Bellies Rocks All Square at 2 Games Each

by Gary McLaughlin

Bellies Tie Up Semi With Shamrocks With Weekend Split

The NW Jr. Bellies have tied up their best of 7 BCJALL Semi- Final series against the Victoria Shamrocks with heart pounding13-11 victory Sunday at Queens Park Arena. This followed a heartbreaking last minute loss in Victoria the day before, which saw the ‘Rocks score a strange goal with only 37 seconds left on the clock to shade the Bellies 15-14. This, after a spirited 3rdperiod comeback which saw the Baby Fishmen score 5 straight goals to knot the score at 14-14 with major momentum going their way. Tre Leclaire scored 3 of those 5 goals with Eric Maas and Will Malcom notching the others. Victoria’s Brian Robb scored the eventual winning goal when his shot caromed off the back glass and Bellies’ goaltender Kyle Hebert’s outstretched glove, before finding its way into the net. It was a far different game Sunday at Queens Park which saw the Bellies take a freewheeling 7-5 lead after 1 period into the locker room. The second period was all Bellies as they added 4 straight goals to Victoria’s single taking a commanding 12-6 lead into the 3rdperiod. And then came the Bellies penalties. Many of them of the undisciplined variety.

A late 2ndperiod bench minor along with a Riley Morgan tripping minor and a game misconduct, gave the Shamrocks’ lethal power play a 2 man advantage ,which they promptly seized upon. scoring 4 goals to close the gap to 12-11. The Bellies drew even more penalties, including a match penalty to Jake Stott for boarding and a high sticking minor to Haden Harty. The Bellies were now clearly on the defensive and missing arguably their top two defenders for the rest of the game. It was a hectic final 5 minutes for the Bellies, who desperately needed a marker. That goal finally came with just over 2 minutes left from the stick of Gabe Procyk from Leclaire and Malcom. Goaltender Hebert held the fort for the last 7 minutes and was solid against a largely man short situation for much of the 3rd.

Next games are again back to back with game 5 Saturday July 27th, 4:00 pm at The Save On Foods Arena in Victoria.The series switches back to QPA on Sunday the 28that 4:00 pm. 

Game 7, if necessary, is now scheduled for: Wednesday, July 31st at 5 pm, The Q Center, Victoria.

To see game pictures of Game 4 – and all othe playoffr games - , go to the top of this page to ‘Fan Zone’ and ‘Pictures’.