Di Miller, Colorado Mammoth Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Candice Ward
On Friday February 11, 2022 the Calgary Roughnecks (2-5) played host to the Colorado Mammoth (5-2) on their home turf, the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta in front of 6,591 Riggers fans. They were extremely excited to see their team back in action as the team had not been at home since December 17, 2021. The Mammoth had just defeated the Roughnecks on their home turf last Saturday February 4, and wanted to double dip their Western Division rivals. The Roughnecks last win was at home and they’ve only been able to score three goals in the second half in the last two games, however they broke that trend last night by scoring five in the last 30. Much like the contest last weekend, the teams traded goals back and forth in the first half and the second had very limited scoring. Once again, it would be the team who outscored the other in the final 30 who would take home the “W”. Unfortunately for the Mammoth they were on the wrong end of the scoresheet this time as the
Roughnecks held them to only one goal in the third and kept them out of the net in the fourth. Final Score: Roughnecks 9—Mammoth 7.
Colorado would win the opening draw but it would be Calgary who drew first blood. Haiden Dickson (1g, 2a) only 50 seconds in used a nifty spin move on the crease and dropped it in short side glove side 1-0 Roughnecks. They jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead at 2:53 off the nice feed from Jesse King to Kyle Waters (1g, 1a) on the front door and he used the quick stick for a nice finish glove side and the crowd was shaking the “Dome”. It took a bit before Colorado got on the score sheet. Ryan Lee (2g, 2a) stepped around his man, and with a pump fake got Christian Del Bianco to set down and Lee picked top corner 6:43 cutting the gap 2-1. The Roughnecks would have a delayed penalty at 5:25 and the Mammoth would go with the extra-attacker (EA). At 5:10 with the change of possession, Calgary would be called for an illegal crosscheck. With 54 seconds left on the man-up Tyler Digby with the no look behind-the-back flip toss to Eli McLaughlin (3g), he’d dunk it in short side to tie it up at 2-2 with 4:03 left. Calgary would get nabbed with one more penalty before the end of the frame, this time a holding call with 39.7 on the ticker. McLaughlin would come through again with 1:49 left on the man-up from way out in front of the crease, he fire one under the stick of Del Bianco for the go ahead goal and 27.1 in the first. The Roughnecks could not tie it up before the buzzer. Shots on goal at the end of one: Mammoth 14—Roughnecks 9; Face-offs Mammoth 6-6 Roughnecks 0-6; Saves Mammoth 7—Roughnecks 14. Score at the end of one: Mammoth 3—Roughnecks 2.
The Roughnecks would win the draw to open the second and 52 seconds in Zach Herreweyers (1g) from way outside, would fire an overhand shot down low far side tying it back up 3-3. But just as last week, the score would quickly change. At 1:19 in transition Tyler Digby (1g, 3a) got Del Bianco to drop down and Digby fired it high top corner far side 4-3 Mammoth. It took about two minutes before Calgary would get their first man-up opportunity. Dylan Kinnear was called for “goalie interference” at 3:05 and it only took 12 seconds for the Roughnecks to tie it up. Tyler Pace with the nice feed to Jesse King (2g, 4a) got Dillon Ward to drop to his knees and from right out front was able to fire it on the inside corner 4-4 for the power-play tally. About half way into the second, Mammoth face-off specialist Tim Edwards goes down with an injury which takes him out of the game. The win-loss at the draw immediately turned in favor of Calgary which could also have been a turning point later in the game as well. Once again a couple minutes ticked off while the squads exchanged shots on the cages before the Mammoth found some twine. Connor Robinson (1g) fired a shot through his defender and the overhand laser found the top corner stick side for the go ahead tally 5-4 with 4:53 off the clock. At this point in the game, Del Bianco had made his 2,000th career save and at the age of 24. A pretty high achievement at such a young age. Colorado had been choosing their shots well, picking them carefully and three of their last four shots had found the back of the net. Some chippy play between the two teams and a lot of back and forth play with little to show for it with about five and half left in the second and the Mammoth would go back on the man-up. So far both teams were 100% on their power-play opportunities. Once again, Digby and McLaughlin would team up for another man-up tally. Digby was set up behind goal line extended and sent the cross crease pass to McLaughlin who dunked it in stick side for his hat-trick with 1:28 left on the power-play and 6:06 in the half and the largest lead so far 6-4. With 4:12 to go, the Roughnecks worked the ball around nicely and Pace sent the pass to Tanner Cook (1g, 1a), he shot around his defender and his low release found its way to the back of the net 6-5 Mammoth. With 27.6 on the clock, the Roughnecks called a time-out to draw up the final play of the half. With about one second on the clock, Jordan Gilles closed the gap but in the process also got called for a roughing penalty at the buzzer which allowed Calgary to start the third on a man-up. Shots on goal at the end of two: Mammoth 11—Roughnecks 18; Face-offs Mammoth 0-6 Roughnecks 6-6; Saves Mammoth 8—Roughnecks 10. Score at the end of two: Mammoth 6—Roughnecks 5.
