On Wednesday night the Langley Thunder and Victoria Shamrocks played game three of the WLA Final. With the series tied at 1-1 and the series shifting to Victoria the Shamrocks were hoping home advantage would give them the edge they would need to get a win in game three.
Langley would once again get off to a quick start as Adam Jones scored just two minutes into the game to give the Thunder the 1-0. Langley’s lead would be short lived as Jeff Shattler scored just a minute later to tie the game at 1-1. The scoring would slow down until the 13 minute mark when Tor Reinholdt and Dane Dobbie scored just 25 seconds apart to put Langley ahead 3-1. Victoria would cut the lead to one as Rhys Duch scored to make it 3-2 but Ian Poole and Brett Mydske would score to put the Thunder up 5-2 at the end of one period of play.
Victoria would score just 35 seconds into the second period in order to make this a two goal game. Langley would have none of it though as Mark Matthews and Brett Mydske scored to put the Thunder up 7-3. The Shamrocks would continue to fight as Jeff Shattler would score to make the score 7-4 once again the Thunder would respond as Mark Matthews scored to restore Langley’s four goal lead making it 8-4. The Shamrocks offense would explode late in the second period as Scott Ranger would score a pair of goals along with Brody Eastwood to make the score 8-7 at the end of two periods of play and put the Shamrock right back in this game.
In the third period the Shamrocks would continue to roll as Karsen Leung scored to tie the game up. Mark Matthews would score his third goal of the night to put the Thunder back in front making it 9-8. Scott Johnson would add an insurance marker for Langley making it 10-8 Victoria would once again tie the game up as Tyler Hass and Dan MacRae scored to tie the game at 10-10. Mark Matthews would once again score to put the Thunder in front with his fourth goal of the game while Garrett Billings would add the insurance marker as the Thunder would emerge victorious with a 12-10 win. The Thunder now lead the series 2-1 and have Mark Matthews to thank as he scored in the clutch and was able to get the Thunder the victory.
