On Tuesday night game 5 of the playoff series between the Coquitlam Adanacs and the Victoria Shamrocks took place. Â The Adanacs had a 2-0 lead in the series but Victoria has been able to fight back and tie the series at 2-2. The winner of this game will take the lead in the series and be one game closer to advancing to the WLA final.
Coquitlam got off to fast start on Tuesday night as Dane Dobbie opened the scoring just 50 seconds into the game giving Coquitlam a 1-0 lead. Coquitlam’s defense would then take charge in this game as they held off Victoria’s attack in order to preserve their 1-0 lead. With 13 minutes left in the period though Victoria cracked Coquitlam’s defense as Karsen Leung scored to tie the game 1-1. Victoria would build on their momentum as Matt Lyons scored just a minute after Leung in order to give Victoria a 2-1 lead. Coquitlam quickly responded as Dane Dobbie scored just a minute after Lyons in order to tie the game 2-2. This game would then turn into a defensive struggle as neither team could get the edge. With 40 seconds left in the period Karsen Leung scored to give Victoria a 3-2 lead heading into the second period. In the second period Coquitlam came out on fire as Dane Dobbie and Ryan Johnson scored in the first 3 minutes of the period to give Coquitlam a 4-3 lead. Coquitlam’s defense would once again go to work as they would hold off Victoria’s offense until 10 minutes left in the period. With 10 minutes left in the period Mitch Mclaren would score for Victoria followed a minute later by a goal from Derek Lowe which gave Victoria a 5-4 lead. The defenses would once again take control of the game as the two teams struggled to score for the majority of the period. With just 50 seconds left in the period though Dane Dobbie would score for Coquitlam to tie the game 5-5. Victoria would respond just seconds later as Derek Lowe scored to give Victoria 6-5 lead. Victoria would add to their lead with just 3 seconds left in the period as Ryan Benesch scored to give Victoria a 7-5 lead heading into the third period.
In the third period Victoria would continue to build on their lead as just 4 minutes into the period Derek Lowe would score to give Victoria an 8-5 lead. Coquitlam would respond just a minute later as Kevin Olson scored to make the score 8-6. Victoria’s defense would step up and begin to hold off Coquitlam’s offensive attack. With 9 minutes left in the period Kevin Olson would score for Coquitlam to make the score 8-7. Victoria’s defense would continue to hold off Coquitlam until 3 minutes left in the period when Dane Dobbie and Kevin Olson would break through and score in order to take the lead 9-8. Victoria would not go down that easily as Corey Small scored to tie the game 9-9 and force overtime. In overtime neither team could gain an edge as both defenses were on top of their game. With just 2 minutes left in the overtime period Mark Negrin would score for Coquitlam to give them a 10-9 lead. Coquitlam’s defense would hold off Victoria for the rest of this game in order to preserve their 10-9 victory.
This game was a back and forth battle which showed the heart and determination of Coquitlam as they refused to lose and continued to battle till the end which earned them the victory. Dane Dobbie and Nick Rose were the stories for Coquitlam as Dobbie had 5 goals and a assist on the night which earned him third star honors. Nick Rose was the other story as he kept Coquitlam in the game as he stopped 55 of 64 shots on net and was stellar in net. Victoria did everything they could to win this game but came up just short. Derek Lowe and Corey Small were the stories for Victoria as they powered the offense. Lowe had 3 goals and 4 assists on the night which earned him first star of the game while Small had 1 goal and 5 assists earning second star of the game. Game 6 will take place Wednesday night in Coquitlam at 7:45 as Coquitlam attempts to end the series at home.
