Roughnecks unleash offensive might
This was a game the Calgary Roughnecks just had to have.
Despite the opponents’ record and placing at the bottom of the National Lacrosse League West Division, the Roughnecks couldn’t let the momentum they ’ve developed in the past two weeks be derailed by the Vancouver Stealth.
With an offence and transition game that literally flew out of the gate, Calgary continued on its victory run, winning its third straight match Friday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome by a 20-12 score over the hapless Stealth, now 1-9. The Roughnecks upped their record to 4-5.
The ’Necks were without their top scorer Dane Dobbie, serving a one-game suspension for an illegal cross-check in the game on Jan. 27 against the Saskatchewan Rush. Calgary had put in an appeal, but lost it. They put Tyler Digby back into the lineup after missing the previous two games as a healthy scratch.
But even without Dobbie, who leads the team with 35 points, Curtis Dickson stepped up in the absence of his sidelined teammate. After falling behind 2-0, Dickson scored a pair of goals 42 seconds apart to right the ship and put the teams on even terms again.
The set the stage for an offensiveminded opening quarter which ended with Calgary leading 5-3. Along with Dickson’s pair, Wesley Berg showed off his sniping brilliance scoring one back over his shoulder and a second one on a mighty blast. Rookie Zach Currier also scored on transition, as he accepted a towering pass from goalie Christian Del Bianco and bounced one in.
In the second quarter, the Roughnecks continued to pour it on. Dickson, the man they call ‘Superman’ collected the hat trick at 2:57 of the frame, as the Calgary offence continued to feast on Vancouver netminder Eric Penney. After that, it was the sophomore Holden Cattoni’s turn to shine.
Cattoni made it 7-3, then performed a perfect give-and-go with Mitch Wilde as the latter collected his fourth goal of the season. Twenty-six seconds later, Cattoni netted another one. The 23-yearold from De Winton made it the second hat trick of the night when he cashed in on a two-on-one with Garrett McIntosh.
After the eighth Calgary goal, Penney was mercifully pulled in favour of Brodie MacDonald but he, too, was subjected to the Riggers’ offensive wrath.
Defender Chad Cummings had his first goal in his two-year NLL career, while rookie Tyler Pace notched his second. Another firstyear player, Ryan Martel, making his second appearance of the year, got his second goal of the season.
All of this was just in the first half, which ended 13-4 in Calgary’s favour with the ’Necks directing 35 shots on goal. Transition continued to be a key part of the Roughnecks’ attack, as the speedy guys on defence took the burden off the offence.
Cattoni kept up his inspired play in the second half, collecting his fourth of the game 1:27 into the third quarter. He would add a fifth goal and six assists for an 11-point night. But the Stealth were not about to quit. Vancouver netted three goals to trim the deficit to seven goals as the Roughnecks seemed to take their foot off the pedal, an unwise move in the NLL. They would score just a single goal in the third quarter.
It was Dickson with his fourth ending a four-goal Vancouver run on the power play at 1:29 of the final period. With five goals in the final 15, including Tyler Pace’s third of the game, the Roughnecks bettered their season high of 16 goals.
Del Bianco, who came into the game with the league’s best goalsagainst average at 9:49, gave up 10 goals, but he had to make some big saves as the Stealth attempted to make a dent in the score.