Justin Ivey, Co-Editor
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Steven Richardson Jr.
The West leading San Diego Seals (11-3) hosted the second place Calgary Roughnecks (10-5) on Friday night and the stakes were high for both teams. Whoever won, would clinch a postseason berth. The Seals let their chance to clinch last weekend slip away in a low scoring loss to Buffalo, and they played as if they were still thinking about it. Their effort level never dipped below 100% on either side of the ball and they led this contest from start to finish. Curtis Dickson (3G, 1A) and Dane Dobbie (3G, 2A) headed the charge and kept Calgary waiting another week to try and clinch their postseason. Final Score: Calgary-8, San Diego-14
It was Latin Heritage Night for the home town Seals and it is universally agreed that the pregame tailgate party with lucha libre wrestling really fired the team up. San Diego would score the first three goals of the game, setting the tone early. Dickson broke the scoreless tie just 1:41 into the game as he rolled around a screen to find an open lane to the front of the cage. Just over a minute later, Dobbie doubled the early lead just 8 seconds into their first power play opportunity. His sidearm bouncer was to tough for Calgary netminder Christian Del Bianco (35SV) to track. Credited with an assist on each of the first two goals, Wes Berg (2G, 6A) quickly reached three points on the night scoring a goal with 9:42 left. Calgary finally settled in halfway through the first quarter and Jesse King (2G, 1A) sniped the top right corner behind Frank Scigliano (32SV) after some nifty footwork to get open. Just over 30 seconds later, Zach Currier (1G, 1A) scored his lone goal of the game to cut the deficit to just one. Kevin Crowley () would extend it back to two, scoring during an unsettled situation on a power play opportunity with 2:55 remaining. The next goal spelled trouble. Dickson scored his seventh shorthanded goal of the season with 2:07 left to bring the lead back to three for the home team. Calgary would not capitalize with the man advantage and the first quarter ended with San Diego leading Calgary 5-2.
Just 11 seconds into the second quarter, San Diego captain Brodie Merrill (1G, 1A) faked out the entire Calgary defense for a rare score from the veteran defenseman. Rather than run to the bench after the quick dead ball off the face off, Merrill faked to the bench and cut to the middle. Crowley found him wide open on the crease and Merrill finished with a quick stick. It took almost 10 minutes of game time before the ball would cross the goal line again, and unfortunately for Calgary, it wasn’t their goal. While man down, Jake Govett (1G, 2A) caught a flip forward from Dobbie and streaked up the field to meet Del Bianco one on one. The second short handed goal of the night really fired up the home crowd. Calgary would finally score with 4:10 remaining in the quarter, a Tanner Cook (1G, 1A) power play tally, but Austin Staats (2G, 1A) scored a penalty shot with 1:35 left in the half to bring us to the break with San Diego leading Calgary 8-3.
Calgary swung momentum ever so slightly their way in the third quarter. Kyle Waters (2G, 1A) let loose a laser from up top on a power play opportunity and scored 4:54 in. The Calgary defense continued to hold the Seals at bay and Josh Currier (1G, 1A) found an opening to score with a laser of his own with 746 remaining. The Roughnecks found themselves only down three at this point, but San Diego found a way to turn it around. Dobbie held the ball late in the shot clock and after a bit of dancing, he spun and stepped back. The sidearm shot he released found the bottom far corner of the net with 3:11 remaining. San Diego restored the five goal lead they entered the quarter holding when Eli Gobrecht (1G) scored the Seals’ third man down goal of the game on a fast break with 37 seconds on the clock. Eventually, King would score on the man up for Calgary, with just seven seconds remaining. The Roughnecks beat the Seals 3-2 in the third quarter, but still found themselves down to San Diego 10-6 at the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter started in similar fashion to the third. Calgary got a rebound goal from Waters just 57 seconds in to give them some hope. The hope was quickly lost. Staats willed his way through two defenders to score the fourth man down goal for the Seals just under two minutes later. It is an understatement to say that Staats was tangled with the defenders as he approached the net. Just under a minute later, and on the same man down, Berg was lost by the defense cutting to the net in transition. Crowley found him and the finish was easy. With 11:28 remaining, San Diego now led Calgary 12-7. Dickson extended the lead to six goals, scoring on the set play immediately following the under 10-minute time out. Calgary would get one goal closer with a goal from Shane Simpson (1G) in transition and 4:10 on the clock, but Dobbie would complete his hat trick with 2:49 left to bring us to the final. Final Score: Calgary-8, San Diego-14
Up Next:
The Calgary Roughnecks (10-5) host the Panther City Lacrosse Club (8-6) on Saturday, April 8 at 9:00 PM EDT.
The San Diego Seals (11-3) travel to play the Las Vegas Desert Dogs (5-9) on Saturday, April 8 at 10:30 PM EDT.
Justin Ivey, Co-Editor
Lacrosse is Awesome©