Marcelo A. Sagüez, Correspondent Calgary Roughnecks
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image by Jim Wells/Calgary Roughnecks
On Saturday February 8, the Calgary Roughnecks (3-4) shook the monkey off their back winning 13-9 at home in front of 12,384 fans at the Scotiabank Saddledome over the New York Riptide (1-8). The win is a huge boost for the captain less Calgary team who put together a solid and consistent four quarter game. The win also moved them into second place in a highly contested West Division with the Mammoth loss to Saskatchewan just an hour before.
Coming off a bye week gives one plenty of time to reflect on the last floor time and what needs to be done to get into the win column.
The tone was set early by the Roughnecks Rhys Duch first touch coming from the bench 19 seconds with a sidearm bouncer to beat Alex Buque. The two goals and four assist was a solid game for versatile and strong right-hander.
The game was actually much closer than most would have thought with Calgary only holding a one goal lead at the end of the first; the same occurred in the second; and each team matched with four goals apiece in the third. It was the fourth when Calgary took charge with a three goal run to start off the frame within the first four minutes; and although the Riptide fought back with two of their own to close the gap to within three in the last three minutes, Eli Salama scored on the empty net with 33 seconds on the clock sealing the fate for the ‘Tide.
Both teams needing the win did not play like the win loss record indicated in the standings. A physical and fast paced game that was well played by both teams however, Calgary took better advantage of scoring opportunities.
Del Bianco having a good night between the pipes not only with the win stopping 43 of 52 shots, made his mark on the score sheet by adding two assists to Dan Taylor and Mitch Wilde goals.
Ball movement on offense was on point and scoring was well spread out among the Roughnecks causing difficulties for the Riptide. The usual suspect Curtis Dickson was held scoreless by the Riptide defense, but had an assist to finish the night. Throughout the night Dickson played like he was fighting the game, dropping passes and missing the net, he seemed to be not 100% in the game.
Scoring for Calgary: Rhys Duch (2g, 4a); Shane Simpson (2g, 2a); Dan Taylor (2g, 2a); Zach Herreweyers (1g, 2a); Dereck Downs (1g, 2a); Tyler Pace (3g, 1a); Mitch Wilde (1g, 1a); Eli Salama (1g).
Scoring for New York: Tyson Gibson (2g, 1a); Kieran McArdle (1g, 2a); Connor Kelly (4g, 1a); Jean Luc-Chetner (1g, 3a); Gale Thorpe (1g).
Tyler Pace had memorable night for the Roughnecks scoring a hat-trick in the three straight scoring drives in the third quarter.
“The first one was kind of a relief. I had a couple good chances early in the game that got stuffed, so the first one to fall was nice. I got two open looks back to back after that, so it feels good for them to fall. But it’s more important that it gave us a lead going into the fourth quarter and that we were able to hold on.” – Pace on his hat-trick.
“It was nice to get going right away. Coming off of the bye week, it’s never easy to get your legs going. Getting that one early and then the other in the first quarter was definitely big for me. I kept it up for the rest of the game, but unfortunately they didn’t fall for me but I’m glad they did for my teammates. Glad that we came out with the two points, we really needed that tonight.” – Simpson on his productive night.
Coach Malawsky said after the game: “It’s been a while. We’ve lost four games by a total of six goals, so it’s been tough. You can play really clean games and lose by one and today wasn’t the cleanest game, but the compete level was really good. We talked about being composed in key situations. You build that composure and then you become resilient and when you’re a resilient group, you get belief. That’s some of the core values we believe in and that’s a good team building thing.”
TEAM STATS:
New York: 51 SOG; 30 SOFF; 81 LB; 16-26 FO; 3-6 PP; 9 PIM
Calgary: 49 SOF; 21 SOF; 78 LB; 10-26 FO; 1-1 PP; 19 PIM
NET-MINDER STATS:
New York Alex Buque: 48 SOG; 36 Saves; 12 GA; .750 Sv%
Calgary Christian Del Bianco: 51 SOG; 42 Saves; 9 GA; .824 Sv%
NEXT UP:
The Calgary Roughnecks (3-4) have yet another bye-week and will have to put that “Winning Feeling” on hold until Saturday February 22, when they travel to Georgia to face the Swarm (4-3), game time 7:00 p.m. EST.
The New York Riptide (1-8) will head down to Georgia to face the Swarm (4-3) on Saturday February 15, game time 7:00 p.m. EST. Look for a hard hitting game as the Riptide got their first victory over the Swarm and Georgia is seeking revenge.
Marcelo A. Sagüez, Correspondent Calgary Roughnecks
Lacrosse is Awesome©