CALGARY, AB — The Calgary Roughnecks were on the road for Week 8 of the NLL season, taking on Rhys Duch and the Vancouver Stealth. The Roughnecks took an early lead in the game but their Western rival battled back and eventually handed the Rigger’s a 14-13 overtime defeat in a thrilling finish.
Here are five things we noticed in the game:
1) SUPERMAN IS RIDICULOUS
Back to the net. No look. Between the legs. Bounce. Curtis Dickson has some kind of ability to get the shot off, let alone bury it!
If you haven’t had the chance to see this amazing goal of the year candidate, check it out now.
Just wow.
2) DRAW MEN
With face-off specialist Bobby Snider on the IR with a lower body injury and Curtis Manning on the short-term holdout list, the Roughnecks went into last weekend’s with Garrett McIntosh as the sole face-off man on the roster.
Mitch McMichael was dominating the face-offs early on, so the Roughnecks decided to change things up. First, they turned to rookie defenceman Tyson Bell, who won one of his two attempts in the face-off circle. They then used rookie forward Wesley Berg on the draw. In his five chances, he won three. With Berg in the circle, the Roughnecks boasted three rookies on the ball team.
Having Berg take face-offs is a very interesting option for Calgary. The young man provides some offence to the ball team, while being extremely aggressive on loose balls — he currently sits fifth on the team with 38 through eight games. It will be something to watch moving forward for the Roughnecks.
3) RUNNING THE FLOOR
Early on this season, the Roughnecks have been trying to generate more offence from the back-end. Assistant captain Dan MacRae has been a consistent source of just that for the Riggers.
The lefty has a point in all but one game so far for the Roughnecks and has scored three big goals for the team. Against the Stealth on Saturday, MacRae opened the scoring by throwing a laser over the shoulder of goaltender Eric Penney.
With that goal, MacRae moved himself into a tie for the most points scored by a defenceman, with nine. Those nine points in eight games puts him on pace for 20 points, which would be a career high.
4) HOME AWAY FROM HOME
The Roughnecks powerplay was a lethal weapon last season but the unit has had some struggles this year at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
On the road… now that’s a different story
In four games on the road, the Roughnecks have chalked up 14 power play goals on 22 man advantages. Converting 63.6 percent of chances goes a long way to helping your team win games. In Vancouver on the weekend, they scored on all but one of their five chances. Tyler Digby and Curtis Dickson finished the contest with two PPG’s each.
5) HERE COMES REILLY
It took seven games for rookie Reilly O’Connor to score his first career NLL goal, but it didn’t take nearly as long to get his second.
In fact, against the Stealth, he scored his second and third career goals. The latter of the two goals tied the game at 13 with 8.9 seconds left to play in the game, helping the Roughnecks force overtime.
With star left-handed sniper Dane Dobbie on the IR, the Roughnecks have seen O’Connor step up and show what he can do. The rookie has scored 10 points (3g, 7a) in his past two games, after scoring only eight points in the previous six games.
Friday, October 20, 2017 | 3:23:28 PM
MACRAE TO WEAR THE ‘C’
Friday, October 20, 2017 | 1:54:44 PM
CALMING INFLUENCE
Tuesday, October 17, 2017 | 2:05:42 PM
THERE AND BACK AGAIN
Thursday, October 12, 2017 | 9:36:10 AM
DRAFT DAY SURPRISE
Wednesday, October 11, 2017 | 1:55:00 PM
PRE-SEASON PARTY
Friday, October 06, 2017 | 1:50:15 PM
CHANGE OF PACE
Thursday, October 05, 2017 | 11:52:51 AM
DRAFT PICKS SIGNED
Monday, September 25, 2017 | 1:01:05 PM
THE NEW RECRUITS
ALL HEADLINES
WHICH ROUGHNECKS DRAFT PICK ARE YOU MOST EXCITED TO SEE THIS SEASON?
ZACH CURRIER
TYLER PACE
RYAN MARTEL
ANTHONY KALINICH
COLE SHAFER
OTHER
