T-Men Lose to the Best

June 15, 2009

The Victoria Shamrocks were in town Saturday night to play the Nanaimo Timbermen in their third home game of the season. The atmosphere in Frank Crane Arena was buzzing, and the Timbermen were still looking for their first home win of the season.

The ball was dropped at 8:00, and the Shamrocks opened up the scoring, with two goals in four minutes. The game started out excitingly, with a fight between Victoria's George Westwood and the Timbermen's Kyle McInnes. Both boys went in the box for a five-minute major, plus an extra 10-minute misconduct for Westwood for illegal equipment. About 7 minutes into the first, the goals started coming for the T-men. Scott Ranger scored his first of the game at 7:10, with assists from Kaleb Toth and Cayle Ratcliff. Within the eight-minute mark, Ratcliff netted his first of the night, and Ranger potted his second. The Timbermen were ahead of the first-place Shamrocks by one, less than ten minutes into the game. Things were looking bright and optimistic for the T-men, and then at 14:17, Jeff Shattler of the Shamrocks scored to tie things up at 3-3. The goals kept coming for the opposing team, scoring four more before the period was over, although Ranger scored his third of the game with eight seconds left in the first.

The second period started with high hopes for the T-men, with Mike Morrison scoring at 1:29, to bring Nanaimo within two goals of the Shamrocks. Ranger scored his fourth to bring the teams within one goal of each other. However, Victoria was not to be taken lightly, as they answered back with two more goals, to make the score 9-6. Brad Scott then scored at 6:07 of the second, with assists from Myles Kenny and goaltender Matt King. Victoria fought back with three more goals in the second, from Lewis Ratcliff, Kyle McCartney, and Curt Morwick. Scott Ranger scored his fifth of the night at 11:36. Ranger continues to be a driving force with the T-men, as well as playing a large leadership role. Kaleb Toth managed to squeak in his first at 19:10 of the second, before the Shamrocks scored two more before the period ended.

The third period started with Victoria scoring three goals, but not ending until Ryan Campbell scored the Timbermen's tenth and final goal, with assists from both Ranger and Ryan Dietterle. The final score of the game was 20-10 in favour of the Shamrocks, who are currently first in the league.

The next game for the Timbermen is June 19th in Burnaby against the Lakers, followed by a road game against the Coquitlam Adanacs on June 20th, and another match up versus the Shamrocks on their home turf on June 26th. The next home day for the T-men is Saturday, June 27th at 7:00.