Wolves spoil Dickson’s return to Roughnecks
There was trouble at the Rough House with the New England Black Wolves lurking about Saturday night.
Not even ‘Superman’ could save the day.
The return of high-flying Curtis Dickson to the Calgary Roughnecks was met with a ferocious attack by the visiting Black Wolves in National Lacrosse League action at the Saddledome.
Indeed, the visitors spoiled the day by shooting down Dickson and the Riggers 16-10, dropping the Roughnecks to 3-2 on the season.
“Probably worst case scenario there,” Dickson, a.k.a. ‘Superman,’ said of his return. “It was a bit of a stinker, and I’ve got to take a lot of the blame there. I didn’t come out here ready to play.”
The Black Wolves did, improving to 2-1 with the victory before 12,349 fans at the Dome, as they kept Dickson from his superhuman scoring efforts after he returned to the team Saturday, signing a three-year contract with the Roughnecks ending a contract dispute.
The ninth-year NLL vet didn’t score a goal in his first game back — but did earn three assists — after sitting out the first four tilts of the season.
“As a veteran and premier player, Curtis is a big part of our offensive game,” said Roughnecks general manager Mike Board. “We are very pleased to sign him to a multi-year deal, and we look forward to Curtis continuing his strong play, mentorship of the young forwards we have on our roster and contributing to our team’s success.”
The agent for Dickson and for young talent Wes Berg, who has sat out all five Roughnecks games in what would be his fourth NLL season due to a similar contract dispute, said last month he feared both would be forced to sit out the entire campaign and become restricted free agents come the summer, as per the new collective bargaining agreement.
“While difficult, these negotiations resulted in a long-term win-win deal,” said agent Richard Furlong. “The Roughnecks stepped up to the plate in a major way, and they deserve credit for doing so. Throughout the talks, the team made clear it’s truly committed to winning, and obviously having a player of Curtis’ calibre on the floor is a major step in that direction.”
Whether it follows with Berg the same way remains to be seen.
But Furlong said Saturday that there’s no news to report on the progress of talks regarding Berg.
Dickson, however, is back as third all-time in franchise scoring with 644 points (360 goals, 284 assists) in 139 career games. “It was a long and painful process,” Dickson said of the contract talks. “Obviously, it’s not something you want to do after being here for eight years — it was pretty tough watching the guys battle without you. But I’m thankful everything got resolved and I’m back out on the floor.
“I need to get back to producing and helping this team win. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen (Saturday).”
Really only Dane Dobbie was effective enough offensively for the home side, as the league leader in goals added to his total with four on the evening. The NLL veteran now has 15 goals through five games.
Riggers teammates Chris Boushy and Ryan Martel had two apiece in the loss, while 2018 first-round draftee Reece Callies scored his first ever NLL goal in the loss.
Reilly O’Connor paced the Black Wolves with four goals and two assists in the triumph. Fellow former Riggers Callum Crawford and Tyler Digby had eight and four points respectively. And Stephan Leblanc counted nine points in the victory.
“Those are their gunners — they’re supposed to be big,” said Roughnecks head coach Curt Malawsky. “Their best players were their best players, and that’s why they won. “I just didn’t think it was our night, and that’s going to happen in the NLL.”
It wasn’t the hosts’ night from the outset, as they dug themselves an early four-goal hole and trailed by four, five and four respectively at the end of each of the first three quarters.
“The start got away from us, and then we started chasing the whole game,” Malawsky said. “You get down like that, and it’s tough.”
It didn’t help that Doug Jamieson was solid in the Black Wolves’ net, turning away 44 shots, while Roughnecks goalie Christian Del Bianco struggled in making 34 in a losing effort.
So Dickson and the Riggers will try to put it behind them with two road quests next weekend — against the San Diego Gulls on Friday (8 p.m.) and against the Colorado Mammoth on Sunday (1 p.m.).
“I didn’t want (Saturday) to be about me,” Dickson added. “I wanted it to be about this team that’s been playing well. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.”
Itwasabitof a stinker, and I’vegottotakea lot of the blame there. I didn’t come out here ready to play