The heavily anticipated 2015 Mann Cup Championship was set to begin at the sold out and very energetic Q Centre in Victoria.  The long wait for the Victoria Shamrocks had finally ended while the ink had barely dried on the Peterborough Lakers MSL Championship banner, won just 4 short days ago.  The game’s first period came and went in a very tentative fashion similar to that of a Heavy Weight boxing match between 2 opponents who held the highest respect for each other.  The Shamrocks drew first blood as Corey Small connected on an outside shot that beat Matt Vinc  stick side. The Lakers Adam Jones tied the game up 10 minutes later as he scored on a bounce shot stick side on Aaron Bold.  Eric Shewell finished out the first period scoring on an even strength transition goal leaving the Lakers with a 2-1 lead.  Shots on goal were even and the play was back and forth with no team clearly in control.  

The second period saw the Shamrocks run into some penalty trouble however Dan MacRae scored a shorthanded marker just 42 seconds into the middle frame tying the game at 2.   Rhys Duch scored 6 minutes later to give the Shamrocks a lead with the second consecutive goal scored 5 hole on Vinc.  The Lakers scored the next three goals with Adam Jones, Mark Steenhuis and Shawn Evans tallying, 2 of the 3 being scored with the Lakers a man up.  The Shamrocks closed out the scoring in the second period when Daryl Veltman made a nice inside move beating his defender and finishing on his opportunity when he had to.  The period ended with the Lakers holding on to a 1 goal lead as they did at the conclusion of the first period now up 5-4 on the Shamrocks.

Rhys Duch opened the scoring in the third period with a nice outside shot notching his second of the game.  6 on 6 the Shamrocks defence continued to shut down the Lakers slick offensive dynamic duo of Shawn Evans and Curtis Dickson.  Chad Culp scored the Lakers final goal of the game at the 4:27 mark of the third period when he ripped an outside shot past Bold, the Shamrocks however soon took over and never looked back.  Jesse King scored on a nice inside cut finishing like he often does while Dan Dawson scored the game winning goal for the Shamrocks beating Vinc on an outside shot at 12:15 of the third period. Prior to Cory Conway finishing out the games scoring with an empty netter, Karsen Leung was denied his third breakaway opportunity.  The Victoria Shamrocks wrapped up an 8-6 Victory sending the happy crowd home, that throughout the game was chanting boisterously “ Close the Gate “.

Game MVP for the Shamrocks was Aaron Bold who finished the game with a .870 save percentage on 46 shots and while the Lakers Matt Vinc was awarded his Team’s MVP honour finishing the game with a .837 save percentage on 43 shots.   Corey Small lead all scorers with 1 goal and 4 assists while both Cory Conway and Shawn Evans each finished with 1 goal and 3 assists.  Rhys Duch and Adam Jones each scored twice counting the only 2 players with multiple goal nights for both Teams.

Game 2 goes tonight, Saturday September 5th, 2015, 7 pm face off at the Q Centre.