Marcelo A. Sagüez, Beat Writer Calgary Roughnecks
Lacrosse is Awesome
There was a disturbance in the force on Saturday January 28, 2017. It was Star Wars theme night in Calgary as the visiting Colorado Mammoth came to face the Calgary Roughnecks in a rematch, last weekend the Mammoth lost to the Roughnecks 14-11 in regulation time in their home arena. With this victory, Calgary wins the best of three game series with a two game lead.
From the opening faceoff the Roughnecks sported their Star Wars themed jersey’s setting the tone and attacking on both offense and defense. The high pressure game plan paid off with the home team scoring within the first two minutes of the game, an early lead which was kept throughout the game putting pressure on the Mammoth to adapt to the power.
With possession off the faceoff Roughnecks Keith Berg (14) opened the scoring putting the shot over Dillon Ward (45) shoulder at the 13:22 mark of the first period. Moments later Curtis Dickson (14) attacks to increase their lead. Continuing the pressure Dane Dobbie (44) scores at the 11:10 mark receiving the assist is Jeff Shattler, with that assist Shattler moves ahead of Caleb Toth’s record of 628 points in his eleven year career with the Roughnecks. 
With 5:51 remaining in the first quarter Mammoth’s Jacob Ruest (20) gets Colorado on the board with a screenshot that fools Frankie Scigliano (92) over the shoulder. Shattler snuck in a lone goal low glove side on Ward (45) to make it 5-1 Roughnecks. Ward was substituted with Alex Buque (27) to fill the pipes the remainder of the game. Colorado’s Zack Greer (88) put the moves on Scigliano to get the Mammoth some momentum with 0:14.7 remaining in the first quarter. 5-2 Roughnecks
Starting the second, the Mammoth would be two men up. Taking advantage on the power play Eli McLaughlin (51) quick sticks one by Scigliano (92) at the 14:34 to cut the lead to 5-3. Calgary successfully killed the two penalties; however a delay of game penalty was called on the Roughies to again give the Mammoth a chance to catch up on the scoreboard. Working the ball on the power play McLaughlin (51) picked up a loose ball that squeezed through Scigliano’s pads and scored closing the gap at 13:00 to 5-4 Roughnecks. Roughneck fans were becoming agitated with the officiating many calling it questionable, which seems to be the consensus around the league. The goal was challenged as it was suspected Eli had picked it up in the crease. The ruling was not overturned and the goal stood. Penalties were the story of this quarter; and the Roughnecks were spending too much time in the box. The Mammoth is not a team that you want to be giving man up opportunities to. Even so, the Mammoth passing and shooting has not been up to par which has led to missed scoring opportunities over and over. It was the Mammoth who would then challenge a goal at 6:09 put between the pipes Callum Crawford (98) as he pushed through the Calgary defenders. The referee on the crease had called “no goal” due to what he saw was Crawford’s foot on the crease. The ruling stood and the Riggers would hold the lead 5-4. Buque was solid between the pipes for the Mammoth, giving them one less thing to worry about.
But Dickson (14) would crash the crease to score on Buque (27) at the 4:40 mark of the second quarter increasing the lead to two. The Mammoth would yet go on another man down on the delay penalty, with Scigliano on the bench, and sixth man on the floor the Roughies make no mistake and rookie Riley Loewen (89) with a shot from the top to put it by Buque over his shoulder. Calgary on yet another power play would see Wesley Berg score from the top (14) and increase the lead to 8-4 Roughnecks going into the half.
Calgary would head to the box again for the slash on Dickson (14) Mammoths McLaughlin (51) who would notch his hat-trick, now only a three goal game (8-5) Calgary went into the power play at 6:17 with Colorado scoring on the man down situation at 5:57; Chris Wardle (17) took Scigliano across the crease to create a gap to put the ball in 8-6. Although they tried, the Mammoth could buy a goal tonight, and it’s only because of Buque that it hasn’t gotten more out of control. Dickson (17) would dive across the crease to beat Buque far side over his glove with 3:57 left in the third. Score at the end of three: Roughnecks 9—Mammoth 6.
Dobbie (44) started the fourth by putting one over the stick side of Buque to make it 10-6. On a bad turnover by Shattler, the Mammoth would score on the play; Jordan Gilles (23) making no mistake and put it by Scigliano at 11:33 of the fourth. McLaughlin (51) got his fourth of the night in front of the net to inch the mammoth closer on the scoreboard at 8:56 (10-8). Holden Cattoni (19) responded at 7:29 to gain a three goal advantage (11-8). Due to a Mammoth penalty in the dying seconds of the game, Calgary was awarded the penalty shot, taken by Dickson (17). Dickson would jump through the left side of the crease, and brought the ball back and beat Buque for the goal leaving only seconds to kill for the win 12-8 Roughnecks.
Next up, Calgary (3-1) will host the NLL Champion Saskatchewan Rush (2-2) on Saturday February 4, 2017 at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Colorado heads home to lick their wounds and will face the only undefeated team in the league, the red hot Georgia Swarm (4-0) at the Pepsi Center also on Saturday February 4, 2017.
Marcelo A. Sagüez, Beat Writer Calgary Roughnecks
Lacrosse is Awesome