The Oceanside Sharks are off to a good start to their Pacific Northwest Junior Lacrosse League (PNJLL) season.
They opened the season at home and used the energy of their fans to score a closely contested 11-8 win over the Cowichan Thunder at Oceanside Place on Saturday night, April 27.
Blake Knoll sparked the Sharks’ offence as he was sniping all night, scoring five goals, with Rhys Edwards posting a hat trick.
Both sides traded goals in the first period with the Sharks trailing 3-2 at the end of the frame with goals from Zach Pasquill and Edwards.
Knoll paced the Sharks in the second, as he netted two goals in a row to give Oceanside the lead, 4-3, for the first time. The Thunder tied it up and took the lead again at 5-4. Knoll squared things 5-5, scoring his third goal unassisted. Then a minute later Gavin Pendergast put the Sharks ahead 6-5.
In the final frame, the Thunder came out hard early and regained the lead at 7-6. The Sharks bounced back and scored five successive goals, with Knoll and Edwards each finding the back of the net twice and one from Branden Russell to give Oceanside an 11-7 lead and hold on to it for good.
Goalie Jordan Day earned the win in net, stopping 56 of the 64 shots he faced.
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The the next night, the Sharks were at home again against the Campbell River Ravens. It was a barn-burner as the Sharks had to rally from being down 4-1 to escape with an 8-8 draw.
The Sharks started well, with Edwards giving them the initial lead. They were then confined to killing penalties and gave the Ravens momentum, as they scored two goals in a row to end the period with a 2-1 lead and continued to dominate, adding two more goals to make it 4-1.
The Sharks eventually settled down and scored five goals in a row to lead 6-4 near the midway mark of the third. But the Ravens didn’t let up and tied it up 6-6. The Sharks led again 7-6 but the Thunder scored a short-handed goal to tie it up 7-7 and added another marker to lead 8-7. With just over a minute left to play, the Sharks were able to tie the game 8-8 when Ryan Wicks fired a shot that deflected off a Thunder player and bounced into the net. There was no overtime play to break the stalemate.
Edwards paced the Sharks with another hat-trick performance, while Wicks had two goals. Luke Davidson, Pasquill and Pendergast each scored a goal.
The Sharks will be back at home on Sunday, May 5 to host the Saanich Express.
Ball drops at 4 p.m.