NLL Insider

Last night the Edmonton Miners had one last shot to get one more chance at the 2008 Minto Cup, and perhaps had it been a made-for-TV movie it would have turned out a little differently but as it was the Victoria Shamrocks blew by the Miners 11-5, handing them their third loss of the tournament and eliminating them from semi-final contention.

“The hardest part is saying goodbye to 12 hard-working young men that gave it their all for their last three or four years with the organization,” said Edmonton head coach AJ Jomha. “And not reaching the goals that we’d hoped to reach.”

The Victoria Shamrocks dominated nearly the entire first two periods, with Cory Conway hammering in three goals in the first 25 minutes and Michael Pires exploding for his four scores all in the second period. Kory Kowalyk and Cayle Ratcliff added singles to make it 9-0 until the final second of the second period when the Miners wheezed in their first goal of the game on a shot from Kevin Wallin following an obviously successful time-out.

“We started off real strong, which is what we were looking to do,” said Conway. “That felt really good to get on the board early and get the fellas going.”

The third period went a little better for the Miners with four goals spattered over 20 minutes, but it was way too little way too late as Kowalyk and Ratcliff also found the back of the net to keep the win securely in Victoria’s pocket. Wallin led the Miners with two goals.

As a result of Edmonton’s misfortune and a 7-6 OT win over the Miners on Sunday, the Calgary Mountaineers have secured a spot in the semi-finals. They take on the Orangeville Northmen tonight in the final game of the round robin, 7:30 PM MST at the Max Bell.

Rate This Story:

(4 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

 Loading ...