On Friday night the Victoria Shamrocks faced off against the Langley Thunder in game four of the WLA championship. Victoria coming into game four were behind 2-1 in the series and were looking to even the series. Langley on the other hand were attempting to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.
Game four would start slower than the previous three games in this series as both goaltenders were on top of their game early making it difficult for either offense to break through. Cory Conway would break the stalemate with seven minutes left in the period as he gave Victoria a 1-0 lead. Langley would quickly respond as Brett Mydske and Alex Turner scored to put Langley up 2-1 at the end of one period of play.
The second period looked much like the first as this game continued to be a defensive struggle. Neither team could find any momentum in the second period as Matt Vinc and Brodie MacDonald were stopping everything thrown at them. Brett Mydske would break the stalemate with three minutes left in the period to extend Langley’s lead to 3-1. As time ticked down in the second period Cory Conway would score his second goal of the game to once again make it a one goal game as Langley headed into the third with a 3-2 lead.
In the third period Rhys Duch would tie the game early as he scored just five minutes into the third to tie the game 3-3. The rest of the period continued to be a goaltending affair as Matt Vinc continued his strong play as he made 14 of his 47 saves in the third period while Brodie MacDonald would match Vinc with 19 saves in the third. MacDonald made 57 saves on the night and stood on his head for Langley. Neither team could find a way to score so for the first time in this series overtime was needed. In overtime Scott Ranger would score early to give Victoria the 4-3 lead. Victoria was able to hold off the Thunder for the rest of the overtime frame as they walked away with a 4-3 victory to even the series.
As the series shift back to Langley the Thunder will attempt to take control of this series on their home floor while the Shamrocks will look to take their first lead in this series.
