On Thursday night the Langley Thunder traveled to Victoria to face the Shamrocks in game 6 of the WLA final. Coming into this game Langley trailed 3-2 in the series and needing a win to stave off elimination. While Victoria were looking to close out the series and move onto hosting the Mann Cup against the MSL champs the Six Nations Chiefs.
The Shamrocks would waste little time in this game as Scott Ranger scored early to give the Shamrocks a 1-0 lead. The Thunder would respond as Mark Matthews scored to tie the game at 1-1. The story of the first period was the goaltenders as Matt Vinc and Nick Rose were on top of their game as neither offense could break through. At the end of one period of play the game was tied at 1-1.
The Shamrocks would once again open the scoring in the second as Tyler Burton would find the back of the net to give the Shamrocks a 2-1 lead. Burton’s goal would spark the Shamrocks offense as Mitch Jones, Rhys Duch, Greg Harnett and would score to extend the Shamrocks lead to 5-1. After the fourth goal the Thunder decided to change goalies as Nick Rose was benched and in came Brodie MacDonald in hopes he could hold off the Shamrocks attack. The Shamrock attack would not relent however as Matt Yager would score to put the Shamrocks up 6-2. Near the end of the second period Athan Iannucci would score to give the Thunder some hope in this game. At the end of two periods of play the Shamrocks lead 6-2 and were just 20 minutes away from winning the WLA championship.
The Shamrocks would make no mistake in front of their home crowd as Cory Conway would score a beautiful gaol on a pass from Jeff Shattler to give the Shamrocks a 7-2 lead. Garrett Billing would try to breathe some life into the Thunder’s hope with a goal to make the score 7-3. The Shamrocks would seal the victory on a goal from Scott Ranger which put the Shamrocks up 8-3. With the clock ticking down the Shamrocks would hold onto the ball to win the GAME 6 8-3 and win the WLA championship knocking off the defending champion Langley Thunder and denying the Thunder their third straight WLA championship. The Shamrocks will now host the Six Nations Chiefs in the Mann Cup.
