Victoria hosts Nanaimo on Wednesday night
The Victoria Shamrocks will be kicking it old school tonight in the Western Lacrosse Association. Fans of a certain age will recall that Wednesday was the traditional home night for the club in the old Memorial Arena on Blanshard Street from 1950 to 2003 before the switch to Friday nights at The Q Centre.
That the now-rare Wednesday date tonight features the Island derby against the Nanaimo Timbermen makes it all that more compelling despite the Shamrocks (8-1-1) being in first and the Timbermen (1-10) being in last place. It really doesn’t matter where the teams are in the standings in a rivalry game. Every player is up for it, regardless. Especially with former Timbermen stars Zach Manns and Nate Wade, now with the Shamrocks, facing their old club. The same for former Shamrocks-turned-Timbermen through trades Thomas Vaesen and Noah Manning. Many of the other Shamrocks and Timbermen players have grown up playing with and against each other up to Junior A on the Island.
“Regardless of what the standings are, there is always an emotional attachment to this rivalry,” said Shamrocks head coach Mike Simpson.
“That is why Nanaimo is dangerous every time we play them.”
Victoria leads the season series 2-0 against the Timbermen. The Shamrocks have been led to the top of the table by a staunch defence and stingy goaltending, as evidenced by the key 6-5 victory over the also championship-minded New Westminster Salmonbellies (8-2) on Friday night at The Q Centre.
The Shamrocks have allowed the fewest goals in the league with only 70 given up in 10 games.
“It’s a bit different approach for us this season,” said Simpson.
“We are heavier and a tough group to penetrate. And if teams do get through our defence, we have elite goaltending [Chris Origlieri and Cam Dunkerley].”
The offence, meanwhile, is now complete with the additions of previously-injured Jesse King, an all-time Shamrocks and pro National Lacrosse League scoring great who made his season debut Friday against the ’Bellies, while Alex Simmons is set to play his first game in green tonight against the T-Men.
King is a former Claremont Secondary and NCAA Big Ten Ohio State Buckeyes standout and Simmons a former Syracuse NCAA star and 2024 NLL rookie of the year who last season scored the second-most points by a rookie in NLL history with the Albany FireWolves.
After back-to-back Shamrocks victories over fellow championship contenders New Westminster and Coquitlam, this week could have trap written all over it with games against the two bottom teams with tonight’s Nanaimo game followed by Friday night’s fixture in Burnaby against the Lakers (2-8).
“I told the players we don’t want to waste all that effort we put in to climb from third to first in the standings and that we have to fulfill our responsibility and just play to our standards and we will be good,” said Simpson.
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