CALGARY, AB — The Calgary Roughnecks (2-2) kept its momentum going after a bye week with a 15-13 home win over the Vancouver Stealth (1-3) in front of 13,739 fans at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night. The Riggers walked away with its second ‘W’ in a row, taking the first game of four in the season series against the Stealth.
The top contributors in the game for the ‘Necks were Dane Dobbie (3+6), Curtis ‘Superman’ Dickson (4+2) and Jeff Shattler (3+3). Most of the points for the Stealth came off the sticks of Logan Schuss (4+4), Rhys Duch (3+4) and Garrett Billings (2+4).
Roughnecks defenseman Jon Harnett was the one to open the scoring for the team as he put one past Eric Penney on a breakaway less than five minutes into the game. Followed by Rigger forward Jeff Shattler’s first of the night. After a small scrap between Roughnecks rookie Tyson Bell and Stealth defenseman Ian Hawksbee, the Stealth found their spark as forward Logan Schuss sniped one past Frankie Scigliano. The Riggers did not wait long to answer back as Curtis ‘Superman’ Dickson found the back of the net less than a minute later, shortly after Superman would get his second of the night short-handed. Stealth forward Rhys Duch countered quickly with a power play goal. Roughnecks franchise all-time leading scorer Dane Dobbie kept his total growing with 3:23 left in the frame to give the Riggers a three-goal lead. Duch would get his second of the evening which would end the quarter with Calgary leading Vancouver, 5-3.
A short-handed goal 52 seconds into the second by Schuss cut the Riggers lead to 5-4. Dickson scored his hat-trick goal less than 30 seconds later while on the power play to restore the two-goal lead. Vancouver forward Garrett Billings took matters into his own hands as he scored two goals in under a minute to bring the game even at 6-6. The Stealth kept it rolling with a Schuss power play goal to complete his hat-trick and give his team the lead for the first time in the game as Vancouver would take the 7-6 lead into halftime.
It was a physical start to the second half with a lot of hits but not a lot of shots. Dobbie got his second of the night on the power play to tie the game, followed by Superman’s fourth, a laser from the point 45 seconds later to give the Riggers an 8-7 lead. Shattler kept the home team going with his second goal to give the ‘Necks a 2 goal lead. Corey Small found his way onto the score sheet with his 8th goal of the season, followed by Schuss’ fourth to bring the Stealth back even at 9-9. Dobbie continued his strong night with his 3rd of the game with 5:07 left in the quarter to boost the Roughnecks ahead 10-9. Bell scored his first career NLL goal for Calgary to extend the lead to 11-9. The lead didn’t last very long as Joel McCready found the back of the net twice in the last minute to set up an even fourth quarter with the score tied 11-11 after three.
Riggers forward Wesley Berg continued his strong rookie campaign with his fourth of the season as Calgary pulled ahead 12-11 early in the final frame. Tyler Digby was sent in on a partial breakaway off the stretch pass from veteran captain Mike Carnegie and roofed his fifth of the year to bring the lead to 13-11 for the ‘Necks. Defenseman Greg Harnett found himself on a breakaway as well putting his second in the back of the net bringing the lead to 14-11. Booing rained down in the Saddledome after Garrett McIntosh received what fans thought to be a questionable five-minute elbowing call.
However, Vancouver took full advantage as Duch scored his hat-trick goal with the man advantage. Shattler got a hatty of his own with just over two minutes left during some 4-on-4 to restore Calgary’s two-goal lead late in the game. In the end, it was the Roughnecks edging out Vancouver 15-13 to an eruption of cheers from the home crowd. Final shots on goal were 50 for Vancouver, 48 for Calgary.
Three Stars of the Game as selected by the media:
1) Curtis Dickson
2) Logan Schuss
3) Dane Dobbie
Story by Laura Bates and Matt Fetinko for NLL.com.
