Game Reports
| GAME 2 | ||||
| Period Scores | 1 | 2 | 3 | Total |
| Niagara | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| Victoria | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| Goaltending - STOPS | 1 | 2 | 3 | Total |
| Niagara - Watson | 14 | 16 | 14 | 44 |
| Victoria - O'Neill | 13 | 13 | 6 | 32 |
| Faceoffs | Wins | Loss | ||
| Niagara | 14 | 19 | ||
| Victoria | 19 | 14 | ||
| 3 Stars | ||||
| Randy Mearns | 1 | |||
| 2 | ||||
| Gary Gait | 3 |
| # | ROSTER | GOAL | NUMBER | ASSISTS | TIME | PERIOD | |
| 1 | Bob Watson | 1 | 88 | 32/18 | 0:59 | 1 | |
| 30 | Ryan Kells | 2 | 43 | 44 | 3:26 | 1 | |
| 4 | Ron Chatelain | 3 | 20 | 18/15 | 3:13 | 2 | PP |
| 5 | Steve Fannell | 4 | 22 | 23/43 | 9:46 | 2 | PP |
| 10 | Andy Turner | 5 | 34 | 23/44 | 13:43 | 2 | |
| 15 | Bob Fisher | 6 | 36 | 22/43 | 4:12 | 3 | |
| 18 | Scott Ronson | 7 | 24 | 23 | 7:50 | 3 | |
| 20 | Grant Johnston | 8 | 36 | 20/43 | 11:55 | 3 | PP |
| 21 | Paul Day | 9 | 24 | 13:01 | 3 | ||
| 22 | Travis Kilgour | ||||||
| 23 | Steve Toll | Penalties | |||||
| 24 | Jason Luke | No | Min | Reason | Time | PERIOD | |
| 32 | Marty Calder | 21 | 2 | Slash | 5:53 | 1 | |
| 26 | Randy Mearns | 23 | 2 | Slash | 5:56 | 1 | |
| 42 | Tony Henderson | 23 | 5 | Fight | 11:26 | 1 | |
| 43 | Darris Kilgour | 43 | 2 | Rough | 11:26 | 1 | |
| 44 | Mike Accursi | 42 | 2 | High Stick | 18:17 | 1 | |
| 55 | Doug Larocque | 43 | 2 | Slash | 3:24 | 2 | |
| 77 | Cliff Hardy | 43 | 2 | High Stick | 13:38 | 2 | |
| 88 | Derek Graham | 88 | 2 | High Stick | 15:11 | 2 | |
| 5 | 2 | High Stick | 18:35 | 2 | |||
| 88 | 2 | Charge | 18:35 | 2 |
| # | ROSTER | GOAL | NUMBER | ASSISTS | TIME | PERIOD | |
| 30 | Bob Heyes | 1 | 42 | 29 | 6:38 | 1 | PP |
| 44 | Marty O'Neill | 2 | 22 | 21/19 | 2:56 | 2 | MS |
| 3 | Del Hallady | 3 | 22 | 38 | 3:20 | 2 | PP |
| 7 | Chris Prat | 4 | 7 | 22/42 | 15:33 | 2 | |
| 9 | Alton Davis | 5 | 38 | 15 | 15:40 | 2 | |
| 12 | Dave Bremner | 6 | 22 | 12/38 | 8:29 | 3 | |
| 13 | Tyson Leies | ||||||
| 14 | Rick Brown | Penalties | |||||
| 15 | Grant Pepper | No | Min | Reason | Time | PERIOD | |
| 18 | Mike Simpson | 3 | 2 | Slash | 9:12 | 1 | |
| 19 | Fred Jenner | 39 | 2 | Rough | 11:26 | 1 | |
| 21 | Neil Doddridge | 39 | 5 | Fight | 11:26 | 1 | |
| 22 | Gary Gait | 44 | 2 | Hold | 19:49 | 1 | |
| 29 | Grant Hamilton | 13 | 2 | High Stick | 1:51 | 2 | |
| 32 | Darren Reisig | 49 | 2 | High Stick | 3:24 | 2 | |
| 34 | Warren Blackwell | 42 | 2 | Slash | 7:13 | 2 | |
| 38 | Rodney Tapp | 13 | 2 | High Stick | 8:09 | 2 | |
| 39 | Rob Desormeaux | 12 | 2 | Rough | 13:38 | 2 | |
| 42 | Tom Marechek | 27 | 2 | Hold | 16:27 | 2 | |
| 49 | Bruce Alexander | 27 | 2 | Slash | 11:21 | 3 |
Buffalo News Report
Buffalo News Sports Section: Sept 10.
