Justin Ivey, Beat Writer New England Black Wolves
Lacrosse is Awesome
Sunday, April 8 was a throwback to the 90s for 5,098 fans at Mohegan Sun Arena. Fortunately for them, the New England Black Wolves (7-8) kept in fashion and mounted a comeback against the visiting Calgary Roughnecks (6-9). Calgary had already clinched a playoff spot in the West Division coming into the game, but the Black Wolves were in a must win situation to stay in the race in the East where the difference between first and last is a game and a half. New England’s forwards had monster games, and with the help of great goaltending from Aaron Bold, New England answered every Calgary run. Stephan Leblanc tied the game with seven seconds left in regulation, and it took Johnny Powless just 47 seconds of over time to ignite the Connecticut fans. Final Score: Calgary-12, New England-13.
Calgary struck first in the opening quarter. With an early power play opportunity because of a New England illegal substitution, Wesley Berg (3G, 5A) scored with only 2:23 off the clock. Just 19 seconds after the goal though, Calgary took a two-minute penalty. Callum Crawford (5G, 2A) tied the game on New England’s first power play opportunity with an unassisted goal in transition. Nearly six minutes of scoreless lacrosse followed. Neither team could find a good opportunity as both defenses hunkered down. Calgary took a penalty, but New England was not able to capitalize. Almost immediately after the penalty released, Dane Dobbie (3G, 4A) raced from the penalty box for a breakaway. Bold got enough of the ball to stop it nine out of ten times, but the bounce had some serious spin and it crossed the line to give Calgary the lead 2-1 with 4:35 left in the quarter. Neither team would be able to score for the remainder of the quarter. At the end of the first, Calgary led New England 2-1.
The start of the second quarter was almost a mirror image of the first. New England was assessed an early penalty, and Calgary would score almost immediately on the power play. This time it was Curtis Dickson (2G, 3A) who scored his first of the game. Just over two minutes later, Holden Cattoni (3G, 2A) was left wide open in front of the net. Berg found him there for the easy score to increase the Roughneck’s lead. A minute after that, Mitch Wilde (1G, 1A) beat Bold in transition and suddenly Calgary had scored four unanswered to go up 5-1 just 4:40 into the second quarter. Things were looking grim for the Black Wolves until Crawford scored his second of the night with the extra attacker on the floor. The good feeling was soon gone as Cattoni scored again to get the lead back to four with only 4:57 remaining in the half. It looked like the game could quickly get out of hand, but New England dug deep and put together a three-goal run to end the half. Johnny Powless (2G) scored first with some fancy twisting fakes from the crease. Mark Cockerton (1G, 1A) scored in transition under a minute later, and Crawford completed his first half hat trick with 1:58 before the break to bring the Black Wolves within one. At halftime, Calgary led New England 6-5.
Calgary lit the lamp first in the third quarter as well. Berg found twine just 2:48 in to extend the lead. Soon after, Nick Chaykowsky was assessed a five-minute major for head-butting. 42 seconds into the man advantage, Dickson scored his second of the night and Calgary was back to a three-goal lead with an opportunity to go up four with the extended power play. But the Black Wolves didn’t let the man down hold them back and scored twice while lasting out the major. Kevin Crowley (3G, 3A) scored first, and just about two and a half minutes later Crawford scored his fourth. Again, New England found themselves a man down late in the quarter and once more scored man down. This time it was Brett Manney (1G, 2A) lulling the defense to sleep in transition and firing unexpectedly on Christian Del Bianco. Three goals in a row for New England, all shorthanded, and the game was tied at eight with 1:22 remaining in the third. With so much time on with the extra man, Calgary did get the lead back with 59 seconds remaining on a goal from Dobbie. At the end of the third quarter, Calgary led New England 9-8.
New England turned the tables to start the fourth and scored first to tie the game 9-9. Crowley scored shorthanded, the Black Wolves fourth such goal in a row, just 15 seconds in. 1:13 later, he scored again for his sixth hat trick in as many games, to give New England their first lead of the game. It was short lived as Cattoni completed his hat trick soon after. For nearly seven minutes the score would remain 10-10 as both teams meticulously tried for great opportunities to beat the two outstanding goaltenders. Crawford broke the tie with a jump shot over a pile of players that Michael Jordan would be proud of. Again, the lead was short lived. Dobbie would tie it at 11 only 45 seconds later, and with 43 seconds remaining in the game they took the lead back on Berg’s hat trick goal. New England regained possession with 13 seconds left and called timeout. Bold was pulled in favor of the extra attacker and with six seconds left, Stephan Leblanc (1G, 3A) scored to tie the game 12-12 and extra time was needed.
Calgary had the first opportunity in overtime but would not get a shot on goal. On New England’s first possession, Crowley found a cutting Powless who threw a fake and buried the ball for the game winner. Final Score: Calgary-12, New England-13.
Up Next:
The New England Black Wolves (7-8) travel to play the Colorado Mammoth (10-6) on Saturday, April 14 at 9:00 PM EST.
The Calgary Roughnecks (6-9) host the Buffalo Bandits (8-7) on Saturday, April 14 at 9:00 PM EST.