson getting the tying goal 6:38 into the third, we were off to overtime for the first time in this series.

Tyson Gibson scored less than a minute into the non-sudden death overtime period, picking an opportunistic time to get his first goal of the night. Unfortunately, it was none other than Ben McIntosh putting in the game-winning goal for the Burrards in sudden death to send the Maple Ridge crowd into a frenzy. McIntosh had 5 goals and assist to get the first star of the game.

After being replaced in Game #3, Adam Shute made 36 saves on 44 shots. He made several key saves to help keep the Shamrocks in the game. and will need to stay hot to give the Shamrocks a chance to stay alive in these next games. Steve Priolo was the second star for his 2 goal effort. Jesse King led the Shamrocks in points with 4, including his 2 goals on Tuesday.