By: Laurence Heinen – 15.03.25
A week after beating the Buffalo Bandits 17-11 on the road, the Roughnecks weren’t able to follow up with victory Saturday night at home on WestJet Field over the NLL-leading squad.
Despite jumping out to a 3-1 lead, the Roughnecks (7-7) couldn’t maintain their momentum and ultimately fell 11-6 to the Bandits in front of 16,443 fans at the Scotiabank Saddledome for the St. Patrick’s Day Party.
Dane Dobbie and Haiden Dickson each tallied twice for the Riggers, while captain Jesse King scored once and set up three others. Tanner Cook had a goal and an assist, while Curtis Dickson chipped in with five helpers. Goalie Nick Rose finished the game with 40 saves.
Dobbie opened the scoring with a power-play marker at 2:45 of the first quarter before adding another goal during a man-up situation to put the Riggers up 2-1 at 9:21.
The ’Necks then extended their lead by a goal thanks to a tally by Haiden Dickson at 10:27 before the Bandits got back within one before the end of the opening frame.
The visitors kept up that momentum into the third quarter as they outscored the Riggers 4-0 to take a 6-3 lead into the halftime intermission.
Calgary scored two of the first three goals of the third quarter as King and Haiden Dickson did the honours to pull the home side within three goals. Cook then scored Calgary’s lone goal of the final frame.
NEXT UP:
The Roughnecks return to WestJet Field at the Scotiabank Saddledome next Saturday, March 22 to host the San Diego Seals. It’s the one and only time the two NLL rivals will play each other this season.
STAT PACK:
Haiden Dickson 2g
Dane Dobbie 2g
Jesse King: 1g, 3a
Tanner Cook: 1g, 1a
Curtis Dickson 5a
Brayden Mayea 1a
Jack Follows 1a
Griffin Hall 1a
Nick Rose 39 saves
COACH’S COMMENT
“I thought we started off alright getting a few goals there and trying to get some energy in the building, but we just weren’t as good as we were last week. Give Buffalo credit. They were a bit better than us tonight. (Vinc) played well and we just couldn’t get on a run. That’s too bad with the crowd we had.”
“We just couldn’t get to the energy level that we had last weekend in Buffalo. We were trying to get there and get our crowd going, but we just couldn’t take advantage of it.”
SAY WHAT:
“I thought (Rose) played really good in the net. If it weren’t for him, it could have probably been a little bit worse. I thought their defence played really well this weekend, whereas I think last weekend we took advantage of that. We shot the ball really well. (Vinc) played well. They blocked probably who knows how many shots. If you come into a game like that and give that team extra possessions, they’re going to score more goals.” – Jesse King
“You’ve got to watch some film. You’ve got to watch what’ll make you better for an offensive guy, how you’re shooting the ball, how you’re changing your angles. I think our effort level on offence could have been a lot better. I was saying it during the game. We were going into tendencies of just running up and down the alleys of the play and that makes it really easy for them. Our job as an offence is to make it difficult for a defence and if we don’t do that, they we’re going to see games where we’re going to only put up six goals.” – King
