Roughnecks face Mammoth task
Loewen finding back of net as Calgary bids to land home-floor playoff game
On his own squad, Riley Loewen is fifth in goals scored and fifth in points amassed.
But in terms of play from the very start of this National Lacrosse League season, there is no one on the Calgary Roughnecks’ offence who has been more consistent.
“He’s been outstanding,” said Calgary head coach Curt Malawsky. “He’s utilized every second of the extra time he’s got on the floor. He’s always moving, he’s always creating space for his teammates and he’s been putting the ball in the net. He’s relished his extra floor time and he’s earned it.”
Coming off a bye week, the Roughnecks, 4-6, head into the Pepsi Center in Denver to take on the Colorado Mammoth, 7-3, on Saturday night (7 p.m. faceoff ).
With the loss of Jeff Shattler on the left side, Loewen has been one of the beneficiaries of augmented playing time and has made the most of it. His 13 goals and 29 points are not far from his personal bests (17 and 36) with eight games remaining in his second season with the club.
“I think comparing to last year, it took me about halfway through the season to familiarize myself with the team and the way they play,” said Loewen, who had been with the Rush organization the previous three years. “Coming in this year, I’ve had a much better start and I feel a lot better in our offence and I’ve built a bit more chemistry with (Dane) Dobbie and Holden (Cattoni), as well.
“There’s no replacing Jeff Shattler. He’s a one-of-a-kind player. But it’s nice to have that confidence from the coaching staff to get the opportunity to play a bit more and have the ball on my stick a little bit more. Being able to play on the power play, it’s definitely a big confidence booster.”
The overall confidence level has been high for the Roughnecks, as they’ve managed to climb out of the West Division cellar and are now sitting in third place, four games up on the lowly Vancouver Stealth yet still three behind Colorado for second place. They ’ve split their two matches with the Mammoth and a win on Saturday would be necessary if the Riggers entertain hopes of a home-floor playoff game.
“We try not to think about it,” Loewen, 28, says. “Obviously, it’s an important game because it’s a division rival. Hosting a game would be awesome just for our fans, but just getting back into the playoffs. We don’t want to put ourselves in a situation where we’re battling the last few games and leaving it up to chance and squeaking into the playoffs. I think we just want to put ourselves in a very good spot where at the end of season we’re playing just to get better and prepare ourselves for playoffs.”
“Things aren’t changing for us, no matter who we’re playing, where they are in the standings, where we are in the standings,” Malawsky pitched in.
“We can’t control what they do going forward after this, we have to focus on this game and ourselves. Thinking about a division game, thinking about a tiebreaker, thinking about second place only adds pressure and adding any type of unneeded pressure only slows you down.”
This will be the second time this season Calgary plays Colorado after a bye. The first time, it didn’t end so well, with the Mammoth winning 11-7. Shedding the rust in practice on Friday night is the aim.
“Do as much as we can to simulate some ups and downs and burn our lungs a little bit to get our game fitness back,” Malawsky added.
“Expect the legs not to be there really in the first five or 10 minutes, but it’s how we manage it. Sloppiness hopefully gets out Friday night. Everyone goes through it. It’s the nature of the league.”
“It is tough when you’re building up a bit of momentum, but that Saskatchewan game was very hard-fought, a lot of guys were sore after that game, so I think the bye week came at a good time, for everyone to kind of rest their bodies a bit and recharge for the second half of the season,” said Loewen. “I think everyone remembers what it took to get to where we are now from where we were at the beginning of the season so if we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we’ll be fine.”