The third quarter had a total of three goals and would see Colorado score their final goal in the contest. But Colorado would also have the first successful penalty kill in the contest. Both teams seemed a little out of sync in the third and it took 4:44 before the lamp lit up. Lee would notch his second on the night. It was on the two man game with Digby. He was left wide open on the outside and with a nice crease dive, flew across the crease and found the far post increasing the lead 7-5. Ward was reading the ball well and had held the Roughnecks out of the net since the 10 minute mark of the second, in fact he had blocked 17 shots since the last Calgary goal. But that would soon change. Tyler Pace (1g, 3a) would get on the board with a nice stutter step and fired one in from almost the restraining line 7-6 at the 6:32 mark. The Roughnecks defense was starting to look better as well as they kept the Mammoth offense from scoring and causing them to get tagged with two consecutive 30 second violations. A lot of back-and-forth play continued with very little scoring and the offenses were cooling off while the net-minders were standing tall, blocking shots and making quality saves. Ward would make a beautiful save at the 1:16 mark while falling back, he’d get a glove on the ball as it tried to trickle into the net. But 10 seconds later, Zach Currier scooped the loosie in transition, went coast-to-coast, went airborne in front of the crease, twisted and fired one back across his body and buried it stick side top corner for the equalizer and the momentum shifted immediately and we were tied 7-7. The Mammoth tried for the six-on-five with 17 seconds on the clock but couldn’t capitalize. Shots on goal at the end of three: Mammoth 7—Roughnecks 12; Face-offs Mammoth 1-4 Roughnecks 3-4; Saves Mammoth 16—Roughnecks 5. Score at the end of three: Mammoth 7—Roughnecks 7.
In the final 15, the Mammoth would go on the man-up 2:13 in and this time, the Roughnecks were successful on their penalty kill. And the momentum shift continued. At the 7:51 mark Roughnecks Bench Boss Curt Malawsky would throw the challenge flag for what he thought was a good goal by Herreweyers. But it was obvious that his toe was on the crease before the ball left the stick so the call was “No Goal” and Calgary lost a time out. By now, the goals were coming at a premium with each and every one a possible game winner. The go ahead marker was a beauty. King put on the shake-n-bake, came in from the side, put his shoulder down and drove to the cage, jumped across and fired it back across his body while he was flying through the crease and found a way to put it on the opposite side for the Roughnecks first lead since the 6:43 mark in the first 8-7 Calgary. The Mammoth decided to go with the EA with 1:40 remaining and it was unsuccessful. They tried it again with 50 seconds on the clock and unfortunately, Currier came flying off the bench and with 34 seconds on the ticker and another outlet pass from Del Bianco made his way to the empty net for the final nail in the coffin. Colorado would take the next draw with a six-on-five but with 16.5 seconds would go man-down and that was it. Final Score: Roughnecks 9—Mammoth 7.
STATS:
Colorado Mammoth—SOG 42; Saves 40; Assists 11; LB 63; Face-offs 8-20; PP 3-4; PIM 6
Calgary Roughnecks—SOG 49; Saves 35; Assists 13; LB 56; Face-offs 12-20; PP 1-3; PIM 8
NEXT UP:
The Colorado Mammoth (5-2) will play host to the Saskatchewan Rush (2-5) on Sunday February 20, 2022 at Ball Arena at 5:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can catch the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can watch the game on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
The Calgary Roughnecks (2-4) have double header weekend coming up. They will host the Vancouver Warriors (4-3) on Friday February 18, 2022 at 10:00 p.m. EST at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. This is an Alterna Cup game and will also be televised on TSN2 in Canada so fans can watch for free. Fans in the USA can catch the action on ESPN+.
The second game of the Roughnecks double header weekend will be down in Texas. They will play the Panther City Lacrosse Club (1-6) at Dickies Arena in Ft. Worth on Sunday February 20, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can watch the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the game on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
Di Miller, Colorado Mammoth Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©