Mearns, Luke propel Gamblers to series-tying victory in Victoria.
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VICTORIA, British Columbia--The Niagara Falls Gamblers owned the third period Tuesday night and evened the best-of-seven Mann Cup championship series at one game apiece.
Canisius College assistant men's lacrosse coach Randy Mearns netted both of his goals in the period to lead the Gamblers to a 9-6 win over the Victoria Shamrocks before a sellout crowd of 5,000 at the Memorial Arena.
Mearns gave the Gamblers the lead for good at 6-5, scoring 4:12 into the period. Buffalo Bandit Jason Luke made it 7-5 at 7:50 but the Shamrocks closed the gap to 7-6 when Gary Gait netted his third score of the night, with 11:31 left. But Mearns scored on the power-play with 8:05 left and Luke completed the scoring with his third goal of the night with 6:59 remaining.
The Gamblers played without Rich Kilgour, who's nursinga hip pointer, for the second straight night. They did get a 44 save performance from goaltender Bob Watson and won despite being outshot, 50-41.
Darris Kilgour, Travis Kilgour, Derek Graham and Grant Johnston had the other Gambler's scores. Aside from Gait's hat trick, the other Shamrock's scorers were: Tom Marechek, Chris Prat and Rodney Trapp.
After an off day today, the series resumes with Game 3 on Thursday night at 11 pm EST.
Pete
The Niagara Falls Gambler's were really rolling tonight. Backed up in goal by Bob Watson, they were a real force.
Leading their offensive attack was Jason Luke. Although he only figured in 2 of their goals, his speed created a lot of space for their larger, less mobile players.
Victoria Shamrocks were flat. It seemed they wouldn't take the outside shot because the chances of scoring from far out against Watson were very small.
Gary Gait showed a few flashes of brilliance, but not nearly enough. Marty O'Neill wasn't nearly the goalie that Watson was.
Look for Victoria to use a more defined attack in order to open up the floor for such scorers as Gait, Leies, Marechek and Prat.
Pete
Scott
It's going to be an interesting series Daryl, certainly longer than many were expecting. Gamblers were full marks for their 9 - 6 win tonight. I was expecting last nights close win for the Rocks to be a bit of a wake up call, but that certainly wasn't the case. Niagara out worked Victoria tonight and were able to get both the stops and the goals at critical times, escpecially in the 3rd period as the Gamblers out scored the Rocks 4 - 1 .
Gambler goaltender Bob Watson again played a very strong game making all the saves he should, and a few he had no businesss making. If Victoria is to prevail in this series they are going to have solve Watson. They can't win on 6 goals!
Randy Mearns was a deserving game star for the Gamblers with two important goals in the 3 rd period, but it could have been Watson again. Jason Luke also played well, with two key goals in the 3rd. Their team defense was also very strong, and I was again impressed with their overall team quickness and stick skills. Their 8th goal, a power play marker by Mearns saw the ball move crisply atleast 5 times in no more than 5 seconds with Randy giving it the quick stick on the crease. a nice goal.
Gary Gait with 3 goals was the Game star for Victoria. Frankly nobody else really stood out. The Rocks are going to have to raise both their individual and team performances a notch, and they need it to start on Thursday.
Specifically ?? on offense they need to move the ball more.. and quicker. Watson is getting too much time to focus on the shooter, and get set. The ball needs to move more from side to side on the floor, perhaps spreading the floor abit more and running cutters. They also need to play a bit smarter, they had atleast 5 bad turnovers in the 3 rd period when execution was critical.
Defensively things are ok. The Rocks need Marty to make a few more big saves.... but when you look at the match up, Victoria has shown they can hold Niagara under 10 goals.... and with the Rocks fire power, and with the number of pure scorers they have , they should be able to consistently put in more than 10 goals.
Its certainly alot easier from the stands, and the Gamblers aren't going to make it easy, but i still have confidence. There is alot of character on that Shamrock team, guys that know how to win.. they'll get it done in 6