Home sweet home?
That’s hardly the case for the Roughnecks so far in 2017.
Of their four games at the Scotiabank Saddledome, the Riggers have just one win to their credit, a 12-8 victory over the Colorado Mammoth on Jan. 28 in the Rough House.
And things don’t get any easier on Saturday.
Enter the Vancouver Stealth.
Calgary’s Western rival may be coming off of a fifth straight loss, but they won their last game in the Scotiabank Saddledome 12-11 on January 6th and carry an 11-9 all-time record playing in Calgary. They’ll be revved up and focused on ending their current downslide.
The Roughnecks, meanwhile, have lost their last two contests.
And the Riggers will be looking to turn their four-game homestand around with a win for the home crowd on Fan Appreciation night.
Even though the Stealth are down right now, they certainly aren’t out of the playoff race. It is still early and they boast plenty of talent, especially up front. Calgary’s defence will be in tough against a unit that boasts three of the league’s top-eight scorers.
Corey Small currently leads the NLL in scoring with 17 goals and 31 assists, while his running mate on the left side of the floor, Logan Schuss, is ranked eighth with 18 goals and 18 assists. On the other side, Rhys Duch is the third highest scorer in the league, having racked up 18 goals and 27 assists.
That’s 129 points between three players. That means that Small, Duch, and Schuss have combined for an average of 18 points in each of Vancouver’s seven games.
The Roughnecks offence, led by NLL leading goalscorer Curtis Dickson (who has how many goals on season), stumbled out of the gates last weekend, scoring just two goals in the first half. They rebounded in the second half, but scored just five more goals to finish with seven. Aside from Superman, who scored five of the teams goals, the rest of the offence will need to step up their game if they want to keep up with the Stealth’s firepower.
