Christopher Crane, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: Eric Boldt
The Ottawa Black Bears (8-6) traveled to the Northwest to take on the Calgary Roughnecks (4-9) on St. Patrick’s Day Party Night. Calgary has had a rough go this year having only won a single game on their home turf. They had also lost to Ottawa on February 7, 2026, and really wanted to avenge the loss. The Roughnecks donned special jerseys for the contest and for the 15,296 Calgary fans, spirits were high at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Although the game got off to a very slow start, the teams would treat the fans to some spectacular lacrosse and Calgary would finally get back-to-back wins this season and their second victory at home. It would be a very quiet first period with just one score between the two teams. But Calgary would use a dominant second quarter to power past Ottawa, earning a 13–9 victory.Calgary struck first in the opening quarter when Riley Loewen (1g, 3a) finished a play set up by Haiden Dickson and Tyson Cook at the 8:19 mark to give the Roughnecks a 1–0 lead.
The Roughnecks broke the game open in the second quarter, scoring six goals to build a commanding lead. Haiden Dickson (4g, 2a) started the run with an assist from Tyler Pace, followed by Mathieu Gautier (1g) converting another Pace setup to make it 3–0. Ottawa got on the board 21 seconds later when Jeff Teat (2g, 4a) scored off passes from Ryan Hellyer and Reilly O’Connor and it was 3-1. After a defensive battle spanning almost five minutes, Dickson would notch his second of the night before Tanner Cook (3g, 3a) extended the lead to 5–1. Calgary’s power play struck next when Brayden Mayea (3g, 3a) buried a man-advantage goal with 4:15 left in the frame off assists from Pace and Cook. Dickson would complete his hat trick late in the quarter giving Calgary a 7–1 lead before Ottawa’s Connor Kearnan (2g, 2a) scored with 47 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 7–2 at halftime.
Ottawa mounted a push in the third quarter and got to within two before Calgary opened it up again. Teat opened the frame with his second goal 59 seconds in, Phil Caputo (2g) who was recently acquired from the Philadelphia Wings prior to the trade deadline, followed up 30 seconds later with a tally and they got to within two when O’Connor scored on the power play off feeds from Kearnan and Teat and it was 7-5. Ninety seconds later, Calgary halted the momentum with a three-goal run of their own. Dickson netted his fourth of the game before Mayea scored twice in under two minutes, stretching the Roughnecks’ lead to 10–5. Caputo would add his second goal late in the quarter to make it 10–6 heading into the final frame.
The fourth was a chippy back and forth 15 minutes with Cook striking early for Calgary, extending their lead 11-5. But Ottawa tried to make a comeback. Kearnan answered for Ottawa, then Pace restored the five-goal lead for the Roughnecks moments later. O’Connor scored his second power-play goal of the night for Ottawa following an illegal crosschecking penalty, and Larson Sundown (1g) added another to bring the Black Bears within three 12-9. The Roughnecks would score the final marker of the game off a Cook goal with 1:44 remaining and that’s when things got heated. Just one second after the goal and before the draw, 5 penalties totaling 22 minutes would be handed out. The men in stripes tried to cool things down, and thought they had, but the battles started up again with 22 seconds on the ticker. The refs would hand out an illegal crosschecking and roughing call on Sam Firth (Ottawa); and two 10-minute game misconducts, one on Griffin Hall (Calgary) and the other on Connor Kearnan (Ottawa). The clock would finally wind down, and Calgary would find themselves on top. Final Score: Calgary 13—Ottawa 9.
With Dickson scoring four goals and adding two assists he surpassed the 200-point mark in his NLL career; Cook and Mayea would both notch hat tricks. For Ottawa, Teat, Caputo, O’Conner and Kearnan each contributed two goals in the effort.
STARS OF THE GAME:
Haiden Dickson – Calgary Roughnecks: 4g, 2a
Brayden Mayea – Calgary Roughnecks: 3g, 3a
Tanner Cook – Calgary Roughnecks: 3g, 3a
Jeff Teat – Ottawa Black Bears: 2g, 4a
GAME STATS:
Ottawa Black Bears—SOG 47; Saves 38; Sv% .764; FO 9-26; PP 2-2; PIM 35; LB 71; TO 39
Calgary Roughneck—SOG 55; Saves 42; Sv% .806; FO 17-26; PP 1-1 PIM 29; LB 65; TO 34
NEXT UP:
The Ottawa Black Bears (8-6) will travel west to face the Vancouver Warriors (10-4) at Rogers Arena on Friday March 20, 2026, game time 10:00 p.m. EST. Ottawa just came off a heated loss to Calgary, so they’ll be fired up, and Vancouver wants to stay in second place so expect another fiery match. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+, while fans in Canada can catch the action on TSN+. The game will also be televised on NLL+.
The Calgary Roughnecks (4-9) will head south to face the Colorado Mammoth (9-5) at Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday March 21, 2026, game time 9:00 p.m. EST. This should be a great game to watch as the Roughnecks must win every game moving forward for a possible playoff spot. Colorado must play every game for the remainder of the season as if it was a playoff game as they’ve already dropped to third in the standings and don’t want to drop any further. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+, while fans in Canada get to see the action on TSN+. The game will also be televised on NLL+.
Christopher Crane, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©